Organization That Focuses on Reading for Low-income Families in Dayton
Reprint: R1209F The rigor with which a problem is defined is the nearly important factor in finding a good solution. Many organizations, withal, are non practiced at articulating their problems and identifying which ones are crucial to their strategies. They may fifty-fifty be trying to solve the wrong bug—missing opportunities and wasting resource in the process. The fundamental is to enquire the correct questions. The author describes a process that his firm, InnoCentive, has used to assist clients ascertain and clear business, technical, social, and policy challenges and and then nowadays them to an online customs of more than 250,000 solvers. The four-step process consists of asking a series of questions and using the answers to create a problem argument that will elicit novel ideas from an array of experts. EnterpriseWorks/VITA, a nonprofit system, used this process to detect a low-cost, lightweight, and user-friendly production that expands admission to make clean drinking water in the developing earth.
"If I were given 1 60 minutes to save the planet, I would spend 59 minutes defining the trouble and one minute resolving information technology," Albert Einstein said.
Those were wise words, but from what I accept observed, most organizations don't mind 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 issues are of import. Without that rigor, organizations miss opportunities, waste product resources, and end upwards pursuing innovation initiatives that aren't aligned with their strategies. How many times have you lot seen a projection become down one path but to realize in retrospect that it should have gone down another? How many times accept you seen an innovation program deliver a seemingly breakthrough result merely to find that it can't be implemented or information technology addresses the wrong problem? Many organizations need to go amend at asking the correct questions so that they tackle the correct problems.
I offer here a procedure for defining problems that any organization can employ on its ain. My firm, InnoCentive, has used it to help more than than 100 corporations, government agencies, and foundations improve the quality and efficiency of their innovation efforts and, every bit a result, their overall functioning. Through this process, which nosotros call challenge-driven innovation, clients define and articulate their business, technical, social, and policy issues and nowadays them every bit challenges to a community of more 250,000 solvers—scientists, engineers, and other experts who hail from 200 countries—on InnoCentive.com, our innovation marketplace. Successful solvers have earned awards of $v,000 to $1 million.
Since our launch, more than x years agone, we take managed more than 2,000 problems and solved more than 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 role of the increasing quality of the questions we pose and of our solver community. Interestingly, even unsolved problems accept been tremendously valuable to many clients, allowing them to cancel ill-fated programs much earlier than they otherwise would have and and then redeploy their resources.
In our early years, we focused on highly specific technical issues, but we take since expanded, taking on everything from basic R&D and product development to the health and rubber of astronauts to banking services in developing countries. We now know that the rigor with which a problem is defined is the most important factor in finding a suitable solution. But we've seen that nearly organizations are non 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 accept realized while working with us that they may not be tackling the right bug. Consider a visitor that engages InnoCentive to find a lubricant for its manufacturing machinery. This exchange ensues:
InnoCentive staffer: "Why do you need the lubricant?"
Client's engineer: "Because we're at present expecting our machinery to do things information technology was not designed to exercise, and it needs a particular lubricant to operate."
InnoCentive staffer: "Why don't you supersede the machinery?"
Client's engineer: "Because no one makes equipment that exactly fits our needs."
This raises a deeper question: Does the company need the lubricant, or does it need a new way to make its product? Information technology could be that rethinking the manufacturing process would requite the business firm a new basis for competitive advantage. (Asking questions until yous get to the root cause of a problem draws from the famous V Whys problem-solving technique developed at Toyota and employed in Six Sigma.)
The instance is like many nosotros've seen: Someone in the bowels of the system is assigned to fix a very specific, well-nigh-term problem. Simply considering the firm doesn't employ a rigorous process for agreement the dimensions of the problem, leaders miss an opportunity to address underlying strategic issues. The situation is exacerbated past what Stefan Thomke and Donald Reinertsen have identified as the fallacy of "The sooner the project is started, the sooner it will exist finished." (Run into "Six Myths of Product Development," HBR May 2012.) Organizational teams speed toward a solution, fearing that if they spend too much time defining the trouble, their superiors will punish them for taking so long to get to the starting line.
