Find Someone Who's Solved Your Problem
When you need more options but feel stuck, look for someone who has solved your problem. Look outside (competitive analysis, benchmarking), inside (your own bright spots), or up via analogies (laddering).
THE IDEA
Find Someone Who’s Solved Your Problem
When you need more options but feel stuck, resist the urge to start from scratch. Instead, look for someone who has already solved your problem—study their solution, adapt it to your context, and avoid common pitfalls.
-
Look outside Use competitive analysis, benchmarking, and best practices. Search for analogous situations across industries, fields, or historical cases. Sam Walton discovered an ingenious checkout solution by scoping out another store.
-
Look inside Find your own bright spots—pockets where the problem is already being solved. Kaiser Permanente’s leaders found and scaled a sepsis solution pioneered by one of their own hospitals. On a smaller scale, ask: what can you learn from the four days you actually made it to the gym last month?
-
Encode your greatest hits in a decision “playlist” A checklist stops errors; a playlist stimulates new ideas. Create reusable prompts that spark fresh thinking for recurring challenges. Advertisers Hughes and Johnson use a playlist to generate creative ideas rapidly. For budget cuts, a playlist prompt might ask you to switch between prevention and promotion mindsets: “Can you cut more here to invest more there?”
-
Ladder up via analogies Look “in the distance” by moving from close, low-risk analogies to distant, high-risk, high-novelty ones. Scientist Kevin Dunbar found that analogies are a pillar of problem solving—scientists progress by drawing on analogous experiments or organisms. Fiona Fairhurst designed a speedier swimsuit by laddering up from similar suits to things that move fast in nature, like sharks and torpedoes. A distant analogy may suggest an unfamiliar approach, but its fit with the problem still needs testing.
-
Compare the borrowed approaches Check which parts of an existing solution depend on its original setting and which could work in yours.
How to apply
- Identify the core problem clearly.
- Search for analogous situations—both outside (other people, industries, history) and inside (your own bright spots).
- Reach out to mentors, case studies, or communities who have tackled the same issue.
- Adapt the solution to fit your specific resources, culture, and constraints; never blindly copy.
Caveats
- Make sure the problem is genuinely analogous—superficial similarities can mislead.
- Account for context differences: resources, timing, and environment matter when adapting a solution.
- Watch for hidden assumptions; a solution that worked elsewhere may need significant tailoring.
When to use it
When launching a new product, study competitors or analogous products that succeeded and failed.
When writing a complex software module, look for open-source libraries or existing code snippets that address the same functionality.
When developing a personal skill (e.g., public speaking), find a mentor or watch recorded talks by experts to model their techniques.
When solving a business operations issue, research case studies from other companies in different sectors that faced a similar bottleneck.
A startup looking to improve customer retention can study how other industries (e.g., subscription services) handle churn.
A coach trying to improve team performance can look for bright spots in past successful games.
A scientist stuck on a research problem can seek analogies from different fields (e.g., using biological systems to inspire engineering designs).
A manager facing budget cuts can use a 'playlist' to switch between prevention and promotion mindsets.
FROM THEORY TO EVERYDAY LIFE
In practice
Startup Finding a Product-Market Fit
A startup struggling with customer acquisition studies how companies such as Dropbox and Airbnb attracted users, then tests which parts of those approaches suit its own product and customers.
Student Learning a Complex Topic
A student having difficulty with calculus searches for online tutorials or study groups where peers have already mastered the material, using their explanations and practice problems.
Sam Walton's Checkout Solution
Sam Walton discovered an ingenious checkout solution by scoping out another store.
Kaiser's Sepsis Bright Spot
Kaiser’s leaders found and scaled a solution for sepsis pioneered by one of Kaiser’s own hospitals.
Fiona Fairhurst's Speed Swimsuit
Fiona Fairhurst designed a speedier swimsuit by laddering up and analyzing 'anything that moves fast,' including sharks and torpedoes.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
Put it to work.
What is one problem you are currently facing that someone else has likely already solved? How can you find and learn from them?
Think of a time you struggled for a long time with a task. Could you have asked someone for a solution earlier? What stopped you?
How can you broaden your search for solved problems beyond your immediate industry or field?
What difference between your situation and a successful example might prevent the same solution from working?
Identify a 'bright spot' in your own life or work where something worked well. What can you learn from it and apply elsewhere?
Use the laddering technique: take a problem, ladder up to a more abstract category, and find analogies in very different domains.
Often confused with
References
- Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard — Chip Heath and Dan Heath (2010)
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Source texts
- Decisive How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work (Chip Heath)
- Decisive How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work (Chip Heath)