What Advantage Is There to Treating Each Implementation of a Solution as a Learning Experience?
Reprint: R1209F The rigor with which a trouble is divers is the most of import factor in finding a good solution. Many organizations, all the same, are non expert at articulating their problems and identifying which ones are crucial to their strategies. They may fifty-fifty exist trying to solve the wrong problems—missing opportunities and wasting resources in the process. The cardinal is to ask the right questions. The author describes a process that his house, InnoCentive, has used to help clients define and articulate business concern, technical, social, and policy challenges then present them to an online community of more than 250,000 solvers. The four-stride process consists of asking a series of questions and using the answers to create a problem statement that will elicit novel ideas from an array of experts. EnterpriseWorks/VITA, a nonprofit organization, used this procedure to find a low-cost, lightweight, and convenient product that expands access to clean drinking water in the developing world.
"If I were given one hr to relieve the planet, I would spend 59 minutes defining the problem and one minute resolving it," Albert Einstein said.
Those were wise words, but from what I have observed, most organizations don't heed them when tackling innovation projects. Indeed, when developing new products, processes, or even businesses, most companies aren't sufficiently rigorous in defining the problems they're attempting to solve and articulating why those problems are of import. Without that rigor, organizations miss opportunities, waste resources, and end up pursuing innovation initiatives that aren't aligned with their strategies. How many times take you seen a projection go down one path only to realize in hindsight that it should accept gone downward another? How many times have yous seen an innovation program deliver a seemingly breakthrough result only to observe that information technology tin't be implemented or it addresses the wrong problem? Many organizations need to get meliorate at asking the right questions then that they tackle the correct problems.
I offer hither a procedure for defining problems that whatever system can employ on its own. My business firm, InnoCentive, has used information technology to assistance more than than 100 corporations, government agencies, and foundations ameliorate the quality and efficiency of their innovation efforts and, as a result, their overall performance. Through this process, which nosotros call challenge-driven innovation, clients ascertain and clear their business organization, technical, social, and policy issues and present 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 marketplace. Successful solvers accept earned awards of $5,000 to $i million.
Since our launch, more than than 10 years ago, we have managed more than 2,000 problems and solved more than than one-half of them—a much higher proportion than most organizations attain 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 customs. Interestingly, fifty-fifty unsolved bug have been tremendously valuable to many clients, assuasive them to cancel ill-fated programs much earlier than they otherwise would have so redeploy their resources.
In our early on years, we focused on highly specific technical problems, but we take since expanded, taking on everything from basic R&D and product development to the wellness and safety of astronauts to banking services in developing countries. We now know that the rigor with which a problem is divers is the virtually important factor in finding a suitable solution. Simply we've seen that most organizations are not proficient at articulating their problems clearly and concisely. Many have considerable difficulty even identifying which problems are crucial to their missions and strategies.
In fact, many clients take realized while working with u.s. that they may not exist tackling the correct bug. Consider a company that engages InnoCentive to find a lubricant for its manufacturing machinery. This exchange ensues:
InnoCentive staffer: "Why practice you need the lubricant?"
Client'due south engineer: "Considering we're at present expecting our machinery to do things it was not designed to do, and information technology needs a item lubricant to operate."
InnoCentive staffer: "Why don't you supplant the machinery?"
Client'south engineer: "Because no one makes equipment that exactly fits our needs."
This raises a deeper question: Does the visitor need the lubricant, or does it demand a new way to brand its product? It could be that rethinking the manufacturing procedure would give the firm a new basis for competitive advantage. (Asking questions until you lot get to the root cause of a problem draws from the famous V Whys problem-solving technique developed at Toyota and employed in Vi Sigma.)
The instance is similar many we've seen: Someone in the bowels of the organization is assigned to prepare a very specific, virtually-term trouble. But because the firm doesn't use a rigorous process for agreement the dimensions of the problem, leaders miss an opportunity to address underlying strategic issues. The situation is exacerbated by what Stefan Thomke and Donald Reinertsen have identified as the fallacy of "The sooner the projection is started, the sooner it will exist finished." (See "Vi Myths of Product Development," HBR May 2012.) Organizational teams speed toward a solution, fearing that if they spend besides much time defining the problem, their superiors will punish them for taking so long to get to the starting line.
