The Side-effect Solutions

by JT

Survey on you

Online dating stats:

Active users?Dates?Marriages?Think it's lame?Think users are desperate?Hesitant to tell others?Tell strangers you're single and looking?

You are a bad data sample.

The problem with dating sites is...

...they are called dating sites.

Opposite of how people date in real life.

Any effort makes you look desperate.

Second to an off-line date

They want to keep you single

I'm not saying online dating will never work.

The point

There's a special type of problems,

where the direct solutions are not

the most effective solutions.

"The itch problem"

A Side-effect Solution

Examples

Networking

Old solution: "Networking" events

Fail: Douche bags

New solution: Events with other purposes

People will network.

Dating

Old solution: Bars, single events, dating sites

Fail: Douche bags, not "sexy", "magical"

New solution: Concerts, classes, bookstores

People will flirt.

Advertising

Old solution: Commercials in your face

Fail: Intrusive, not relevant, desensiting

New solution: Search, blog affiliated ads

People will buy.

Welfare

Old solution: Money

Fail: Dependency

New solution: Education, transit, internet

People will earn.

Hiring

Old solution: Job ads

Fail: Unskilled applicants

New solution: Contests (Netflix)

People will work.

And many more...

Teaching

Health care

Credits and loans

College admission

Recycling

Social movements

Any kind of user interface

How do I find side-effect solutions?

There's no magical formula.

Strategies

Step 1: Recognize the itch

Recognize the itch

Direct solution is not working (easy)

Direct solution is working, but not well (hard)

Solution has internal conflicts

The problem is related to other problems in which the solution do not solve.

Strategies

Step 1: Recognize the itch

Step 2: Brainstorm for solutions

Brainstorm for solutions

Situations where the problem doesn't exist

Parallel problems, how to solve them

Break it down

Exaggerate, examine and isolate

Or something complete different

Strategies

Step 1: Recognize the itch

Step 2: Brainstorm for solutions

Step 3: Apply, rinse and repeat

Game with a purpose (gwap.com)

Side-effect solutions in real action.

Founded by: Luis von Ahn (CMU)

Google talk: search for "human computation"

JT is not affiliated with this project.

That's all.

JT

Web developer / Entrepreneur

simplyjt.com (slides, email)

Questions? Or brainstorm?