Operating on the Problem through Trial and Error
Operating on the Problem through Trial and Error
Figuring out how to show that your problem is wrong is, in essence, how you work your way through innovating. As you do so, try to imagine the next thing about your innovation prototype that will “kill” your mission. Make it a routine to assume that you will fail, and go systematically through all the parts and insights that make up your prototype to prove it will indeed not work. You are searching for a culprit that would turn an error at one scale into a failure at the next scale, and you do that by interrogating your prototype with parts and with insights you get from people. As you go along, you ought to find it easier to add new parts and insights that you don’t believe will work together; pose the same questions, and find the near misses—all of which carry information of value to you. This is how you commandeer nonlinearities and make your innovating robust.
Keywords: Trial and error, Productively wrong, Failure, Near miss, Space of opportunity, Planning, Checklist
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