How do you make sure that you are solving the right problem? One way is to look at how you have formulated the problem. Two Words, described by Robert Olson in his book The Art of Creative Thinking,* is a fun technique to do that. It can also lead you to unique solutions.
This is how it works:
- First you need to put your problem into words, that is, create a problem statement or a question. Let’s say I want to entice blog readers to browse my site, instead of reading a post and then leaving. The problem statement could be: “What activities can I put on my blog to keep visitors interested?”
- Pick two keywords from the statement. These might be a verb and a noun, but not necessarily. From the statement above, let’s choose ‘visitors’ and ‘interested.’
- Now list alternative meanings for each of the words. You might want to use a thesaurus, such as Thesaurus.com.
- Take the first word from the first list, and combine it with the first word from the second list. Use that combination to stimulate ideas. Move on to the second pair, write down any ideas suggested by that combination, and so on until you have exhausted the possible combinations.
For the two words above, the thesaurus suggests the following:
| visitor reader customer friend caller guest transient (someone who doesn’t stay!) interloper outsider |
interested absorbed affected attentive biased caught drawn fascinated impressed inspired moved responsive |
The combination “interloper caught” might remind me that many of my visitors do not deliberately visit my site, but end up here because of a search engine suggestion. If I analyse the keywords these visitors used, I see that the phrase “free tarot” and searches for card meanings frequently occur. Solutions might be to add a free tarot reading script and a page listing common interpretations.
The combination “friend biased” might suggest the simple solution of asking regular visitors what they enjoy most about the site and its contents.
“Two Words” helps define the problem
The technique also highlights what is wrong with my problem statement: I need to differentiate between the different groups of visitors (readers, potential customers, and casual visitors). Each group will need a separate set of solutions. Moreover, the word “interested” is vague: do I want visitors to be absorbed, fascinated, moved, inspired, impressed, or respond to a call to action?
The problem statement can be a problem in itself. How you define a problem will determine how and where you search for solutions, and influence the solution(s) you choose. In the example above, I made the assumption that all my visitors are the same—a mistake that could seriously hamper any brainstorming effort.
A problem definition can be too narrow (for example, my problem statement focuses only on those visitors who read a post, then leave), or too wide (I might want to concentrate on one group of visitors, rather than all visitors). In both cases, once I start brainstorming solutions, a fuzzy definition will be an obstacle in my search for ideas.
Sometimes, all you need to solve a problem—or to move closer to a solution—is to restate the problem.
Why “Two Words” works
Two Words relies on the creative potential of combinations. Combinations and juxtapositions are proven methods to stir the imagination. Gutenberg, for example, combined a grape press and a coin punch to create something new, and possibly the most world-changing invention until the Internet. What image does the combination “caller caught” bring to mind? Or “transient moved?”
Two Words helps you focus on the right problem. This might seem like common sense, but we can waste time brainstorming solutions, only to discover that most of them do not address the real issue. What this technique does is to help you look at the problem from various angles. Each combination of terms gives you a slightly different perspective. Synonyms seldom encapsulate the exact same meaning. By substituting keywords with synonyms, you encounter nuances of meaning that can inspire ideas or help you refine your definition of the problem.
* Olson, RW (1980). The Art of Creative Thinking. New York: Barnes & Noble.
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