Constraints are blessing in disguise
Your obstacles and constrains are trying hard to make YOU more creative
By the time your finish reading this, I bet you will agree that constraints are your best friends.
I think you are curious to know how, Let's dive in to understand how constraints leads to creativity đ„đ„Â
Constraints are those clear deadlines that your teacher or boss give while assigning you a task or assignment. They are set to do finish a work to achieve a certain outcome within a given time, process constrains or budget. These constraints make a goal look audacious and doable with given limits and helps getting things done.
Unshackled creativity seems to be the best route to novelty, but in reality some of the most innovative outcomes are produced when innovation is constrained.
Have you ever tried to put constrains for your own goals ? If you havenât you are missing a large chunk of creative side in YOU.
Put yourself voluntarily in pressure to come up with the best ideas. Voluntary constrains are hard to practice but pays in long term and become your best friend. If you are a creative person involved in some form of art you might already be aware of the creativity of Inctober challenges with pen and paper drawings. Creative people like song writer, innovator, artists appreciate constraints and try to push themselves to grow from those constraints.Â
Some of the most inspiring art forms, such as haiku, sonatas, and religious paintings, are made possible with constraints. They are beautiful because creativity triumphed over the "rules." Creativity thrives best when it's constrained. Disregarding the bounds of what we know or accept gives rise to ideas that are non obvious, unconventional, or unexplored. The creativity realized in this balance between constraint and disregard for the impossible is fueled by curiosity and passion which leads to revolutionary change. It is often easier to direct your energy when you start with constrained challenges (A face made of Starbucks Cups) or constrained possibilities (A creative art made on top of doodle art)
Case study of constrained InnovationÂ
When GE Healthcare had a goal to invent an Electrocardiograph (ECG), which revolutionized rural access to medical care. A formidable amount of constraints were imposed on GE engineers: To develop an ECG device with latest technology, costs less than $1/ scan, portable to reach rural areas and is operated with battery. The engineers were given just 18 months and a tight budget of $500,000 when its previous ECG cost $5.4 million.
GE engineers were not successful despite these constraints, but because of constraints. Constraints fosters innovation when there is a motivating challenge and helps in focusing efforts towards a more narrowly defined problem.Â
Can you imagine any other way of such a high impact innovation without putting constrains on engineers shoulder ?
Find the right balance of constraints
But there is a trick in finding the right constraint, you have to find a balance between whatâs a good constrain and whatâs going to restrict progress and innovation.
If the space within which creative ideas are generated becomes too narrow, it becomes even harder to form novel connections and serendipitous insights â both of which are vital for out of box thinking. Hence, the key for fostering creativity and innovation at your place is to strike a balance by orchestrating different types of constraints.
For creativity to thrive, set âflexible constraintsâ: categorize things in âmust haveâ and ânice to haveâ. Â Donât become too hard on yourself to set impossible deadlines, budget as constraints, be flexible and assign priority order to your most important constrain to abide by.
Types of constraints
The type and quality of constraints decides whether it's going to do more good than harm. Deciding which kind of constraints will work in which situations is a skill every individual should have to be more productive in their life.
Leaders( Especially in the public sector) typically impose two types of constraints: budget and risk. Unfortunately, neither of them is helpful. And it often leads to unintended negative consequences by narrowing innovation to tried and tested solutions.
Three approaches to impose effective outcome constraints. ( Applicable in personal & professional leadership )
Set a single, big new constraint â that forces people to think about the problem in a fundamentally different way
Some examples:Â
Making a new prosthetic leg thatâs 90% cheaper than existing products is an example of this. Which drastically shifts the perspective to solve the same problem in a completely different manner to reduce its cost.
Connect the worldâs remotest areas to the internet which led to project loon under Google X by connecting remote areas using giant stratospheric balloons rather than by laying cable in the ground.Â
Even if all ideas donât lead to great innovations, they are often a source of genuinely new ideas. Having a big, audacious goal creates an environment where the ideas need to be big and new to deliver the outcome.Â
Set conflicting constraints.
Constrains which intersect each other and needs to find a balace to find the optimal solution
Example-
Toyotaâs had a goal to make a new car which is faster, lighter, and more fuel efficient than existing luxury sedans. All the requirements were full of contradictions. So Toyota engineers returned to first fundamental principles and re-evaluated their most basic assumptions on how to build a car. Alongside tens of smaller new ideas, they built the first-of-its kind aluminium engine that made the car 120 pounds lighter, improving weight and fuel efficiency
Specify whatâs not allowed
Specifying whatâs the main agenda to achieve in a goal helps in prioritization, if time is the primary constrain, then budget should be flexible enough or vice-versa. This sets a clear agenda to achieve the goals, same goes with quality and quantity battle which often comes with tight schedules and deadlines. You should prioritize one over the other.
Good Constraints speed up development. For example, we get a sense of a new concept or idea is if we prototype it for a single day or week or keep team size up to three people or even lesser. By limiting how long we work on something or how many people work on it, we limit our investment and look for simpler ways to do things within that time or budget.
It's important to recognize bad ideas early and fail fast. Limited investment makes it easier to move on to something else that has a better chance of success. Innovation is born from the interaction between constraint and vision.Â
Internalize this in your thought process that whatever Constraints and problems you have right now, which you feel is stopping you from getting what you want from life, just needs a creative approach and perspective. Embrace them and try to become creative with constraint's.
I believe , you are feeling more positive by looking at your problems through a creative angle. For example- The probability of a middle class kid to succeed in life is much higher than a wealthy kid who has access to all the comforts of life. Look beyond whatâs obvious to tackle your problems, ask for help and gain courage and strength to fight them, to push through your obstacles.
Constraints always presents a learning opportunity.Â
Until next week,
Stay hungry, stay curious.
Sneha Prajapati