My mom keeps a "honey-do list" of tasks for my husband to tackle around her house. During our last visit, the task at the top of the list was replacing the light by the guest shower. The 1980s light was dim, but still functional.
As he sized up the task, he immediately noticed that it wasn't just a light. It was also a fan. Replacing it was going to be an undertaking, since it would leave a large rectangular hole in the ceiling.
My mom insisted that the fan aspect wasn't important - she just needed a better light. We debated. Could we find a fan with the exact proportions of this one? Or should we go ahead and repair all the drywall and insulate where the fan box had been?
That's when my husband shared a (literally) brilliant idea. Brighter bulbs!
We see it all too often in new digital projects. When teams get excited about a solution without fully understanding the problem, the solution is often much bigger than it needs to be. In this case, my mom was on the verge of investing unnecessary time and money. The best solution to her actual problem was so much simpler.
John Cutler calls this premature convergence, which he defines as, "when a team decides on a direction and/or tactic too early. The team limits optionality before the "optimal" moment. Converging too quickly ends up negatively impacting outcomes."
At Slide UX, we use workshops, user research, and UX audits of existing experiences to be sure we truly understand the problem. Sometimes, this results in dramatic changes to the project our client teams had in mind.
People often quote Einstein as saying, "If I have an hour to solve a problem, I'll spend 55 minutes understanding the problem and 5 minutes on the solution." I'm not sure the quote can be attributed to him, the point is still valid.
When you understand the problem you're solving and brainstorm a range of possible solutions, you're more likely to find the best one. And sometimes it's as simple as screwing in a lightbulb.
So today, my challenge for you: ZOOM OUT before ZEROING IN.