What Does It Mean if You See the Same Page Again on the Goal Path
Reprint: R1209F The rigor with which a trouble is defined is the most of import factor in finding a good solution. Many organizations, however, are not proficient at articulating their problems and identifying which ones are crucial to their strategies. They may even be trying to solve the incorrect bug—missing opportunities and wasting resources in the process. The primal is to enquire the correct questions. The author describes a process that his firm, InnoCentive, has used to assistance clients define and articulate business organization, technical, social, and policy challenges then present them to an online community of more than 250,000 solvers. The four-step process consists of asking a series of questions and using the answers to create a problem argument that volition elicit novel ideas from an array of experts. EnterpriseWorks/VITA, a nonprofit organization, used this process to observe a low-price, lightweight, and user-friendly product that expands access to make clean drinking water in the developing world.
"If I were given i hour to save the planet, I would spend 59 minutes defining the problem and one minute resolving information technology," Albert Einstein said.
Those were wise words, just from what I have observed, virtually organizations don't heed them when tackling innovation projects. Indeed, when developing new products, processes, or fifty-fifty businesses, most companies aren't sufficiently rigorous in defining the problems they're attempting to solve and articulating why those problems are important. Without that rigor, organizations miss opportunities, waste material resources, and end up pursuing innovation initiatives that aren't aligned with their strategies. How many times have you seen a project go downwardly one path only to realize in hindsight that it should have gone downwards another? How many times accept you seen an innovation programme deliver a seemingly breakthrough result only to detect that it can't exist implemented or information technology addresses the wrong problem? Many organizations need to get better at asking the right questions and then that they tackle the correct bug.
I offer here a process for defining problems that whatsoever organization tin can utilize on its ain. My firm, InnoCentive, has used it to help more than 100 corporations, regime agencies, and foundations improve the quality and efficiency of their innovation efforts and, as a result, their overall operation. Through this process, which we call challenge-driven innovation, clients define and articulate their business, technical, social, and policy issues and nowadays them as challenges to a community of more than 250,000 solvers—scientists, engineers, and other experts who hail from 200 countries—on InnoCentive.com, our innovation market place. Successful solvers have earned awards of $v,000 to $1 million.
Since our launch, more than 10 years ago, we take managed more than ii,000 issues and solved more than half of them—a much higher proportion than most organizations achieve on their own. Indeed, our success rates have improved dramatically over the years (34% in 2006, 39% in 2009, and 57% in 2011), which is a part of the increasing quality of the questions we pose and of our solver community. Interestingly, even unsolved issues have been tremendously valuable to many clients, allowing them to abolish ill-fated programs much earlier than they otherwise would take and then redeploy their resources.
In our early years, we focused on highly specific technical issues, but we have since expanded, taking on everything from bones R&D and product evolution to the health and safety of astronauts to cyberbanking services in developing countries. We now know that the rigor with which a trouble is divers is the most of import gene in finding a suitable solution. But we've seen that most organizations are non proficient at articulating their problems clearly and concisely. Many take considerable difficulty even identifying which bug are crucial to their missions and strategies.
In fact, many clients have realized while working with us that they may not be tackling the right problems. Consider a company that engages InnoCentive to find a lubricant for its manufacturing machinery. This exchange ensues:
InnoCentive staffer: "Why do you demand the lubricant?"
Client'due south engineer: "Because nosotros're now expecting our machinery to exercise things it was not designed to practise, and it needs a item lubricant to operate."
InnoCentive staffer: "Why don't you supplant the machinery?"
Customer's engineer: "Considering no one makes equipment that exactly fits our needs."
This raises a deeper question: Does the company need the lubricant, or does it need a new way to make its product? It could be that rethinking the manufacturing procedure would give the firm a new basis for competitive advantage. (Request questions until you get to the root cause of a trouble draws from the famous Five Whys problem-solving technique adult at Toyota and employed in Six Sigma.)
The instance is like many we've seen: Someone in the bowels of the organization is assigned to prepare a very specific, well-nigh-term trouble. But because the business firm doesn't employ a rigorous process for understanding the dimensions of the problem, leaders miss an opportunity to accost underlying strategic issues. The situation is exacerbated past what Stefan Thomke and Donald Reinertsen have identified every bit the fallacy of "The sooner the project is started, the sooner information technology will exist finished." (See "Six Myths of Product Development," HBR May 2012.) Organizational teams speed toward a solution, fearing that if they spend too much time defining the problem, their superiors will punish them for taking so long to get to the starting line.
