Part 2 of a four-part series from the paper Looking for Ideas in All the Wrong Places, An Argument for Staying in the Box, by Gwen Smith Ishmael and Renee Hopkins Callahan

The Goal of the Fuzzy Front End

When working in the Fuzzy Front End, it’s not uncommon to set a goal of generating as many unusual, original ideas as possible. Most often, people seek to meet this objective by “thinking outside the box” – by ignoring business boundaries that typically are considered to be immovable and unbreakable.

Consider the following challenge: Using a crayon, connect the nine dots shown in the following image with as few continuous lines as possible.

The second illustration demonstrates how the problem can be solved if one is allowed literally to go outside the boundaries of the box:

The third illustration shows that another way to connect the nine dots with even fewer continuous lines is to change the shape of the box altogether – to totally alter the boundaries that define the box:

The fourth illustration shows that yet another way to connect the nine dots with the fewest number of lines possible is to stay inside the box – to acknowledge the boundaries of the box and see them as enablers rather than inhibitors. By peeling the wrapper off the crayon, turning it sideways, and swiping the crayon down over the nine dots, the result is that all nine dots are connected with a single line, without changing the shape of the box, nor going outside its parameters:

How is the nine-dot exercise relevant to those of us who are responsible for working in the Fuzzy Front End? Well, it certainly shows that unique and innovative solutions can be generated if one is allowed to think outside the box and/or to change the box altogether. But in the real world, we seldom have the luxury of being able to ignore the parameters of the business – the box. And often, if we try to generate new and original ideas by disregarding the environment in which we operate, those ideas turn out to be useless when it comes to developing new products and services.

So, as counterintuitive as this may seem, perhaps the objective when working in the Fuzzy Front End is not to generate as many original ideas as possible. Perhaps the true goal should be to generate a large number of unique ideas that are relevant and actionable – ideas that can be successfully used to meet the needs of the business.

PREVIOUSLY: Part 1, Introduction

NEXT: Part 3, Why Staying In The Box is a Good Thing

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