Field note · critical thinking
“Think outside the box” can be a useful request. It helps to ask which assumption is getting in the way.
What they say
“We need to think outside the box.”
What it can mean
“My opinion is better than your opinion.”
Dileep Rao puts it sharper: “Get out of your box and get into my box.”
01 · The original
It comes from the nine dots puzzle, used as a teaching metaphor since at least 1954. Nine dots in a three by three grid, four straight lines, connect all of them. Most people fail on the first attempt because they keep the lines inside the square the dots suggest. Nothing in the instructions puts them there.
Consultants carried the puzzle into boardrooms through the 1970s and 1980s. The story that it started inside Walt Disney is repeated everywhere and sourced nowhere. Wikipedia files it among the unconfirmed accounts, with no date and no document behind it.
02 · The trap
In the puzzle, you impose a boundary that the instructions never required. Questioning it helps you solve the problem. In a meeting, though, the person asking may already have an answer in mind.
It is worth checking whether you are being asked to reconsider an assumption or support a preferred conclusion.
03 · The test
“Which assumption should I drop?”
For example: do we have to use the current supplier? Does this need to launch in March? Naming a constraint gives the discussion somewhere to go. If the reply only repeats the desired answer, the request is still unclear.
| Opening a box | Defending one |
|---|---|
| Names a constraint to suspend | Names an outcome to reach |
| Survives a worse answer than expected | Only accepts one answer |
| Asks what you assumed | Tells you what you missed |
The rule
Name the constraint you want to question.
You may still disagree about the answer, but you have a clearer question to work on.