The moral to the stories of Dave, Melanie, and John is this: Donât make a doable problem into an anchor problem by wedding yourself irretrievably to a solution that just isnât working. Reframe the solution to some other possibilities, prototype those ideas (take some test hikes), and get yourself unstuck. Anchor problems keep us stuck because we can only see one solutionâthe one we already have that doesnât work. Anchor problems are not only about our current, failed approach. They are really about the fear that, no matter what else we try, that wonât work either, and then weâll have to admit that weâre permanently stuckâmeaning weâre screwedâand weâd rather be stuck than screwed. Sometimes it is more comfortable to hold on to our familiar, failed approach to the problem than to risk a worse failure by attempting the big changes that we think will be required to eliminate it. This is a pretty common but paradoxical human behavior. Change is always uncertain, and there is no guarantee of success, no matter how hard you try. It makes sense to be fearful. The way forward is to reduce the risk (and the fear) of failure by designing a series of small prototypes to test the waters. It is okay for prototypes to failâthey are supposed toâbut well-designed prototypes teach you something about the future.
Prototypes lower your anxiety, ask interesting questions, and get you data about the potential of the change that you are trying to accomplish. One of the principles of design thinking is that you want to âfail fast and fail forward,â into your next step. When youâre stuck with an anchor problem, try reframing the challenge as an exploration of possibilities (instead of trying to solve your huge problem in one miraculous leap), then decide to try a series of small, safe prototypes of the change youâd like to see happen. It should result in getting unstuck and finding a more creative approach to your problem. We will talk a lot more about prototyping in chapter 6.