Ironically, that arroyo is more probable to waste time and money and reduce the odds of success than i that strives at the get-go to reach an in-depth understanding of the problem and its importance to the firm. With this in mind, we developed a four-footstep procedure for defining and articulating problems, which we accept honed with our clients. It consists of request a series of questions and using the answers to create a thorough problem statement. This procedure is of import for two reasons. First, it rallies the organisation effectually a shared understanding of the problem, why the firm should tackle information technology, and the level of resources information technology should receive. Firms that don't engage in this process often allocate too few resources to solving major problems or also many to solving low-priority or wrongly defined ones. It'due south useful to assign a value to the solution: An organization will exist more than willing to devote considerable time and resource to an endeavor that is shown to represent a $100 million marketplace opportunity than to an initiative whose value is much less or is unclear. Second, the procedure helps an organization cast the widest possible net for potential solutions, giving internal and external experts in disparate fields the information they need to crack the problem.
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To illustrate how the process works, nosotros'll draw an initiative to expand access to make clean drinking water undertaken past the nonprofit EnterpriseWorks/VITA, a division of Relief International. EWV's mission is to foster economic growth and raise 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 director, as the initiative'south "problem champion." Individuals in this role should have a deep understanding of the field or domain and exist capable plan administrators. Because problem champions may also be charged with implementing solutions, a proven leader with the authority, responsibility, and resources to see the project through can be invaluable in this role, particularly for a larger and more strategic undertaking. Naugle, an engineer with more than 25 years of agricultural and rural-development experience in Eastward and Westward Africa and the Caribbean, fit the bill. He was supported by specialists who understood local market conditions, available materials, and other critical problems related to the commitment of drinking water.
Step ane: Institute the Need for a Solution
The purpose of this step is to clear the trouble in the simplest terms possible: "We are looking for 10 in order to achieve Z equally measured by W." Such a statement, akin to an elevator pitch, is a phone call to arms that clarifies the importance of the effect and helps secure resources to address it. This initial framing answers iii questions:
What is the bones need?
This is the essential trouble, stated clearly and concisely. Information technology is of import at this phase to focus on the demand that'south at the heart of the problem instead of jumping to a solution. Defining the scope is also important. Conspicuously, looking for lubricant for a piece of machinery is different from seeking a radically new manufacturing process.
The bones demand EWV identified was access to clean drinking water for the estimated 1.1 billion people in the world who lack it. This is a pressing consequence fifty-fifty in areas that take plenty of rainfall, because the water is not effectively captured, stored, and distributed.
What is the desired outcome?
Answering this question requires agreement the perspectives of customers and other beneficiaries. (The Five Whys approach tin can be very helpful.) Once again, avoid the temptation to favor a particular solution or approach. This question should be addressed qualitatively and quantitatively whenever possible. A high-level but specific goal, such as "improving fuel efficiency to 100 mpg by 2020," tin exist helpful at this stage.
In answering this question, Naugle and his team realized that the effect had to be more than admission to water; the access had to be convenient. Women and children in countries such as Uganda often must walk long distances to fetch water from valleys and and then carry it uphill to their villages. The desired outcome EWV defined was to provide water for daily family unit needs without requiring enormous expenditures of time and energy.
Who stands to do good and why?
Answering this question compels an organization to identify all potential customers and beneficiaries. It is at this stage that you understand whether, say, you are solving a lubricant problem for the engineer or for the head of manufacturing—whose definitions of success may vary considerably.
If the problem y'all desire to solve is industrywide, it'southward crucial to understand why the market has failed to accost it.
Past pondering this question, EWV came to encounter that the benefits would accrue to individuals and families as well equally to regions and countries. Women would spend less time walking to retrieve water, giving them more time for working in the field or in exterior employment that would bring their families needed income. Children would exist able to attend schoolhouse. And over the longer term, regions and countries would benefit from the improved education and productivity of the population.
Footstep two: Justify the Need
The purpose of answering the questions in this stride is to explain why your organization should attempt to solve the problem.
Is the effort aligned with our strategy?
In other words, will satisfying the need serve the organization's strategic goals? It is non unusual for an organization to be working on problems that are no longer in sync with its strategy or mission. In that instance, the effort (and perhaps the whole initiative) should exist reconsidered.
In the case of EWV, merely improving access to clean drinking water wouldn't be plenty; to fit the organization's mission, the solution should generate economic development and opportunities for local businesses. It needed to involve something that people would buy.