Ironically, that approach is more likely to waste time and money and reduce the odds of success than ane that strives at the outset to achieve an in-depth understanding of the problem and its importance to the house. With this in mind, we developed a four-footstep process for defining and articulating bug, which we have honed with our clients. It consists of asking a series of questions and using the answers to create a thorough problem statement. This procedure is important for 2 reasons. Beginning, it rallies the organization effectually a shared understanding of the problem, why the firm should tackle it, and the level of resources it should receive. Firms that don't engage in this process often allocate too few resources to solving major bug or as well many to solving low-priority or wrongly defined ones. It's useful to assign a value to the solution: An organization will be more willing to devote considerable fourth dimension and resources to an effort that is shown to stand for a $100 million market opportunity than to an initiative whose value is much less or is unclear. Second, 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 problem.
This article also appears in:
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 sectionalization of Relief International. EWV'south mission is to foster economical growth and enhance the standard of living in developing countries by expanding admission to technologies and helping entrepreneurs build sustainable businesses.
The organization chose Jon Naugle, its technical managing director, as the initiative'due south "problem champion." Individuals in this role should take a deep understanding of the field or domain and be capable program administrators. Because trouble champions may besides be charged with implementing solutions, a proven leader with the authority, responsibleness, and resources to see the projection through can be invaluable in this part, especially for a larger and more strategic undertaking. Naugle, an engineer with more than 25 years of agronomical and rural-development experience in East and West Africa and the Caribbean area, fit the bill. He was supported past specialists who understood local market weather condition, available materials, and other critical issues related to the delivery of drinking water.
Step 1: Establish the Need for a Solution
The purpose of this pace is to clear the problem in the simplest terms possible: "We are looking for 10 in order to achieve Z as measured by W." Such a statement, akin to an elevator pitch, is a telephone call to arms that clarifies the importance of the issue 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 eye of the trouble instead of jumping to a solution. Defining the scope is too important. Clearly, looking for lubricant for a piece of mechanism is different from seeking a radically new manufacturing process.
The basic need EWV identified was access to make clean drinking water for the estimated 1.1 billion people in the world who lack it. This is a pressing issue even in areas that have plenty of rainfall, because the water is not 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 be very helpful.) Again, avoid the temptation to favor a item solution or arroyo. This question should be addressed qualitatively and quantitatively whenever possible. A loftier-level only specific goal, such every bit "improving fuel efficiency to 100 mpg by 2020," can be helpful at this stage.
In answering this question, Naugle and his team realized that the outcome had to be more access to h2o; the admission had to be convenient. Women and children in countries such as Republic of uganda often must walk long distances to fetch h2o from valleys and and then carry it uphill to their villages. The desired consequence EWV defined was to provide water for daily family needs without requiring enormous expenditures of fourth dimension and energy.
Who stands to benefit and why?
Answering this question compels an system to identify all potential customers and beneficiaries. It is at this stage that you empathise whether, say, you are solving a lubricant problem for the engineer or for the caput of manufacturing—whose definitions of success may vary considerably.
If the problem you want to solve is industrywide, it's crucial to understand why the market has failed to accost information technology.
By pondering this question, EWV came to encounter that the benefits would accumulate to individuals and families equally well as to regions and countries. Women would spend less time walking to recollect water, giving them more time for working in the field or in outside employment that would bring their families needed income. Children would be able to nourish school. And over the longer term, regions and countries would benefit from the improved education and productivity of the population.
Step 2: Justify the Need
The purpose of answering the questions in this footstep is to explicate why your organization should endeavour to solve the problem.
Is the effort aligned with our strategy?
In other words, volition satisfying the need serve the system'south strategic goals? It is not unusual for an organization to be working on problems that are no longer in sync with its strategy or mission. In that case, the effort (and perhaps the whole initiative) should exist reconsidered.
In the example of EWV, but improving access to clean drinking h2o wouldn't be plenty; to fit the organization's mission, the solution should generate economical development and opportunities for local businesses. It needed to involve something that people would buy.
In improver, you should consider whether the problem fits with your firm'south priorities. Since EWV's other projects included providing access to affordable products such every bit cookstoves and treadle pumps, the drinking water project was appropriate.
