When I was in
new product development,
the team leaders
would often hold focus groups
with potential customers
to ‘prove’ there was a market
for a product
we were working on.
The thing is…
we could determine
the focus group’s results
by how we crafted the questions.
If we wanted the product
to have a market,
we could create those results.
If we didn’t want the product
to have a market,
we could create
those very different results
using the same focus group.
Our agenda
was affecting the results.
Astrobiologist
Abigail Allwood
shares
“The chances of finding something
on Mars that’s interesting
are high.”
But
“If you go
with preconceived notions
of what you need to find,
then you’ll be blind
to what is there.”
If you truly want to see
what is there,
abandon your preconceived notions
and your agenda.