What do marketers, product designers, business owners, and editors have in common? They all work with problems and test hypotheses to resolve them. However, there are times when professionals concentrate so profoundly on issues that they stop thinking about opportunities. Such moments put a person in a dead-end; the Flip-to-Action method helps to get out of it.
Danish product designer Jesper Henriksen created the method. Jesper Henriksen originally came up with this method for developing the Customer Journey Map, but it turned out to be workable in other situations. The scheme of this method consists in reframing a problem, generating an idea, and creating a sketch of a solution.
Flip-to-Action method consists of 11 consecutive steps.
In the article
Describe as accurately as possible the problem for which you need to find a solution. It is important:
Ask yourself, “Why is this happening? What are the reasons?”. Write out at least three hypotheses explaining the appearance of the problem. You can rely on research data or simply put forward realistic assumptions about its mechanism.
Make the hypotheses opposite – in a positive way. To make it seem like the problem no longer exists. There are two ways to do this:
Reformulate the three anti-hypotheses as questions like “How can we achieve this?”. “How can we achieve quick checkout without a manager? How can we make users eager to test the application?”
Choose the most exciting and promising item, “How can we …”. An ideal candidate is a question, the solution of which will give maximum effect with minimal effort. If there are several such questions, you can make a combination of them. Write the question come up with some answers to it. At this stage, it is better to act on the brainstorm tactics: offer options, even the most unusual ones, without immediately criticizing them.
Get rid of unrealistic and complicated options. The simplest and at the same time, the workable answer from the rest is the solution. Formulate it in one or two sentences and write it down. Imagine you pitching to investors or a publisher. The description should be as capacious, concise, and conceptual as the main idea of a startup or book. Try to write down the solution as short and constructive as possible. When an article is reviewed, key points are written to make it easier for the reader to process the information. Similarly, it would be best if you wrote a solution for your natural perception.
Under the pitch, indicate the beneficial effect of the decision: it is necessary to note who the decision is directed to, what exactly it is, and why it will be worthwhile. For example, you can write the following: “current partners will be able to select the necessary project parameters from the list, draw up a brief and send an application without the participation of a manager.
Draw a solution in any form: the story “it was – in the process – it became,” individual ideas of functions or the user’s path when using your concept. In any case, the drawing should answer the questions, “What is this?” And “What is it doing?”.
Describe the steps for implementing the solution. It is better to compose them according to the MVP model (Minimum Viable Product) – is a product with minimal functionality. It does not need a lot of resources, and at the same time, it is easy to test. Defining the minimum set of functions is simple – you need to leave only those of them, without which the concept will have absolutely no meaning. Everything should be excluding without which you can do.
Try to roughly evaluate on a scale of 1 to 3 how much money and time it will take to implement the solution. Long-term analysis and accuracy are not needed here – the main goal is to plan the costs for the first stage of development very roughly.
It should be a small, concrete, and simple action that you take right now. As a result, you have a concept for a solution – in other words, a hypothesis that needs testing. Not the fact that it will be confirmed. You may have to refine the idea and test it again. Maybe nothing will come of it at all. The main thing is not this. It’s much more valuable than you transferred the situation from the field of problems to the space of opportunities and are now ready to use them.
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
If you want to get published on victor-mochere.com, please send us your article using this form.
If there’s a topic you want to see published on victor-mochere.com, please send it to us using this form.
We are committed to upholding our editorial standards, including accuracy. Our policy is to review each issue on a case by case basis, immediately upon becoming aware of a potential error or need for clarification, and to resolve it as quickly as possible. If you notice an error or typo that needs correction, please don’t hesitate to contact us for immediate action.
Permission to use quotations from any article is granted subject to appropriate credit of the source being given by referencing the direct link of the article on Victor Mochere. However, reproducing any content on this site without explicit permission is strictly prohibited.
Our content is reader-supported. This means if you click on some of the ads or links on this website, then we may earn a commission.
Victor Mochere is one of the biggest informational blogs on the web. We publish well curated up-to-date facts and important updates from around the world.
© 2022 Victor Mochere. All rights reserved.
© 2022 Victor Mochere. All rights reserved.