Ironically, that arroyo is more likely to waste time and money and reduce the odds of success than one that strives at the kickoff to achieve an in-depth understanding of the trouble and its importance to the firm. With this in heed, nosotros developed a iv-step procedure for defining and articulating issues, which nosotros have honed with our clients. Information technology consists of request a serial of questions and using the answers to create a thorough trouble argument. This process is important for two reasons. First, information technology rallies the system around a shared understanding of the problem, why the business firm should tackle information technology, and the level of resources it should receive. Firms that don't appoint in this process often classify as well few resources to solving major problems or too many to solving depression-priority or wrongly defined ones. Information technology'due south useful to assign a value to the solution: An organization will be more willing to devote considerable time and resources to an attempt that is shown to stand for a $100 meg market opportunity than to an initiative whose value is much less or is unclear. 2nd, the process helps an organization cast the widest possible net for potential solutions, giving internal and external experts in disparate fields the information they need to crevice the trouble.
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To illustrate how the process works, we'll describe an initiative to expand admission to clean drinking water undertaken by the nonprofit EnterpriseWorks/VITA, a sectionalisation of Relief International. EWV'due south mission is to foster economic growth and heighten the standard of living in developing countries by expanding access to technologies and helping entrepreneurs build sustainable businesses.
The system chose Jon Naugle, its technical manager, as the initiative'due south "problem champion." Individuals in this part should have a deep agreement of the field or domain and be capable program administrators. Considering problem champions may also be charged with implementing solutions, a proven leader with the authority, responsibleness, and resources to meet the project through tin be invaluable in this role, particularly for a larger and more strategic undertaking. Naugle, an engineer with more than 25 years of agricultural and rural-development experience in East and W Africa and the Caribbean, fit the bill. He was supported by specialists who understood local market conditions, available materials, and other critical issues related to the delivery of drinking water.
Step ane: Establish the Need for a Solution
The purpose of this stride is to articulate the problem in the simplest terms possible: "We are looking for X in lodge to achieve Z equally measured by W." Such a statement, akin to an elevator pitch, is a telephone call to arms that clarifies the importance of the result and helps secure resources to address it. This initial framing answers three questions:
What is the basic need?
This is the essential trouble, stated conspicuously and concisely. It is important at this stage to focus on the need that's at the centre of the trouble instead of jumping to a solution. Defining the scope is besides important. Conspicuously, looking for lubricant for a piece of mechanism is dissimilar from seeking a radically new manufacturing process.
The bones need EWV identified was access to clean drinking water for the estimated one.one billion people in the world who lack it. This is a pressing consequence even in areas that take plenty of rainfall, because the water is non effectively captured, stored, and distributed.
What is the desired outcome?
Answering this question requires understanding the perspectives of customers and other beneficiaries. (The Five Whys approach tin can exist very helpful.) Once again, avert the temptation to favor a particular solution or arroyo. This question should be addressed qualitatively and quantitatively whenever possible. A high-level only specific goal, such as "improving fuel efficiency to 100 mpg by 2020," can be helpful at this phase.
In answering this question, Naugle and his team realized that the effect had to be more than admission to water; the access had to be convenient. Women and children in countries such as Uganda often must walk long distances to fetch water from valleys and so behave information technology uphill to their villages. The desired outcome EWV defined was to provide water for daily family needs without requiring enormous expenditures of time and energy.
Who stands to benefit and why?
Answering this question compels an organization to place all potential customers and beneficiaries. Information technology is at this stage that you understand whether, say, you lot are solving a lubricant problem for the engineer or for the head of manufacturing—whose definitions of success may vary considerably.
If the problem you desire to solve is industrywide, it's crucial to understand why the market place has failed to address it.
By pondering this question, EWV came to see that the benefits would accrue to individuals and families as well every bit to regions and countries. Women would spend less time walking to remember water, giving them more fourth dimension for working in the field or in exterior employment that would bring their families needed income. Children would be able to nourish school. And over the longer term, regions and countries would do good from the improved education and productivity of the population.
Step 2: Justify the Demand
The purpose of answering the questions in this step is to explain why your organization should attempt to solve the trouble.
Is the effort aligned with our strategy?
In other words, will satisfying the need serve the organization's strategic goals? It is not unusual for an organization to exist working on problems that are no longer in sync with its strategy or mission. In that example, the effort (and perhaps the whole initiative) should be reconsidered.
In the instance of EWV, simply improving admission to clean drinking water wouldn't be enough; to fit the arrangement's mission, the solution should generate economical development and opportunities for local businesses. It needed to involve something that people would buy.