What are the desired benefits for the visitor, and how volition nosotros measure them?
In for-profit companies, the desired benefit could be to reach a revenue target, attain a certain marketplace share, or achieve specific bike-fourth dimension improvements. EWV hoped to further its goal of being a recognized leader in helping the world'south poor past transferring technology through the private sector. That benefit would be measured by marketplace impact: How many families are paying for the solution? How is it affecting their lives? Are sales and installation creating jobs? Given the potential benefits, EWV accounted the priority to exist loftier.
How will we ensure that a solution is implemented?
Presume that a solution is establish. Someone in the organisation must be responsible for carrying it out—whether that ways installing a new manufacturing technology, launching a new business, or commercializing a production innovation. That person could be the problem champion, only he or she could as well be the managing director of an existing division, a cross-functional team, or a new department.
At EWV, Jon Naugle was as well put in accuse of carrying out the solution. In add-on to his technical background, Naugle had a track record of successfully implementing similar projects. For instance, he had served as EWV's country managing director in Niger, where he oversaw a component of a Globe Bank airplane pilot project to promote pocket-size-calibration private irrigation. His role of the project involved getting the private sector to industry treadle pumps and manually drill wells.
It is important at this stage to initiate a high-level conversation in the organisation about the resources a solution might require. This can seem premature—after all, you're notwithstanding defining the problem, and the field of possible solutions could be very large—but it'southward really not too early to brainstorm exploring what resources your organization is willing and able to devote to evaluating solutions and and then implementing the best one. Fifty-fifty at the outset, you may have an inkling that implementing a solution volition be much more expensive than others in the organization realize. In that case, it's of import to communicate a rough judge of the money and people that will exist required and to make sure that the organization is willing to continue down this path. The consequence of such a discussion might be that some constraints on resourcing must be built into the problem statement. Early on in its drinking h2o project, EWV set a cap on how much it would devote to initial inquiry and the testing of possible solutions.
Now that y'all have laid out the demand for a solution and its importance to the system, y'all must define the problem in detail. This involves applying a rigorous method to ensure that you have captured all the information that someone—including people in fields far removed from your industry—might need to solve the problem.
Footstep 3: Contextualize the Problem
Examining past efforts to find a solution can save fourth dimension and resource and generate highly innovative thinking. If the problem is industrywide, it'due south crucial to empathise why the market place has failed to accost it.
What approaches have we tried?
The aim hither is to detect solutions that might already exist in your organization and identify those that it has disproved. By answering this question, you lot tin can avert reinventing the wheel or going down a dead finish.
In previous efforts to aggrandize admission to make clean h2o, EWV had offered products and services ranging from manually drilled wells for irrigation to filters for household water handling. Every bit 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 simply if a water source, such as surface h2o or a shallow aquifer, was close to the household. As a consequence, they decided to focus on rainwater—which falls everywhere in the earth to a greater or bottom extent—as a source that could attain many more people. More than specifically, the team turned its attention to the concept of rainwater harvesting. "Rainwater is delivered straight to the end user," Naugle says. "It'south as close as y'all can go to a piped water system without having a piped water supply."
What accept others tried?
EWV'south investigation of previous attempts at rainwater harvesting involved reviewing enquiry on the topic, conducting five field studies, and surveying twenty countries to ask what technology was existence used, what was and was non working, what prevented or encouraged the use of various solutions, how much the solutions cost, and what role authorities played.
"One of the fundamental things nosotros learned from the surveys," Naugle says, "was that once you have a hard roof—which many people exercise—to use every bit a collection surface, the most expensive matter is storage."
Here was the trouble that needed to exist solved. EWV found that existing solutions for storing rainwater, such equally concrete tanks, were also expensive for depression-income families in developing countries, and so households were sharing storage tanks. But because no 1 took buying of the communal facilities, they often barbarous into disrepair. Consequently, Naugle and his squad homed in on the concept of a low-price household rainwater-storage device.
