Great inventions begin with an observation or intention, not a problem

Touch grass immediately + surrendering to growth (Issue #285)

“We need to understand what problem we’re solving,” is a refrain I’ve heard in countless product strategy meetings — at Medium and in every company I’ve been part of.

This is especially true in software design, where, typically, you work backwards from a problem toward potential solutions. Product management, as Ujjwal Trivedi describes, is the discipline of defining those problems, which often means finding latent problems hidden beneath the ones you’ve named.

The process usually goes something like this:

1. Understand the problem deeply.
2. Define a precise solution.
3. Craft an experience that is intentional and predictable.
4. Ship a finished product that behaves exactly as expected.

But, as designer-turned-writer Patrick Morgan observes, that isn’t how some of the best things on Earth were invented. Most truly monumental inventions began not with a problem, but with an observation. Alexander Fleming didn’t set out to discover antibiotics; he just noticed weird white mold growing in his petri dish (hello, penicillin). Post-It notes were a failed glue experiment. Even LLMs, Morgan notes, are probabilistic instead of deterministic — they resist complete understanding, and their outputs are always a little unexpected (by design). The problems they solve are still kind of TBD.

Morgan’s story focuses on designing AI experiences, but the thrust is something I think anyone can take to heart: sometimes the best solutions come from just following your instincts, making things that interest you, and figuring out where you can use them later. “Solutions in search of problems” aren’t always a waste of time.

With that in mind, Morgan reverses his design process. Instead of beginning with the problem, he begins with an intention.

1. Have an intent — an idea of what you’re trying to achieve.
2. Experiment, iterate, and push forward without much clarity.
3. Uncover an unexpected breakthrough — it works, but not how you thought.
4. You study the breakthrough, refine it, and later figure out why it works.

— Harris Sockel

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🌿 My open tabs

• “Touch Grass” is a screentime-restricting app that “requires photographic evidence of you actually touching grass to unblock apps on your phone.” Seems inconvenient but maybe worth it if you’re desperate.
• Today I Learned: There are about 85,000 centenarians in the U.S. — and it’s projected to quadruple over the next 30 years. If you thought your twenties were fun, just WAIT until your hundreds.
• Note to self: Growth requires surrendering. (Alex Elle)

🔎 A petite dose of practical wisdom

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