In add-on, y'all should consider whether the problem fits with your house's priorities. Since EWV's other projects included providing access to affordable products such as cookstoves and treadle pumps, the drinking water project was appropriate.
What are the desired benefits for the company, and how will we mensurate them?
In for-profit companies, the desired benefit could be to achieve a revenue target, attain a certain marketplace share, or reach specific cycle-fourth dimension improvements. EWV hoped to further its goal of existence a recognized leader in helping the world'south poor by transferring technology through the private sector. That benefit would be measured by market 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 be high.
How will we ensure that a solution is implemented?
Assume that a solution is establish. Someone in the organisation must be responsible for carrying it out—whether that means installing a new manufacturing technology, launching a new business organization, or commercializing a product innovation. That person could exist the problem champion, but he or she could also be the manager of an existing division, a cantankerous-functional team, or a new section.
At EWV, Jon Naugle was also put in charge 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 every bit EWV's country manager in Niger, where he oversaw a component of a Globe Bank pilot project to promote modest-scale private irrigation. His part of the project involved getting the individual sector to manufacture treadle pumps and manually drill wells.
It is important at this phase to initiate a high-level conversation in the system about the resources a solution might require. This can seem premature—after all, you're still defining the problem, and the field of possible solutions could be very large—but it's actually non 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 than expensive than others in the organization realize. In that case, information technology'south of import to communicate a rough estimate of the money and people that will be required and to brand certain that the system is willing to continue down this path. The event of such a give-and-take might be that some constraints on resourcing must be built into the problem argument. Early in its drinking water project, EWV set a cap on how much it would devote to initial research and the testing of possible solutions.
Now that you have laid out the need for a solution and its importance to the organisation, you must define the problem in detail. This involves applying a rigorous method to ensure that you take captured all the information that someone—including people in fields far removed from your industry—might need to solve the problem.
Step 3: Contextualize the Problem
Examining by efforts to find a solution tin save fourth dimension and resource and generate highly innovative thinking. If the problem is industrywide, it's crucial to understand why the marketplace has failed to accost it.
What approaches have we tried?
The aim here is to discover solutions that might already exist in your organization and identify those that information technology has disproved. By answering this question, you can avoid reinventing the wheel or going down a dead finish.
In previous efforts to expand admission to clean water, 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 manufacture or service. As Naugle and his team revisited those efforts, they realized that both solutions worked but if a water source, such as surface water or a shallow aquifer, was shut to the household. As a outcome, they decided to focus on rainwater—which falls everywhere in the world to a greater or lesser extent—as a source that could reach many more people. More specifically, the squad turned its attention to the concept of rainwater harvesting. "Rainwater is delivered directly to the end user," Naugle says. "Information technology's as shut as you tin get to a piped h2o organisation without having a piped water supply."
What take others tried?
EWV's investigation of previous attempts at rainwater harvesting involved reviewing research on the topic, conducting five field studies, and surveying 20 countries to ask what engineering was existence used, what was and was not working, what prevented or encouraged the use of various solutions, how much the solutions price, and what function government played.
"I of the key things we learned from the surveys," Naugle says, "was that in one case you have a hard roof—which many people do—to use as a drove surface, the most expensive matter is storage."
Here was the problem that needed to be solved. EWV constitute that existing solutions for storing rainwater, such equally concrete tanks, were likewise expensive for low-income families in developing countries, so households were sharing storage tanks. But considering no ane took ownership of the communal facilities, they often fell into disrepair. Consequently, Naugle and his team homed in on the concept of a low-price household rainwater-storage device.
Their research into prior solutions surfaced what seemed initially like a promising approach: storing rainwater in a 525-gallon jar that was almost as tall as an developed and iii times equally wide. In Thailand, they learned, v million of those jars had been deployed over five years. After farther investigation, however, they establish that the jars were made of cement, which was available in Thailand at a low price. More than important, the state's practiced roads made it possible to industry the jars in one location and transport them in trucks effectually 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 found that even empty polyethylene barrels large plenty to concur merely fifty gallons of h2o were difficult to bear forth a path. Information technology became clear that a viable storage solution had to be light enough to be carried some altitude in areas without roads.
