Chapter 3 Challenge

- why is X done this way?

- are there better ways of doing this?

creative challenge != critical challenge.

critical challenge is about fault finding, assessment, judgment, adequacy.
creative challenge is about challenging (KEY) *uniqueness*.

"no matter how excellent X is, is this the *only* way of doing this?"

creative 'dissatisfaction' but only in the sense of 'not accepting X as the *only*
possible way' not a "X is inadequate" way.

Why is it important that creative challenge is not about criticism of inadequacy?

Because
1. if so challenge could be applied only to parts that were inadequate. This
limits the target of opportunity.
2. first inadequacy has to be *established* (independent of actual fact of
inadequacy or not). If we cannot establish inadequacy, we cannot challenge.
3. critical challenge calls forth defensiveness, counterattack and argument,
polarizing people into pro and anti groups.

'western sequence' - attack and criticize. Then look for alternative.

'non western sequence' = acknowledge what is there, seek alterantives. compare to
existing method.

there is often a 'default consensus' that the 'present way of doing things' is the
best way, or at least a perfectly adequate way of doing things.
often these 'reasons' are historical oddities. london taxis and tophats. why french
ride on the right.

as a mental exercise/hack imagine there are many ways of doing X, each 'way'
written on a piece of paper, and put into a bag. At some point, someone drew out a
slip, and what was on the slip became, over time, the established 'the way' of
doing X.

With creative challenge we *assume* that *whatever* the current way of doing things
is, is just one of many possible ways, and was just "drawn out of the bag". We then
set out to look for other ways.

The creative challenge is often *expressed* as a 'why question'?

"Why are plates round?"

Though the expression uses 'why', the actual reasons why plates are round are not
important (originally plates were made on a potter's wheel, which made them round,
and people got used to them). the real question we are asking is "why are round
plates the only way plates are?" or "What about non round plates"?

Next step. (once we have expressed the creative challenge)

We search for alternatives by 1 or more of
1. blocking.
2. escaping.
3. dropping.

only vague descriptions are given and no examples. which makes it difficult to
really understand these operations. Diagrams are provided for each, but without
concrete examples these are only marginally useful.

alternate techniques
1. n whys (then find alternate ways of solving deepest why's answer)
why does she have to fill up this form?
so the manager knows what is going on
why does the manager have to know what is going on?
so she can allot resources.

we now find a way to allot resources without updating the manager via the form, or
even removing the manager from the loop altogether. This 'drops' the need for
filling up the form.
2. continuity analysis.
very often 'why' questions result in an answer of the form
'because we have always done it this way, and there has never been any
pressure, need, occasion, or pressure for change'.
this form of answer can be succinctly expressed as 'continuity'.

4 'forms' of continuity
a. continuity of neglect
b. continuity of lock in
c. continuity of complacency
d. continuity of time sequence.

Breaking free of continuity

1. circumstance change
2. technology change
3. value change
4. cost (structure) change.

Concept vs Idea. Concept Challenge vs Idea Challenge.

Shaping Factors. Mapping and challenging.