Their inquiry into prior solutions surfaced what seemed initially like a promising approach: storing rainwater in a 525-gallon jar that was well-nigh as alpine as an adult and three times equally wide. In Thailand, they learned, v million of those jars had been deployed over v years. After farther investigation, still, they establish that the jars were made of cement, which was available in Thailand at a low price. More important, the state'due south good roads made it possible to manufacture the jars in 1 location and transport them in trucks around the state. That solution wouldn't work in areas that had neither cement nor high-quality roads. Indeed, through interviews with villagers in Uganda, EWV establish that even empty polyethylene barrels large enough to hold but fifty gallons of h2o were difficult to carry along a path. Information technology became articulate that a viable storage solution had to be light plenty to be carried some distance in areas without roads.
What are the internal and external constraints on implementing a solution?
Now that you have a meliorate idea of what y'all desire to accomplish, it'south time to revisit the issue of resource and organizational commitment: Exercise y'all accept the necessary back up for soliciting and then evaluating possible solutions? Are you sure that you tin obtain the money and the people to implement the most promising one?
External constraints are just as important to evaluate: Are there issues concerning patents or intellectual-property rights? Are at that place laws and regulations to exist considered? Answering these questions may require consultation with various stakeholders and experts.
Practice you lot have the necessary support for soliciting and evaluating possible solutions? Do you have the money and the people to implement the nearly promising ane?
EWV'southward exploration of possible external constraints included examining regime policies regarding rainwater storage. Naugle and his team found that the governments of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Vietnam supported the idea, only the strongest proponent was Republic of uganda's minister of h2o and the environment, Maria Mutagamba. Consequently, EWV decided to test the storage solution in Uganda.
Step 4: Write the Trouble Statement
Now it's fourth dimension to write a total clarification of the trouble you're seeking to solve and the requirements the solution must come across. The problem statement, which captures all that the organization has learned through answering the questions in the previous steps, helps institute a consensus on what a viable solution would exist and what resources would be required to achieve it.
A total, clear description besides helps people both inside and outside the organization chop-chop grasp the result. This is especially important because solutions to complex bug 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 instance, the method for moving viscous oil from spills in Chill and subarctic waters from collection barges to disposal tanks came from a chemist in the cement industry, who responded to the Oil Spill Recovery Institute's description of the trouble in terms that were precise but non specific to the petroleum manufacture. Thus the institute was able to solve in a thing of months a challenge that had stumped petroleum engineers for years. (To read the constitute's total problem statement, visit hbr.org/problem-statement1.)
Here are some questions that can assist you develop a thorough trouble statement:
Is the problem actually many bug?
The aim here is to drill downwards to root causes. Complex, seemingly insoluble issues are much more outgoing when cleaved into detached elements.
For EWV, this meant making information technology articulate that the solution needed to be a storage production that individual households could afford, that was lite enough to be easily transported on poor-quality roads or paths, and that could be hands maintained.
What requirements must a solution meet?
EWV conducted extensive on-the-ground surveys with potential customers in Uganda to identify the must-accept versus the nice-to-accept elements of a solution. (See the sidebar "Elements of a Successful Solution.") Information technology didn't thing to EWV whether the solution was a new device or an accommodation of an existing one. Likewise, the solution didn't need to exist ane that could be mass-produced. That is, it could be something that local pocket-sized-scale entrepreneurs could manufacture.
Experts in rainwater harvesting told Naugle and his team that their target price of $20 was unachievable, which meant that subsidies would be required. But a subsidized product was confronting EWV's strategy and philosophy.
Which problem solvers should nosotros 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 exterior the field as possible. That is when EWV decided to appoint InnoCentive and its network of 250,000 solvers.
What data and language should the problem statement include?
To appoint the largest number of solvers from the widest diversity of fields, a problem statement must see the twin goals of beingness extremely specific but not unnecessarily technical. It shouldn't contain industry or discipline jargon or presuppose noesis of a particular 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 abstract; for the full problem statement, visit hbr.org/problem-statement2.) "EnterpriseWorks is seeking blueprint 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 admission to clean water is limited. Domestic rainwater harvesting is a proven technology that can be a valuable selection for accessing and storing water yr round. Nevertheless, the high cost of available rainwater storage systems makes them well beyond the reach of low-income families to install in their homes. A solution to this problem would not only provide user-friendly and affordable admission to deficient water resources but would too allow families, peculiarly the women and children who are usually tasked with water collection, to spend less time walking distances to collect water and more fourth dimension on activities that can bring in income and improve the quality of life."