What are the internal and external constraints on implementing a solution?
Now that you have a meliorate idea of what you desire to accomplish, information technology's time to revisit the outcome of resources and organizational commitment: Do you have the necessary support for soliciting and then evaluating possible solutions? Are you sure that you lot tin can obtain the coin and the people to implement the nearly promising 1?
External constraints are just as of import to evaluate: Are there issues concerning patents or intellectual-property rights? Are in that location laws and regulations to be considered? Answering these questions may require consultation with various stakeholders and experts.
Do you accept the necessary support for soliciting and evaluating possible solutions? Do you accept the coin and the people to implement the most promising one?
EWV's exploration of possible external constraints included examining authorities policies regarding rainwater storage. Naugle and his team found that the governments of Kenya, Tanzania, Republic of uganda, and Vietnam supported the idea, but the strongest proponent was Uganda's minister of water and the environs, Maria Mutagamba. Consequently, EWV decided to test the storage solution in Uganda.
Pace 4: Write the Trouble Statement
Now it'southward time to write a full description of the problem you're seeking to solve and the requirements the solution must meet. The problem statement, which captures all that the organization has learned through answering the questions in the previous steps, helps establish a consensus on what a viable solution would be and what resource would exist required to attain it.
A full, clear clarification likewise helps people both inside and outside the organization rapidly grasp the consequence. This is particularly of import because solutions to complex problems in an industry or field of study often come from experts in other fields (encounter "Getting Unusual Suspects to Solve R&D Puzzles," HBR May 2007). For case, the method for moving viscous oil from spills in Arctic and subarctic waters from collection barges to disposal tanks came from a pharmacist in the cement industry, who responded to the Oil Spill Recovery Institute's description of the problem in terms that were precise just not specific to the petroleum industry. Thus the institute was able to solve in a matter of months a challenge that had stumped petroleum engineers for years. (To read the establish's full trouble statement, visit hbr.org/problem-statement1.)
Hither are some questions that can help you lot develop a thorough problem statement:
Is the problem actually many issues?
The aim hither is to drill downwardly to root causes. Complex, seemingly insoluble issues are much more than approachable when broken into detached elements.
For EWV, this meant making it clear that the solution needed to exist a storage product that individual households could afford, that was lite enough to be easily transported on poor-quality roads or paths, and that could be easily maintained.
What requirements must a solution meet?
EWV conducted extensive on-the-ground surveys with potential customers in Uganda to identify the must-have versus the prissy-to-take elements of a solution. (Run across the sidebar "Elements of a Successful Solution.") It didn't matter to EWV whether the solution was a new device or an adaptation of an existing one. Too, the solution didn't demand to be one that could be mass-produced. That is, it could exist something that local pocket-sized 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. Merely a subsidized product was against EWV'due south strategy and philosophy.
Which problem solvers should we engage?
The dead end EWV striking in seeking a $20 solution from those experts led the organization to conclude that information technology needed to enlist as many experts exterior the field as possible. That is when EWV decided to engage InnoCentive and its network of 250,000 solvers.
What information and language should the problem statement include?
To appoint the largest number of solvers from the widest variety of fields, a problem statement must meet the twin goals of being extremely specific simply not unnecessarily technical. Information technology shouldn't incorporate manufacture or discipline jargon or presuppose knowledge of a particular field. It may (and probably should) include a summary of previous solution attempts and detailed requirements.
With those criteria in listen, Naugle and his squad crafted a problem statement. (The following is the abstract; for the full trouble statement, visit hbr.org/problem-statement2.) "EnterpriseWorks is seeking design ideas for a low-cost rainwater storage system that can be installed in households in developing countries. The solution is expected to facilitate access to make 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 access to clean h2o is limited. Domestic rainwater harvesting is a proven technology that can be a valuable choice for accessing and storing h2o year circular. However, the high price of available rainwater storage systems makes them well beyond the achieve of low-income families to install in their homes. A solution to this problem would not only provide convenient and affordable access to deficient water resources merely would also allow families, especially the women and children who are unremarkably tasked with h2o collection, to spend less fourth dimension walking distances to collect water and more time on activities that can bring in income and meliorate the quality of life."
To engage the largest number of solvers from the widest diverseness of fields, a problem statement must run into the twin goals of being extremely specific but not unnecessarily technical.