In add-on, you should consider whether the problem fits with your business firm'due south priorities. Since EWV's other projects included providing admission to affordable products such as cookstoves and treadle pumps, the drinking water project was advisable.
What are the desired benefits for the visitor, and how volition we measure them?
In for-turn a profit companies, the desired benefit could exist to attain a acquirement target, attain a sure marketplace share, or accomplish specific bike-time improvements. EWV hoped to further its goal of beingness a recognized leader in helping the world'south poor by transferring engineering through the private sector. That benefit would be measured by marketplace bear upon: How many families are paying for the solution? How is information technology affecting their lives? Are sales and installation creating jobs? Given the potential benefits, EWV deemed the priority to exist high.
How volition we ensure that a solution is implemented?
Assume that a solution is found. Someone in the organization must be responsible for carrying it out—whether that means installing a new manufacturing technology, launching a new business concern, or commercializing a product innovation. That person could be the problem champion, but he or she could also exist the director of an existing division, a cross-functional squad, or a new department.
At EWV, Jon Naugle was also put in charge of conveying out the solution. In improver to his technical groundwork, Naugle had a track record of successfully implementing like projects. For example, he had served as EWV'southward land director in Niger, where he oversaw a component of a World Depository financial institution airplane pilot project to promote pocket-sized-calibration private irrigation. His part of the projection involved getting the private sector to manufacture treadle pumps and manually drill wells.
It is of import at this stage to initiate a loftier-level conversation in the organization about the resource a solution might require. This can seem premature—afterward all, you're still defining the problem, and the field of possible solutions could be very large—only information technology'south actually not as well early on to begin exploring what resources your arrangement is willing and able to devote to evaluating solutions and then implementing the best 1. Even at the starting time, y'all may have an inkling that implementing a solution will be much more expensive than others in the organization realize. In that instance, it's important to communicate a rough estimate of the money and people that will exist required and to brand sure that the organisation is willing to go on down this path. The effect of such a discussion might be that some constraints on resourcing must be congenital into the problem statement. Early on in its drinking h2o projection, EWV set a cap on how much information technology would devote to initial research and the testing of possible solutions.
At present that you accept laid out the need for a solution and its importance to the organization, you must define the problem in detail. This involves applying a rigorous method to ensure that you take captured all the information that someone—including people in fields far removed from your industry—might demand to solve the problem.
Stride 3: Contextualize the Trouble
Examining past efforts to observe a solution tin can save fourth dimension and resources and generate highly innovative thinking. If the problem is industrywide, it's crucial to understand why the market has failed to address information technology.
What approaches have nosotros tried?
The aim hither is to find solutions that might already exist in your system and place those that it has disproved. Past answering this question, you can avoid reinventing the wheel or going down a expressionless end.
In previous efforts to aggrandize admission to clean water, EWV had offered products and services ranging from manually drilled wells for irrigation to filters for household water treatment. As with all its projects, EWV identified products that low-income consumers could afford and, if possible, that local entrepreneurs could industry or service. As Naugle and his team revisited those efforts, they realized that both solutions worked only if a water source, such as surface water or a shallow aquifer, was close to the household. As a result, they decided to focus on rainwater—which falls everywhere in the world to a greater or lesser extent—every bit a source that could achieve many more people. More specifically, the squad turned its attention to the concept of rainwater harvesting. "Rainwater is delivered straight to the stop user," Naugle says. "It's as close every bit you tin go to a piped water organisation without having a piped water supply."
What have others tried?
EWV's investigation of previous attempts at rainwater harvesting involved reviewing research on the topic, conducting five field studies, and surveying 20 countries to enquire what technology was existence used, what was and was non working, what prevented or encouraged the utilize of diverse solutions, how much the solutions cost, and what role government played.
"1 of the key things nosotros learned from the surveys," Naugle says, "was that once you take a difficult roof—which many people do—to utilize as a collection surface, the about expensive thing is storage."
Here was the problem that needed to be solved. EWV plant that existing solutions for storing rainwater, such as physical tanks, were besides expensive for low-income families in developing countries, so households were sharing storage tanks. But because no one took ownership of the communal facilities, they often roughshod into busted. Consequently, Naugle and his team homed in on the concept of a low-price household rainwater-storage device.
Their research into prior solutions surfaced what seemed initially similar a promising approach: storing rainwater in a 525-gallon jar that was nearly as tall as an adult and 3 times as wide. In Thailand, they learned, v million of those jars had been deployed over v years. After farther investigation, notwithstanding, they found that the jars were made of cement, which was available in Thailand at a low price. More important, the country'south good roads made information technology possible to manufacture the jars in 1 location and transport them in trucks around the country. That solution wouldn't work in areas that had neither cement nor high-quality roads. Indeed, through interviews with villagers in Uganda, EWV found that even empty polyethylene barrels big enough to hold only l gallons of water were difficult to deport along a path. It became clear that a viable storage solution had to be calorie-free enough to be carried some distance in areas without roads.
