Every problem is an idea problem
Every problem needs a solution.
Every solution starts as an idea.
Ergo, every problem is an idea problem.
How do you know when you’ve got yourself a problem, not a task? Problems keep you up at night. You stew about them during your commute. They take you out of the moment when you’re supposed to be enjoying your weekend with the family. If you keep rereading the same sentence of an article you’ve been trying to finish, you’ve got yourself a problem, and a problem responds to only one thing: Not hard work. Not long hours. Not a can-do attitude. Solutions—each of which starts life as an idea. One of many. This brings us to the simple but profound insight driving our work at Stanford’s d.school, the insight at the heart of this book: Every problem is an idea problem.[1]
See also:
- Ideaflow is the single most important creative metric
- An idea is a new connection between two things
- Idea quotas foster creativity
Ideaflow – Utley and Klebahn (2022), ch. 1, § “Every Problem is an Idea Problem” ↩︎