Altered Perspective: Search Strategies for Innovators (Volume 2)

By H. Evan Woodhead

Altered Perspective: Search Strategies for Innovators (Volume 2) expands on the material in Volume 1, by describing and explaining additional tools and techniques that can be used to find more and better solutions to whatever problem is at hand.
There is a time-honored five-step method for problem-solving. 1. Define the problem. 2. Generate lots of ideas for possible solutions. 3. Choose the best solution from among the alternatives. 4. Implement the chosen solution. 5. Use the implemented solution to produce the intended benefits. It sounds simple, and it is. But it often fails spectacularly, and the weakest link is the decision-making stage - especially the step where creative thinking takes place and lots of possible solutions are identified. This step is frequently executed very poorly. It may be glossed over with mere lip service. Sometimes it is simply ignored entirely.
Altered Perspective: Search Strategies for Innovators is focused on the idea-generating part of the problem-solving process. The concept of Altered Perspective is about finding a fresh viewpoint, from which we can see a different solution. This concept is leveraged in a variety of "ideation" tools that problem solvers can leverage in the search for innovative solutions. The range of techniques include methods for use with groups as well as personal techniques for use by an individual working alone.
Altered Perspective: Search Strategies for Innovators is intended to be a practical guide to the methods for creating new ideas and discovering new possibilities. To ensure it is a complete and self-sufficient treatment of the subject, it includes an explanation of how and where these techniques fit into the larger problem-solving landscape, and gives examples of how they have been used successfully.

• Language: English
• Publisher: H. Evan Woodhead
• Release date: Apr 7, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310712593

H. Evan Woodhead

H. Evan Woodhead, PMP, BSc, MBA, DSc is an author and management consultant specializing in the theory and practice of innovation in the solution of real-world business problems.The science of decision-making has always acknowledged the importance of art - the creative process of generating a robust set of options before choosing a course of action. But it is packed full of models and methods for comparing proposed solutions, wile the cupboard is nearly empty when we look for help unearthing fresh new possibilities.For decades the "experts" on business success - Visionaries, Motivational Speakers, Consultants - have told us we need to "get out of the box" to break out of the pack and take a business to the next level. They paint a very compelling and exciting picture of the benefits. And they are right. But on the subject of how to go about it, not so much.Evan's books finally answer the critical "How" questions:How do we break free of the established solutions, and find something completely new?How can we separate the policies, rules, habits and traditions that prevent disaster apart from the ones that chain us to mediocrity or even doom us to a slow death?How can we find a different way to look at our business that breathes fresh life into it?And ultimately - how can we differentiate our business from the rest of the industry and leap to a new level of competitive advantage?

Book preview

ALTERED

PERSPECTIVE

SEARCH STRATEGIES

FOR

INNOVATORS

Volume 2

H. EVAN WOODHEAD

Copyright 2016 Harry Evan Woodhead

Smashwords Edition

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Cover Photo Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Cover Photo Scan Credit: NASA Johnson

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Altered:

adjective

1.Changed;

2.Not the same as it was before.

Perspective:

noun

1.Artist's method for depicting 3-dimensional subjects using a 2-dimensional medium;

2.Point of view. Determines what can and cannot be seen.

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Table of Contents

Preface to Volume 2

Chapter 1. Introduction

Chapter 2. The Concept of Altered Perspective

Chapter 3. Brainstorming

Chapter 4. Open Space Technology

Chapter 5. Go Out of Your Mind

Chapter 6. Conflict

Chapter 7. Relax!

Chapter 8. The Black Sheep Method

Chapter 9. Conclusion

End Notes

About the Author

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Preface to Volume 2

"It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea,

pretty and blue, was the Earth.

I put up my thumb and shut one eye,

and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth.

I didn't feel like a giant.

I felt very, very small."

Neil Armstrong

The concept of Altered Perspective is simple to understand.

We start with a picture of the world that is simple. It is a hard-and-fast place where seeing is believing. It is very small, but it contains many people who strive and compete for control of their little world. Some of them work to carve out their place in it. Others fight to take over control of the whole thing no matter how large or small it may be.

It also has people who examine their world and seek to explain all that they see. These people also do their best to peek beyond its physical boundaries, but their view is sharply restricted. The seekers and peekers do not have enough information to explain everything that goes on in the world. Some of them are honest observers who try to find a theory that fits the facts. Others try to fill the gaps with guesswork. They will work hard to present their guesses as proven facts. Objective examination shows that the only proof of these facts is the influence of their proponents and the reputation of their supporters. The world stops at firm boundaries. No one knows what lies beyond the boundaries, so that becomes a place of fears and taboo. If this sounds far-fetched, imagine living in Western Europe during the Middle Ages. The world is flat. The earth is the center of the universe, and the sun and stars revolve around it. Do not sail beyond the horizon—or you will sail off the edge of the world and perish.

We have been looking at this hypothetical world from within its own frame of reference. If we step outside the frame, the perspective changes radically, as seen in the figure that follows.

The strivers, seekers and peekers are the same, but now we can look down like the gods of Olympus, and see them in a larger context. Their world contains so much more than they are able to see from their vantage point. It is the same world. It has the same limits and boundaries. Its people are the same. But given their point of view, it would take a visionary to even imagine the existence of the hidden parts of their world. History tells us what would happen to such visionaries. The seekers and peekers would call them misguided. If the visionaries develop a following, their critics will become alarmed and the conflict will intensify.

Eventually, however, someone will find a way to explore beyond the old boundaries. It may be the visionaries themselves, or their disciples, or inquisitive souls many generations later. Sooner or later, someone finds a way to climb to a vantage point higher than the rim of their world, and have a look around. The moment that happens, everything changes.

Suddenly, the world is different and new possibilities open. Climbing out of the rut is an essential first step, which brings new possibilities into view.

Additional steps follow, to take advantage of the new possibilities. They must discover new techniques and this can be slow, hard work at first. Once it begins, however, humanity spreads out to explore the new expanses. Each new discovery leads to others, and people find seemingly endless ways to make use of the discovery that started out as misguided and dangerous. This is an age-old pattern. When we look back on the barriers that originally seemed insurmountable, it can be hard to understand why they were so daunting.

This sudden flip in the perceived difficulty of a problem is one of the core ideas underlying the techniques in this book. Before we know the solution, the problem may seem impossibly difficult. After we find the answer, it seems unbelievably simple.

As we said that outset, the concept of Altered Perspective is simple to understand. On the other hand, achieving an altered perspective that gives a useful and productive new view on a particular problem is extremely difficult to accomplish. The purpose of this book is to build on Altered Perspectives (Volume One) and the other books in the Hasley problem solving series, by providing a additional set of techniques that can be used to attain an altered perspective on a problem, making it possible to see our way to new and innovative solutions. In order to enable this volume to stand as a complete unit and be useful in its own right, the background and context for Altered Perspective are required. To accomplish this, the first 2 chapters of volume 1 are repeated here.

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Chapter 1. Introduction

"The significant problems we face

cannot be solved at the same level of thinking

we were at when we created them."

Albert Einstein

A recurring theme I hear in discussion with clients is that they find themselves in a quandary. Their traditional markets are no longer a safe haven. Economic principles they have relied upon throughout their careers seem to have been swept away