Constraints

You probably have attempted a well-known intellectual challenge known as the nine dot problem. The concept is simple: try to connect nine dots aligned in a three-by-three grid by drawing four straight lines, without lifting your pen. What makes the puzzle difficult is an assumed constraint that the lines must remain inside the grid. All solutions require extending multiple lines beyond the grid, hence the saying “think outside the box.” In practice, I find this aphorism to be untractable, so let me pose an alternate way of thinking: be cognizant of your constraints.

In the early 2000’s, Apple introduced a rotational input wheel on their iPod mini, called the “click-wheel.” This intuitive selection interface contrasted their competition’s four-way directional control (“D-pad”) interface. Perhaps designers specifying the D-pad unconsciously constrained themselves to buttons. Fortunately, Apple did not, instead leveraging capacitive sensing to enable an industry-changing hardware interface. The fundamentals of this anecdote regularly recur: different constraints lead to different solutions.

As a new software engineer, I occasionally designed myself into a corner. After reflection, if still unable to solve my dilemma satisfactorily, I’d present my situation to a more experienced peer. Several times the answer was that I’d exhausted all possible routes; the undesirable tradeoffs faced were unavoidable. Often, the proposed fix was stating what the code does not do, rather than what it does. In other words, removing constraints can be just as valuable as adding them. A useful analog is removing squares can create an equally functional checkers board as adding them.

Perhaps try in-place tweaks to constraints, changing the reactants without affecting the product. For example, a curve can be expressed with one equation, as the intersection of two higher-dimensional surfaces, as a transformation of a simpler equation, or approximated with a piecewise of basic lines. This sort of molding may enable one to express a novel solution, providing the foundation for impactful change.

The final point begins in 2006 Chicago, where a newly-opened Walmart led to 82 small businesses being shuttered. Working within the same constraints, competition shares the landscape—and small businesses can lose their edge. A coworker once shared a succinct philosophy: compete without competing. Seek out the unfair playing field, one with an exponential advantage… where two units of your work equals five of theirs, and four units of your work equals twenty-five of theirs, and so on. This nonlinear advantage is only attainable in a problem space shaped from different constraints. Finding a winning strategy in a landscape filled with large and experienced players is quite hard. Instead, examine the constraints shaping one’s surroundings, and find what amazing solutions seem to fall right out.

The next masterpiece need not come from an artistic genius; it may arise from a layman who simply chose a different medium. In conclusion: be cognizant of your constraints, how do you define the world?