To engage the largest number of solvers from the widest variety of fields, a problem statement must meet the twin goals of beingness extremely specific merely not unnecessarily technical.
What do solvers demand to submit?
What information well-nigh the proposed solution does your arrangement need in social club to invest in it? For example, would a well-founded hypothetical approach be sufficient, or is a full-blown paradigm needed? EWV decided that a solver had to submit a written explanation of the solution and detailed drawings.
What incentives do solvers demand?
The betoken of asking this question is to ensure that the correct people are motivated to address the problem. For internal solvers, incentives can be written into job descriptions or offered as promotions and bonuses. For external solvers, the incentive might be a cash award. EWV offered to pay $xv,000 to the solver who provided the best solution through the InnoCentive network.
How will solutions exist evaluated and success measured?
Addressing this question forces a company to be explicit about how it will evaluate the solutions it 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 we run across information technology" approach is reasonable—for example, when a company is looking for a new branding strategy. About of the time, all the same, it is a sign that before steps in the process have not been approached with sufficient rigor.
EWV stipulated that it would evaluate solutions on their power to run into the criteria of low cost, high storage chapters, low weight, and easy maintenance. It added that it would prefer designs that were modular (so that the unit would be easier to transport) and adaptable or salvageable or had multiple functions (and then that owners could reuse the materials after the product's lifetime or sell them to others for various applications). The overarching goal was to go along costs low and to assistance poor families justify the buy.
The Winner
Ultimately, the solution to EWV's rainwater-storage problem came from someone exterior the field: a High german inventor whose company specialized in the design of tourist submarines. The solution he proposed required no elaborate mechanism; in fact, it had no pumps or moving parts. It was an established industrial technology that had non been applied to water storage: a plastic bag within a plastic bag with a tube at the top. The outer bag (made of less-expensive, woven polypropylene) provided the structure's strength, while the inner bag (made of more-expensive, linear low-density polyethylene) was impermeable and could hold 125 gallons of water. The two-bag approach allowed the inner bag to be thinner, reducing the price of the product, while the outer bag was strong plenty to incorporate a ton and a half of h2o.
The structure folded into a parcel the size of a briefcase and weighed well-nigh eight pounds. In brusque, the solution was affordable, commercially viable, could be easily transported to remote areas, and could be sold and installed past local entrepreneurs. (Retailers make from $4 to $viii per unit, depending on the volume they purchase. Installers of the gutters, downspout, and base of operations earn virtually $6.)
EWV developed an initial version and tested it in Uganda, where the organization asked finish users such questions as What do you lot think of its weight? Does information technology meet your needs? Even mundane issues like color came into play: The woven outer bags were white, which women pointed out would immediately look muddied. EWV modified the blueprint on the basis of this input: For example, it changed the color of the device to brownish, expanded its size to 350 gallons (while keeping the target cost of no more than $xx per 125 gallons of water storage), altered its shape to brand it more stable, and replaced the original siphon with an outlet tap.
After fourteen months of field testing, EWV rolled out the commercial production in Uganda in March 2011. By the stop of May 2012, 50 to 60 shops, village sales agents, and cooperatives were selling the product; more than than eighty entrepreneurs had been trained to install it; and 1,418 units had been deployed in 8 districts in southwestern Uganda.
EWV deems this a success at this stage in the rollout. It hopes to make the units available in 10 countries—and have tens or hundreds of thousands of units installed—within five years. Ultimately, information technology believes, millions of units volition be in utilise for a diversity of applications, including household drinking h2o, irrigation, and construction. Interestingly, the main obstacle to getting people to buy the device has been skepticism that something that comes in such a small package (the size of a typical 5-gallon jerrican) tin can hold the equivalent of lxx jerricans. Believing that the remedy is to prove villagers the installed product, EWV is currently testing diverse promotion and marketing programs.As the EWV story illustrates, critically analyzing and conspicuously articulating a problem tin 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 better business organization functioning. Asking better questions delivers better results.
A version of this article appeared in the September 2012 result of Harvard Concern Review.
Source: https://hbr.org/2012/09/are-you-solving-the-right-problem
0 Response to "What Advantage Is There to Treating Each Implementation of a Solution as a Learning Experience?"
Post a Comment