Look for Problems
“You have to keep a dozen of your favorite problems constantly present in your mind… Every time you hear a new trick or a new result, test it against each of your twelve problems to see whether it helps. Every once in a while, there will be a hit, and people will say, ‘How did he do it? He must be a genius!’” — Nobel Prize winner, Richard Feynman
If you’re like me, you can be a little intimidated by an intellect like Feynman’s: I can hardly recognize problems, let alone keep track of favorites! Keeping a bug list — a legendary practice of Stanford product designers: simply writing problems down — is a great place to start. Problems are every bit as legitimate a source material for new connections (ideas) as any other (see Bette Nesmith Graham’s invention of Liquid Paper, or Art Fry’s invention of the Post-It Note).
In fact, becoming attuned to problems is a fantastic consciousness to cultivate.
When TOMS founder Blake Mycoskie described his first entrepreneurial endeavor Tim Ferriss (transcript here), I couldn’t help but note his description of where good ideas come from: “The best ideas in the best companies start always come from an entrepreneur who wants a service that he can’t get, a product that doesn’t exist. It’s a frustration. And the solution is not a business actually. It’s like a crusade to get rid of that frustration.”
Mind your frustrations! If you’re not aware of any now, start writing them down. Be on the lookout for problems. Don’t be embarrassed by your annoyances. In fact, if you want to do something new, you should cultivate them! Whether you’re Jerry Seinfeld, writing a stand-up sketch, or you’re Lorraine Sarayeldin looking to reinvent your career, noting your frustrations is a source of both comedic and entrepreneurial gold!
Related: What Stinks?
Related: Keep A Bug List
Related: Explore Analogies
Related: Look Out for Problems
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One of the defining contributions the d.school is helping teams ask themselves, “What kind of thinking is appropriate, when?” We call such clarity being “Mindful of Process.” And it can seem like semantics until you realize we need to show up in different ways.