Creative solutions without endless overthinking

Ideas need time and selection

When solving a complex problem, you may spend a long time trying the same approach without getting anywhere. A short break can help you look at the problem differently. But there’s no guarantee the right idea will come to you during a walk or time off. Creative work also needs information, experimentation and evaluation.

Try a two-phase approach. First, come up with several options without judging them straight away. Then set criteria, such as cost, usability and risk, and choose what’s worth testing on a small scale. The number of ideas isn’t an outcome if none of them is tested.

Imagine you need to simplify an order form. In the first phase, come up with three different approaches. In the second, find out which one best fits customer needs and the technical constraints. If you’re not sure, prepare a simple mock-up to test.

If you get stuck, a short break or a change of scenery may help. But if the task has a firm deadline, decide when you’ll stop generating options and make a decision. Otherwise, searching for “an even better idea” can become a way to put things off.

Creative collaboration also needs a safe space for suggestions and a clear way to make decisions. A team can take an unusual idea seriously without automatically adopting it.

Try it in practice: For one open-ended task, write down three options, two deciding criteria and one low-cost way to test them. Then choose deliberately what to try first.