Problem definition
Do Nothing
Overview
This technique does what it says on the tin – it encourages you to think through what might happen if you do nothing to solve your current business or engineering problem – what would the outcome be? It is a simple transformational creativity technique, which helps you to understand the nature and scope of the creative problem that (potentially) needs to be solved.
What to do
The technique is really simple to use. When you have some time, stop and think for a while, either alone or as a group, about the outcome for your business or engineering problem if nothing at all were done to address or solve it. You will normally uncover 1 of 3 possible types of outcome:
- The problem does not actually need to be solved, so do not waste resources trying to solve it;
- The problem does actually need solving, but you obtain a better idea of the benefits that will accrue from solving the problem;
- A different, more important underlying problem needs to be solved, so you acquire a clearer view of what the real problem is, and can apply other creativity techniques to solve this problem.
People
The technique works for any number of people – even for an individual.
Problem solving characteristics
Use the technique at the very beginning of your creative process, when you are trying to determine whether there is actually a problem to solve, or to determine the nature of that problem.
Location
You can use this technique anywhere and anytime.
Equipment
You might need some pens and paper to work through some scenarios that envision what might happen in the future if you do nothing.