What are the internal and external constraints on implementing a solution?
Now that y'all accept a better idea of what you want to accomplish, it's time to revisit the event of resources and organizational commitment: Do you have the necessary support for soliciting and then evaluating possible solutions? Are yous sure that yous tin can obtain the money and the people to implement the nigh promising one?
External constraints are but as important to evaluate: Are at that place issues apropos patents or intellectual-belongings rights? Are there laws and regulations to be considered? Answering these questions may require consultation with various stakeholders and experts.
Do you have the necessary back up for soliciting and evaluating possible solutions? Do you lot accept the coin and the people to implement the most promising one?
EWV's exploration of possible external constraints included examining government policies regarding rainwater storage. Naugle and his team found that the governments of Kenya, Tanzania, Republic of uganda, and Vietnam supported the idea, but the strongest proponent was Uganda's minister of water and the environment, Maria Mutagamba. Consequently, EWV decided to test the storage solution in Republic of uganda.
Pace iv: Write the Problem Statement
Now information technology'southward time to write a full description of the trouble you're seeking to solve and the requirements the solution must meet. The problem statement, which captures all that the organization has learned through answering the questions in the previous steps, helps plant a consensus on what a feasible solution would be and what resources would be required to achieve it.
A full, clear clarification also helps people both inside and outside the organization quickly grasp the issue. This is especially important considering solutions to complex problems in an industry or discipline often come from experts in other fields (see "Getting Unusual Suspects to Solve R&D Puzzles," HBR May 2007). For example, the method for moving viscous oil from spills in Arctic and subarctic waters from drove barges to disposal tanks came from a chemist in the cement industry, who responded to the Oil Spill Recovery Found's description of the problem in terms that were precise but not specific to the petroleum industry. Thus the plant was able to solve in a matter of months a challenge that had stumped petroleum engineers for years. (To read the plant'due south full problem statement, visit hbr.org/problem-statement1.)
Here are some questions that tin help you develop a thorough problem statement:
Is the problem actually many problems?
The aim here is to drill down to root causes. Circuitous, seemingly insoluble issues are much more approachable when cleaved into discrete elements.
For EWV, this meant making it clear that the solution needed to exist a storage product that individual households could beget, that was lite plenty to exist hands transported on poor-quality roads or paths, and that could be easily maintained.
What requirements must a solution meet?
EWV conducted extensive on-the-ground surveys with potential customers in Republic of uganda to identify the must-take versus the nice-to-have elements of a solution. (Come across the sidebar "Elements of a Successful Solution.") Information technology didn't matter to EWV whether the solution was a new device or an adaptation of an existing one. Likewise, the solution didn't demand to exist one that could be mass-produced. That is, information technology could be something that local small entrepreneurs could manufacture.
Experts in rainwater harvesting told Naugle and his squad that their target price of $xx was unachievable, which meant that subsidies would be required. But a subsidized product was against EWV'south strategy and philosophy.
Which problem solvers should we engage?
The dead end EWV hit in seeking a $20 solution from those experts led the organization to conclude that it needed to enlist as many experts outside the field every bit possible. That is when EWV decided to appoint InnoCentive and its network of 250,000 solvers.
What information and language should the problem statement include?
To engage the largest number of solvers from the widest variety of fields, a problem statement must meet the twin goals of being extremely specific but not unnecessarily technical. It shouldn't contain industry or discipline jargon or presuppose knowledge of a detail field. It may (and probably should) include a summary of previous solution attempts and detailed requirements.
With those criteria in mind, Naugle and his squad crafted a problem statement. (The following is the abstruse; for the full problem statement, visit hbr.org/trouble-statement2.) "EnterpriseWorks is seeking design ideas for a depression-cost rainwater storage system that can be installed in households in developing countries. The solution is expected to facilitate access to clean water at a household level, addressing a problem that affects millions of people worldwide who are living in impoverished communities or rural areas where access to clean h2o is limited. Domestic rainwater harvesting is a proven technology that can be a valuable option for accessing and storing water twelvemonth round. Notwithstanding, the high cost of available rainwater storage systems makes them well across the reach of low-income families to install in their homes. A solution to this problem would non only provide convenient and affordable admission to scarce water resources simply would also allow families, particularly the women and children who are usually tasked with water collection, to spend less time walking distances to collect h2o and more than time on activities that can bring in income and improve the quality of life."
