Once upon a time, a really expensive Mars rover was shot into space, travelled 131 million km to Mars, and tried to land.
The landing gear broke and the Mars rover crashed. Kablooie! 💥 The mission failed.
The Earthlings really wanted to check out the surface of Mars, but they couldn't afford to lose another super-expensive rover.
As long as the highly complex landing gear couldn't survive the landing on Mars, they were afraid to send another lander.
The project stalled as they tried to re-engineer the landing gear.
Lots of resources were thrown at this difficult problem. Time, money 💰 and personnel worked day and night to figure it out.
Until some clever bloke asked the question: Is our job to build the best Mars rover landing gear...or find the safest, most reliable way to get the rover to the Mar's surface?
By re-framing the problem from optimizing the landing gear to finding the best way to get the rover safely to Mars, the engineers started looking at other ways.
Ultimately, and fairly fast, they found a relatively cheap idea: surround the rover with big "balloons" wich would deploy when it got close to the surface of Mars. It would softly bounce to a stop within the landing zone.
It worked.
And the rover went on to have a legendary tour on Mars, and live happily ever after.
The Takeaway: Take time to ask the right questions.
Which problem should you actually be solving, and why?
What does the desired end result look like and what are three viable solutions to consider?
Look at different perspectives, be creative, break the status quo.
It's not always easy, but more often than we imagine, it works.
Be Your Absolute Best. Ask The Right Questions.
Boswell Communication Training
Home Of The Presentation BlackSheep
www.boswell-communication-training.com
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