Choosing the Right Method
Having a toolkit is not enough - the skilled innovator matches the method to the problem. The wrong method wastes time and produces weak results; the right one unlocks the problem. Here is a practical guide to method selection.
| If the problem is... | Use... |
|---|---|
| Finding unmet needs (ongoing, near-term) | Needfinding |
| Unmet / unarticulated future needs (H2-H3) | DDI |
| Underserved outcomes to measure | ODI |
| Designing a system people interact with | Design Thinking / HCD |
| A hard technical contradiction | TRIZ / ARIZ |
| Stuck on how the problem is framed | Question Storming / Lateral Thinking |
| Needing many options fast | Brainstorming (then converge) |
Match the method
Read each scenario and pick the best-fit method. Then reveal the reasoning.
Customers keep buying your product but complain the setup experience is frustrating and confusing.
Your engineers are stuck: making the battery last longer makes the device too heavy to be practical.
You want a steady stream of near-term opportunities around unmet customer needs for your H1 pipeline.
The team has been circling the same tired ideas for weeks and cannot see the problem freshly.
Look at a current initiative. Which method does it actually call for - and which method is your team defaulting to instead? What would change if you switched?
Sources
- Global Innovation Institute (GInI), Foundations of Innovation - methods and their fit.
- Brown, T., Change by Design, 2009; Altshuller, G., The Innovation Algorithm, 1999.
- Ulwick, A., Jobs to Be Done, 2016.