To engage the largest number of solvers from the widest multifariousness of fields, a problem argument must meet the twin goals of being extremely specific but not unnecessarily technical.
What exercise solvers need to submit?
What information about the proposed solution does your organization need in order to invest in it? For example, would a well-founded hypothetical approach be sufficient, or is a full-diddled epitome needed? EWV decided that a solver had to submit a written caption of the solution and detailed drawings.
What incentives do solvers demand?
The betoken of request this question is to ensure that the right people are motivated to address the problem. For internal solvers, incentives can be written into task descriptions or offered as promotions and bonuses. For external solvers, the incentive might be a cash award. EWV offered to pay $15,000 to the solver who provided the best solution through the InnoCentive network.
How will solutions be evaluated and success measured?
Addressing this question forces a visitor to be explicit nearly how it volition evaluate the solutions information technology receives. Clarity and transparency are crucial to arriving at viable solutions and to ensuring that the evaluation process is fair and rigorous. In some cases a "we'll know it when nosotros see it" approach is reasonable—for example, when a visitor is looking for a new branding strategy. About of the fourth dimension, notwithstanding, it is a sign that earlier steps in the process take not been approached with sufficient rigor.
EWV stipulated that information technology would evaluate solutions on their ability to see the criteria of low price, high storage capacity, low weight, and easy maintenance. It added that it would prefer designs that were modular (so that the unit of measurement would be easier to transport) and adaptable or salvageable or had multiple functions (so that owners could reuse the materials after the product's lifetime or sell them to others for diverse applications). The overarching goal was to go on costs low and to help poor families justify the purchase.
The Winner
Ultimately, the solution to EWV's rainwater-storage problem came from someone outside the field: a High german inventor whose company specialized in the design of tourist submarines. The solution he proposed required no elaborate machinery; in fact, it had no pumps or moving parts. It was an established industrial applied science that had not been applied to water storage: a plastic pocketbook within a plastic handbag with a tube at the top. The outer bag (made of less-expensive, woven polypropylene) provided the structure's strength, while the inner pocketbook (made of more-expensive, linear depression-density polyethylene) was impermeable and could hold 125 gallons of water. The 2-bag arroyo allowed the inner bag to exist thinner, reducing the price of the production, while the outer pocketbook was stiff enough to contain a ton and a half of water.
The structure folded into a packet the size of a briefcase and weighed about eight pounds. In brusque, the solution was affordable, commercially viable, could be easily transported to remote areas, and could be sold and installed by local entrepreneurs. (Retailers make from $four to $8 per unit, depending on the volume they purchase. Installers of the gutters, downspout, and base earn about $half dozen.)
EWV adult an initial version and tested information technology in Uganda, where the organisation asked end users such questions as What practise you lot think of its weight? Does it meet your needs? Fifty-fifty mundane issues similar colour came into play: The woven outer bags were white, which women pointed out would immediately look dingy. EWV modified the design on the basis of this input: For example, it changed the color of the device to brown, expanded its size to 350 gallons (while keeping the target price of no more than $20 per 125 gallons of water storage), altered its shape to make it more stable, and replaced the original siphon with an outlet tap.
After fourteen months of field testing, EWV rolled out the commercial product in Uganda in March 2011. By the stop of May 2012, fifty to threescore shops, village sales agents, and cooperatives were selling the product; more than 80 entrepreneurs had been trained to install it; and one,418 units had been deployed in eight districts in southwestern Uganda.
EWV deems this a success at this stage in the rollout. It hopes to make the units bachelor in 10 countries—and have tens or hundreds of thousands of units installed—within five years. Ultimately, information technology believes, millions of units will be in use for a variety of applications, including household drinking water, irrigation, and construction. Interestingly, the principal obstacle to getting people to purchase the device has been skepticism that something that comes in such a pocket-sized package (the size of a typical five-gallon jerrican) can hold the equivalent of seventy jerricans. Believing that the remedy is to show villagers the installed production, EWV is currently testing various promotion and marketing programs.As the EWV story illustrates, critically analyzing and conspicuously articulating a problem can yield highly innovative solutions. Organizations that apply these simple concepts and develop the skills and discipline to ask better questions and define their problems with more rigor tin create strategic reward, unlock truly groundbreaking innovation, and drive meliorate business organization performance. Request ameliorate questions delivers better results.
A version of this article appeared in the September 2012 issue of Harvard Business Review.
Source: https://hbr.org/2012/09/are-you-solving-the-right-problem
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