Constraints: Can’t Beat ‘Em

Two tech designers, Dave Evans and Bill Burnett, turned their Stanford course method into a best seller called Designing Your Life. This method is informed by their experience engineering popular apps. This, of course, is a job based on iteration, problem solving, and creativity. Their method has one particular principle worth sharing. 

The method addresses what they call gravity problems. Gravity, for example, is an unchangeable constraint on Earth. For an architect, for example, to complain about it, avoid it, or wish it away would be a waste of time. Instead, they acknowledge the constraint of gravity and use it to inform their designs. 

For Evans and Burnett, treating gravity problems as a problem worth solving is a misuse of attention and resources. Instead, these are facts of life. To use highly effective design principles, you ought to view the constraints as an opportunity for design. In that way, an app designer doesn’t brainstorm on how to make the common cell phone screen larger. Instead, she designs an app that fits to the screen on the iPhone. 

There are two main steps to reframe a gravity problem in your life:

1. Understand a gravity problem as a constraint rather than a solvable issue. 
2. Utilize the constraints as an opportunity to create focused value. 

In March 2020, fitness became prohibited in groups worldwide. Luckily for DEUCE Gym, we didn’t spend any energy trying to wish COVID-19 away. Instead, we played the game of business to the best of our ability under new constraints and created DELTA BRAVO. Now, men and women all over the world can have the DEUCE training experience for just one dollar a day. 

Are there gravity problems in your life that you’re treating like a solvable issue?