When we hear about a problem, our instinct is to jump in with a bunch of different solutions. Far more often than not, these are scattershot fixes that don't get at the root causes of the problem. They do more harm than help.

Building the habit of thinking deeply starts with baby steps.

Thinking deeply about reducing steps isn't something that comes
naturally to us-it takes practice, and time.

• Ask the opposite. When building product, the internal biases and assumptions you hold often obscure the real problem. When you come up with a hypothesis about a product-or really anything-ask yourself, "What if the opposite were true?" Force yourself to keep to this line of reasoning for an hour, and challenge each assumption you make.
• Storyboard the steps. Create a chart of the problem your problem's trying to solve, and write out each step-no matter how large or small-it currently takes for them to solve it. Look for high-friction areas where you can make things easier and more efficient.
• Create a concept car. Optimizely takes the idea of the "concept car" from auto production to describe prototypes of a futuristic looking thing, only with software. Instead of thinking about your limitations, ly about what the future could look like. This is another way of working backwards. It allows you to build from the end-goal out.