011: The Subtraction Technique: The Creative Power of Taking Elements Away

by | Oct 5, 2020 | Podcast, Systematic Growth | 0 comments

Imagine a package of powdered soup, a contact lens, a child’s high chair, and an exercise bicycle.

What do you think these items have in common?

Each one actually has had something subtracted from them. And that’s what we’re going to discuss today.

Learn how the subtraction technique works in breaking cognitive fixedness. Using this very powerful tool, it forces you to take out an essential element from your product, service, or system and see new benefits you might not have seen before. It helps train you to use your brain in a different way and see new possibilities.

Remember, the SIT method is driven by this idea of our need to break cognitive fixedness, which is the mental bias of how we see things in the world which can make it difficult for us to imagine them in new configurations.

 

In this episode you’ll hear:

  1. What is the Subtraction Technique?
  2. Feature Wars: The problem with adding features to your product
  3. The benefits of subtraction
  4. The common pitfalls and mistakes to avoid when using this technique
  5. The steps in a subtraction technique
  6. Examples of products using subtraction

 

Resources from this episode:

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