Looking at problems as opportunities

Are you a glass half-full or glass half-empty type of person? Are you an optimist or a pessimist? Whatever your thirst-quenching persuasions are, the guarantee is that we've all been in some pretty tricky situations where we just couldn't see the bright side. In this article, I'll be giving you the low-down on a particular exercise used in the Design Sprint that, by itself, is an excellent tool to turn a problem on its head.

When you look at a problem and focus on the issues, they tend to build up and paint an impossible picture to overcome. For instance, because I've recently travelled overseas, let's look at my travel experience gripes:

"The wait at the gate can sometimes take so long even when it says 'Boarding' on the indicator boards. I'm still waiting for at least 20 minutes before we board. I could've been spending time browsing around the shops"

"Long flights are such a pain and I find it so hard to get comfortable"

"It's so damn hard to keep my kids entertained while I'm at the gate waiting for my flight. Their attention spans are so short"

Ok, you get the idea. I've only put in 3 very short insights into my personal travel issues. Multiply that by all the people on the flight and it starts feeling overwhelming. It can be especially demoralising for somebody trying to solve issues in this problem space of air travel. There is a solution to this and it's called the "How Might We" statement.

The "How Might We" statement is great because it's a technique to change your POV (point of view). It flips the problem on its head and makes you think about the solution possibilities rather than focusing on the issues. In the Design Sprint we do this in 3 simple steps.

1. When listening (or reading) about somebody talking about a problem space, focus on a problem or an insight that catches your attention. Let's run with this one:

"It's so damn hard to keep my kids entertained while I'm at the gate waiting for my flight. Their attention spans are so short"

2. Grab a large rectangular post-it note and write "HMW" (short for "How Might We") in the top left corner of it with a Sharpie:

3. With the problem statement in mind, rephrase it as an opportunity question starting with "How Might We":

And that's it! 3 simple steps. There is nothing magical in rephrasing the problem statement into a "HMW" statement/question. However, the real magic is in what it does to your thoughts and your POV.

With the problem now rephrased as a HMW, a person reading it takes it as an opportunity or a challenge. It gets them to think about different ideas and solutions to overcome the problem rather than just focusing on the problem itself. If every insight and problem captured is described as a HMW statement, the opportunities will start to stack up and you'll have plenty of ideas to kick-start a change. You'll start being a glass half-full type of person without even knowing it!

You can use this exercise to turn negative workshops or discussions into positive solution-based outcomes. This technique can be used very effectively in Agile retrospectives as I've personally done this myself! Get people thinking about solutions and then start putting actions against them!

In the next article I'll talk about an exercise that helps get the most creative of your ideas on to paper!