THE PRINCIPLE

One way to come up with good solutions is to start at the end and work your way backward

One powerful method for developing a product or service is to start with the end – what you want it to be, in as much detail as possible – and work backward.

When imagining the outcome, don’t worry about how you’ll get there, that’s for later. For now, just describe the final result as fully as you can.

As an example, let’s say your goal is to be recognised as a top speaker in the field of management. What are some of the outcomes you’d like to achieve? They could include:

• being booked to speak at major conferences (for a hefty fee)
• being an expert guest on radio and TV shows when they discuss your specialist topic
• being profiled in the major UK management trade publications
• being paid to consult with top managers to coach them to deliver their own presentations.

Now you can start working backward from each of these outcomes. Before you are booked to speak at major conferences, what else would have to happen? Usually, you’d be booked to speak at paying lower-end events where you could prove your skill and be noticed by agents from speakers’ bureaux.

Then work backward from that step. Before you are booked for those kinds of events, you might hone your speaking ability by speaking for free for charities and civic organisations.

And before that, you might need to gain confidence and skill by joining Toastmasters, where you can practise and get constructive feedback.

When you’ve worked your way back from each of your desired outcomes to where you are today, you will have a complete roadmap for how to get from here to where you want to be.

Website bonus

At www.CreativityNowOnline.com, click on the ‘Creativity Now!’ button. Bonus 11 is a map of how I started with the end-vision of an information product I sell on the internet and worked my way back, right to the beginning step.