Page 69 - 100 Great Business Ideas: From Leading Companies Around the World (100 Great Ideas)

TECHNIQUES FOR

MAKING ASSUMPTIONS

Assumptions about the future underlie every decision you
make. Assumptions set constraints on your solutions.
People frequently force solutions into the shape they want
by manipulating the underlying assumptions. One man en-
tered the restaurant business after hours of computer spread-
sheet manipulations, assuming that the revenues would be
sufficient to justify the investment. Two years later he was
out of business. His assumptions about sales were wrong,
as were his assumptions about food costs and his own abil-
ity to motivate low-wage workers.

I know of only one creative technique for making assump-
tions. It's called assumption reversal.

26/1. ASSUMPTION REVERSAL

List all your assumptions about the problem. Now reverse
them and try to solve the problem. 2° You aren't looking for a
real solution to the newly stated problem so much as you are
trying to recognize the limitations of the solutions you come
up with when you use your original assumptions.

You can also use this process to get new ideas for solving the
original problem. Sometimes you can use it just to get new ideas.

Suppose that your problem is to gain additional market share.
The original assumptions are that another firm is dominant,
you can buy market share through advertising, and you have
a superior product or service that no one really knows about.

Now reverse those assumptions. No firm is dominant, adver-
tising doesn't seem to help, and you have an inferior product
that everybody knows is inferior. What are you going to do?

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