THE ART OF PROBLEM DISCOVERY Brian Mathews March 2013 THE ART OF PROBLEM DISCOVERY Brian Mathews Associate Dean for Learning & Outreach at Virginia Tech Invited Paper, ACRL Conference 2013, Indianapolis Prologue Introduction How can we make the floors cleaner? That’s We’re all problem solvers. Every day we deal with the question that Proctor & Gamble asked its unexpected issues commanding our attention. We chemists.1 Years of working on this problem, fix things when they break and correct errors when however, yielded no improved cleaning solution. we detect them. We answer tough questions and make difficult decisions. So Proctor & Gamble took a different approach and hired a design firm.2 Rather than focusing on This paper isn’t about problem solving. Instead, I chemical improvements, the designers watched want to draw attention to how we think about people clean. Observations uncovered the real problems: how we can discover and convert them problem: mops. People spent more time cleaning into new strategic initiatives. Often we jump their mops than they did cleaning their floors. The prematurely into problem solving mode before mop was an ineffective tool for the task at hand. fully exploring the wide range of possibilities.3 This oversight can ultimately generate solutions that This insight led to the development of the are good enough, but not as good as they could Swiffer—a billion-dollar product line for Proctor be. & Gamble. The lesson learned is that innovation isn’t simply about asking the right questions; it Just to be clear, the problems under consideration also involves framing questions differently. Our are not operational. While day-to-day matters approach to problems is affected by the manner such as facility breakdowns, difficult patrons, in which they are presented. To the chemist, a or server failures are vital concerns, my focus is cleaner floor was a scientific problem, while to the on the impact of systematic disruption.4 Higher designer it was a human problem. education is being reshaped before our eyes. Many things we do today won’t be necessary It’s vital that we are able to shift perspectives when tomorrow. Likewise, there are many things that we need to generate different types of results. we’re not doing that we’ll need to learn. Library If our thinking is too narrow then we may miss leaders taking a problem-oriented perspective will breakthroughs. How we formulate problems is be well positioned to discover what’s necessary just as important as how we solve them. In fact, and empower their institutions to evolve more our ability to discover and translate problems may effectively. well be the most significant step toward realizing innovation. The frameworks and practices outlined here are intended to assist in identifying potential growth areas, which I refer to as the art of problem discovery. By seeking out the needs, problems, and aspirations within our communities, we can apply empathic measures toward success. Since each library is unique, I conceived this paper as a starting point to provide cognitive tools for addressing local situations. 1 What is a Problem? Problems as Products The problem-solving literature offers many Problem discovery encourages us to probe definitions, but for the purpose of this paper: around the fringes rather than to stay confined problems are “questions raised for inquiry, within conventional limitations. During this stage consideration, or solution.”5 Our pursuit is to seek of ideation we operate as designers visualizing better questions. Questions with impact. Questions numerous options. In this manner, problems that help us identify obstacles. Questions such as: become products waiting to be shaped. Some examples: • What three things do students struggle with the most? • A relationship with the prototyping lab • What challenges do researchers face • An understanding of the practices of when writing grants? biology post-docs • What information would help • An online platform for library instruction academic deans make decisions? These objectives (a partnership, an assessment, and Problem discovery entails looking for ways a website) represent things we can accomplish. around barriers. Good questions are our currency. Each of them includes a sequence of questions. They help us investigate the unknown and point What mutual benefits could be derived from the us in new directions. But not all problems are lab? What are the outputs of biology researchers? equal. Some are presented to us, while others What limitations of face-to-face instruction could are discovered or created.6 It’s important that be addressed online? we know the difference so we can engage productively: By treating problems as products-in-development, we can apply various strategies to help determine Presented problems tend to be ones the necessary tasks. Sometimes this effort is that have been encountered before, straightforward, and other times more complex. such as the process of shifting print For instance, a relationship with a particular volumes from one floor to another. What campus lab might begin with a tour in order to information would you need to perform gauge service capabilities, whereas interviewing that task? researchers about their needs would likely require a series of steps. Discovered problems are self-initiated. Imagine that noisy groups start using While having clear objectives helps to structure your quiet reading room. Your colleagues strategies, sometimes the outcome isn’t well may view them as a nuisance, but you defined. For example, the Swiffer designers started ask: why? What environmental aspects out by watching people clean. They didn’t begin promote collaboration as opposed to with the goal of reinventing the mop; that insight quiet concentration? had to be discovered. Created problems are ones we invent. Innovation thought leader Clayton Christensen Your team decides to explore developing encourages us to consider the job-to-be-done a mobile app for the library. What point of view.7 Our services should revolve around functionality should it have? What should enabling people to accomplish specific tasks. For the user experience be like? The act of example, biology post-docs might benefit from creating something new presents a series data management services – the job is to help them of questions that need to be examined. acquire a grant. An online instruction platform could provide students with basic research skills on-demand – the job is to help them write papers Different problems require different actions. The more efficiently. way they are framed potentially limits or broadens our response. Problem discovery, more than Although many aspects influence the product anything else, is an attitude driven by curiosity development cycle, the key takeaway is and empathy: how can we learn more so that we acknowledging that there are some things that can do more for our users? Problems are valuable we just don’t know. Accepting that, we design a in challenging us to confront business-as-usual learning process to fill those knowledge gaps.8 The thinking and to imagine what else is possible. In objective is to move our thinking from hunches this sense, problems are a growth strategy. toward more viable and actionable directions. 2 It is helpful to divide the product development address problems, while the searcher admits that process into three distinct stages.9 she doesn’t know the answers in advance and therefore commits herself to pursuing solutions 1. Incubation through trial and error. 2. Preparation 3. Production Searchers focus on specific tasks and test the effectiveness of different approaches, making Each stage requires a different attitude, perspective, adjustments along the way. Alternately, planners skillset, and objective. Incubation defines the adhere to fixed objectives and work to achieve the discovery period when different ideas are gathered plan as it was prescribed. and explored. During the preparation phase the most intriguing ideas are shaped into full concepts. Growth-oriented leaders have different objectives Through greater structure and application, we than leaders focused on sustaining traditional figure out what’s needed to make it happen. The operations. They push out in new directions, production phase transforms vision into reality. not settling for a static sense of excellence. The innovative leader doesn’t aspire to give users only they what, but aims to discover what they need Problem Designers and then designs solutions that will help advance When Ron Hickman pitched the idea of a portable those interests. The art of discovery is a continual workbench, everyone turned him down. There search for the next step. wasn’t a perceived need. So Hickman took his prototypes to trade fairs where the demand was overwhelming. Black & Decker eventually bought Thinking Lenses in and marketed the WorkMate consequently Astronomers use a technique known as averted selling over 30 million benches to date.10 vision for viewing faint objects.14 Instead of observing something directly, they glance slightly Not everyone can see problems. In fact, one of the to the side. This method enables them to see the biggest mistakes is to assume that problem solvers item more completely. should also be problem seekers who find and frame new possibilities.11 People focused on daily The same technique can be applied to viewing operations may be too entrenched to perceive or problems. If we look at them head-on, they may desire new directions. appear too familiar or too foreign for us to fully comprehend. Instead, we need to gaze across the Startup guru Eric Ries believes that organizations surrounding landscape. should employ two core teams: problem finders and problem solvers.12 One group remains on As stated earlier, how we frame problems impacts the lookout for what’s wrong or what’s missing, the way that we think about solutions. To do this and the other group is devoted to addressing effectively we need to apply adaptive thinking— the necessary changes.