L Tackle Any Problem With These 3
Questions
In my research for A More
Beautiful Question, I analyzed dozens of innovation stories and found that
questioning was not only central to the problem-solving process, but that
certain types of questions--in particular Why, What if, and How
queries, asked in a progressive sequence--seemed to be especially effective
in helping innovators work towards a solution.
Asking Why, What if,
and How, in that order, can help one advance through three critical
stages of problem-solving. “Why” questions are ideal for coming to grips with
an existing challenge or problem--helping us understand why the problem exists,
why it hasn’t been solved already, and why it might be worth tackling. “What
if” questions can be used to explore fresh ideas for possible improvements or
solutions to the problem, from a hypothetical standpoint. When it’s time to act
on those ideas, the most effective types of questions are practical,
action-oriented ones that focus on “how”: how to give form to ideas, how to
test and refine them with the goal of transforming possibility into reality.
This cycle of inquiry can be seen in
many of the stories of recent innovations by companies such as Netflix,
Pandora, Square, Nest, and Airbnb. Or, for a more timeless example, take the
invention of the Polaroid instant camera. It all started back in 1943 with a
“why” question--though it wasn’t Polaroid founder Edwin
Land
who asked it. Land had taken a photograph of his three-year-old daughter,
Jennifer, who was impatient to see the results. Her father tried to explain
that the film had to be sent off for development, but Jennifer’s insistent
question--Why do we have to wait for the picture?--stayed with Land. “I
thought, ‘Why not? Why not design a picture that can be developed right
away?,’” Land recalled in a speech years later.
After pondering the “why,” he began
imagining and envisioning “what if” possibilities, chief among them: What if
you could somehow have a darkroom inside a camera? But bringing that vision
to life in an actual product required that Land and his Polaroid team answer
some daunting “how” questions, along the lines of: How might one do chemical
processing of film inside the camera? How could you actually create a printed
photo within those constraints? How would the photo end up, quickly, in the
hands of the user? It took several years of testing and prototyping before
the finished product was introduced in 1948--at which time the problem, first
identified and articulated by young Jennifer, was solved.
As the Polaroid story shows, a
game-changing “why” question can come from anyone, even a child (indeed, “naïve
outsiders” are often more inclined than experts to challenge fundamental
assumptions). Such questions often arise when someone encounters a
less-than-ideal situation and refuses to accept it--choosing, instead, to
question it. For example:
- After being socked with exorbitant late fees on his Blockbuster video rentals, Netflix founder Reed Hastings famously wondered, Why should I have to pay these late fees?
- Pandora founder Tim Westergren, a former band musician, observed all the talented-yet-struggling musicians he knew and wondered why it was so difficult for them to connect with the audience they deserved.
- Airbnb cofounders Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia couldn’t understand why people coming to San Francisco at certain times of year had so much trouble finding a place to stay--even though there were available bedrooms and sofas in apartments and homes all over town.
- Nest founder Tony Fadell looked at a mundane everyday household product--the thermostat--and wondered, Why hasn’t somebody improved this thing?
- When Square founder Jack Dorsey learned that an artist friend lost a potential sale because he was unable to accept a credit card, Dorsey asked, Why is it that only companies are able to accept credit cards?
Of course, just asking “why,”
without acting on that question in some way, is not likely to produce change.
One of the initial ways innovators begin to act is by imagining alternative
possibilities. Pandora’s Westergren, seeking a new and better way to connect
musicians and listeners, speculated that if you could break down music to its
core elements, you could better match the work of musicians to people’s tastes;
Westergren’s big “what if” was, in effect, What if you could map the DNA of
music? Airbnb’s founders inquired, What if you could somehow connect the
people who need a room with those who have room to spare?
What if possibilities are the seeds of innovation. But in getting
from idea to reality, what truly sets apart the most innovative questioners is
their ability and determination to give form to ideas. For Polaroid, Pandora,
Nest, and Square, the hard work came at the “how” stage--when the questioners
had to figure how to squeeze a darkroom inside a camera, create an elaborate
music genome system, or find a way to make an old-fashioned thermostat or
credit-card reader newly “smart.” This is the action stage of inquiry--yet it’s
still driven by questions, including: How do I take the first steps in
giving form to my idea? How do I begin to test it, to see what works and what
doesn’t? And if I find it’s not working, how do I figure out what’s wrong and
fix it?
The Why / What if / How sequence
of questioning isn’t a formula (creative questioning can and should move in
unpredictable directions). But it can be useful to distinguish between the
kinds of questions that work best at the wide-open early stages of innovation
and those better suited for the later, more focused stage. Being aware of this
distinction can provide a way to check on whether your questions are moving
forward--whether “why” is leading to “what if” and then to “how.” If that’s not
happening--if you’re stuck asking expansive “why” or “what if” questions for
too long--it may be time to push on to the next stage of inquiry. The point, after
all, is not to question endlessly--but to use questions as a means of steadily
advancing toward an answer.
Warren
Berger http://www.fastcodesign.com/3030708/tackle-any-problem-with-these-3-questions?partner=newsletter
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