Why Not?

Table of Contents

Preface: Why Why Not?

1. The Way Things Never Were
   • A Wake-up Call
   • Innovations That Are Just Waiting to Happen
   • Problem Solving On the Fly--Just Say No
   • Preemptive Strike
   • Our Plan of Attack
2. Good Ideas and How to Generate Them
   • Routinizing Ingenuity
   • Problems in Search of Solutions
     • WWCD?
       • Being Put On Hold
       • Like a Virgin
     • Why Aren’t You Feeling My Pain?
       • Why Lojack scares thieves (and The Club doesn’t)
       • Blockbuster Blocks the Pain
   • Solutions in Search of Problems
     • Where Else Would it Work?
       • What Goes Around Comes Around
       • The Airline Version of Movies
     • Would Flipping It Work?
       • Volunteering Not to Answer
       • Video Rentals
       • It’s More or Less Symmetrical
   • The Right Tool for the Right Job

Problems in Search of Solutions

3. What Would Croesus Do?
   • Taking the Perspective of an Unconstrained Consumer
   • Getting Started
   • Practice Exercise: The Unwanted Call Redux
   • WWCD Puzzler: Refinancing Your Mortgage
   • The Supplier as Your Personal Assistant
   • Case Study: Home Equity Protection
   • Case Study: iPing
   • Freeing Your Imagination
4. Why Don’t You Feel My Pain?
   • Internalizing the External Effects of Decision Making
   • Practice Exercise: HMO Life Insurance
   • Puzzler: All-You-Can-Drive Insurance
   • Case Study: Acme Rent-A-Car
     • Right Idea, Wrong Problem
     • Prizes versus Punishments
   • Case Study: Nielsen Ratings for TV Ads?
   • Case Study: Grade Inflation Transcripts
   • Working Backward

Solutions in Search of Problems

5. Where Else Would It Work?
   • Look for Idea Arbitrage Opportunities
   • Travelers' Tales
     • Royal Flush
     • Seat Belt Extenders
     • “Bust Me” Lights
     • Movie Theater Passes
     • Corporate Vanity Stamps
     • Why Not Here?
     • Religious Translations
   • Principled Problem Search
   • Practice Exercise: Video Rewinds Redux
   • Practice Exercise: Child Care at IKEA
   • Translation Puzzler: The Extended Deadline
   • Case Study: Bookstore Coffeehouses
   • Case Study: Black Box for Cars
   • A Video Resumé?
6. Would Flipping It Work?
   • Trying Things the Other Way Around
   • The Stress Test
   • Practice Exercise: The First Shall Be the Last
   • Symmetry Puzzler: Reverse 900 numbers
   • Case Study: ’Tis Better to Receive than to Make Cell Phone Calls
   • Case Study: 360-degree evaluations
   • Case Study: Opt-out Organ Donations
   • Case Study: Paying Not To See Ads
   • Anti-symmetry
   • The Tools Are Now in Place
7. Principled Problem Solving
   • A Guide to Thinking Inside the Box
   • Principled Problem Solving
   • Practice Exercise: The Four-Seed Puzzle
   • Practice Exercise: The Ten-Seed Problem
   • Applying Principled Problem Solving to Real-World Problems
   • PPS Puzzlers: Redesigning Mortgages
     • Constrained by Your Future Paycheck
     • Constrained by Your Present Paycheck
   • Case Study: The Silver Scholar Program
   • Confidence
8. Why Not Honest Tea?
   • Of Course Nots?
     • Caffeinated OJ.
     • Caffeinated Beer
   • Asking Why and Why Not
9. Reinventing Regulation
   • Virtual Strikes
   • What Does it Really Cost?
     • Is Talk Cheap?
     • Fill ’er Up?
   • The Anonymity Tool
   • Paying the Polluter
   • Principal Audit
   • A Safe Harbor for Probationary Hiring
   • Patents
     • Patenting Questions
     • Patenting “Law”
     • It’s Patently Obvious
     • Publish or Perish
   • Suggestion Box
     • Buycotts
     • Pre-IPO trading
     • Licensing Microsoft’s Old Windows
     • Campaign Finance Vouchers
     • Scheduled Jury Duty
     • Give Palestinians Stock in Israel
     • Standardized Calendar
   • Ask Not Why; Ask Why Not?
10. Implementing Why Not
    • The Art of Persuasion
    • In Praise of Sound Bites
    • KISS--Keep it Similar, Stupid.
    • Case Study: Who Took My Cookie Jar
    • Case Study: Adjusting the Frame
    • To Whom Should You Pitch?
    • Pathos: Instilling the Coventurer Perspective
    • Open Source and Egoboo
    • Tests of Success
    • Commencement

Appendix: Solution to the Ten-Seed Problem

Endnotes

Further Reading

Acknowledgments

Expanded Table of Contents

About the Authors