What exercise solvers need to submit?
What data about the proposed solution does your organisation need in society to invest in it? For case, would a well-founded hypothetical approach be sufficient, or is a total-blown prototype needed? EWV decided that a solver had to submit a written explanation of the solution and detailed drawings.
What incentives practice solvers demand?
The point of asking this question is to ensure that the right people are motivated to accost the problem. For internal solvers, incentives can exist written into job descriptions or offered every bit promotions and bonuses. For external solvers, the incentive might be a cash award. EWV offered to pay $fifteen,000 to the solver who provided the best solution through the InnoCentive network.
How will solutions be evaluated and success measured?
Addressing this question forces a company to be explicit nigh how it will evaluate the solutions it receives. Clarity and transparency are crucial to arriving at feasible solutions and to ensuring that the evaluation process is off-white and rigorous. In some cases a "we'll know it when we come across it" approach is reasonable—for example, when a company is looking for a new branding strategy. Nearly of the time, however, it is a sign that earlier steps in the procedure have not been approached with sufficient rigor.
EWV stipulated that information technology would evaluate solutions on their ability to meet the criteria of low cost, high storage chapters, low weight, and piece of cake maintenance. It added that it would prefer designs that were modular (so that the unit would be easier to ship) and adaptable or salvageable or had multiple functions (then that owners could reuse the materials after the product'due south lifetime or sell them to others for various applications). The overarching goal was to go on costs low and to help poor families justify the purchase.
The Winner
Ultimately, the solution to EWV's rainwater-storage trouble came from someone outside the field: a German inventor whose company specialized in the blueprint of tourist submarines. The solution he proposed required no elaborate machinery; in fact, it had no pumps or moving parts. Information technology was an established industrial technology that had non been applied to water storage: a plastic pocketbook within a plastic handbag with a tube at the summit. The outer bag (fabricated of less-expensive, woven polypropylene) provided the structure'due south strength, while the inner bag (made of more-expensive, linear low-density polyethylene) was impermeable and could hold 125 gallons of h2o. The 2-bag approach immune the inner bag to exist thinner, reducing the toll of the production, while the outer handbag was strong enough to comprise a ton and a one-half of water.
The structure folded into a packet the size of a briefcase and weighed virtually 8 pounds. In short, the solution was affordable, commercially viable, could exist easily transported to remote areas, and could exist sold and installed by local entrepreneurs. (Retailers make from $4 to $8 per unit of measurement, depending on the book they buy. Installers of the gutters, downspout, and base earn about $6.)
EWV developed an initial version and tested it in Uganda, where the arrangement asked end users such questions as What do you call up of its weight? Does information technology encounter your needs? Fifty-fifty mundane issues like colour came into play: The woven outer bags were white, which women pointed out would immediately look dirty. EWV modified the pattern on the basis of this input: For example, information technology changed the colour of the device to brown, expanded its size to 350 gallons (while keeping the target price of no more than $20 per 125 gallons of water storage), altered its shape to make information technology more stable, and replaced the original siphon with an outlet tap.
After 14 months of field testing, EWV rolled out the commercial production in Uganda in March 2011. By the finish of May 2012, 50 to sixty shops, hamlet sales agents, and cooperatives were selling the product; more fourscore entrepreneurs had been trained to install it; and i,418 units had been deployed in eight 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—inside v years. Ultimately, it believes, millions of units will exist in apply for a variety of applications, including household drinking water, irrigation, and structure. Interestingly, the primary obstacle to getting people to buy the device has been skepticism that something that comes in such a modest package (the size of a typical v-gallon jerrican) tin agree the equivalent of 70 jerricans. Believing that the remedy is to show villagers the installed product, EWV is currently testing various promotion and marketing programs.As the EWV story illustrates, critically analyzing and clearly articulating a trouble can yield highly innovative solutions. Organizations that apply these simple concepts and develop the skills and subject area to ask better questions and define their problems with more than rigor can create strategic advantage, unlock truly groundbreaking innovation, and drive better business concern operation. Asking better questions delivers better results.
A version of this article appeared in the September 2012 issue of Harvard Business Review.
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Source: https://hbr.org/2012/09/are-you-solving-the-right-problem
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