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INNOVATION MANAGEMENT5 MIN READ

Do not solve before the problem is shaped

Use the Double Diamond to decide whether an innovation team needs discovery, definition, development, or delivery work next.

The move: label the diamond before you label the solution. The Double Diamond keeps innovation from becoming a race to the first attractive answer. In the first diamond, the team widens its view of the problem through user observation, data, complaints, constraints, and edge cases. Then it narrows that material into a defined challenge that is specific enough to guide choices. In the second diamond, the team widens again by generating several possible responses, then narrows through prototypes, tests, and delivery decisions. This works because different kinds of uncertainty need different behavior. If the problem is unclear, more engineering is…

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