Adapt
Ask: what could be adapted or borrowed from another context, industry, or era to solve this problem?
Key takeaways
- What it is: Ask: what could be adapted or borrowed from another context, industry, or era to solve this problem?
- Why it works: Adaptation is analogical reasoning applied to design: finding how a solved problem in one domain maps onto an unsolved problem in another. This works because the solution structure — the relational pattern — can transfer even when the surface content is entirely different. Analogical mapping is one of the most studied mechanisms of human creative cognition.
- Evidence: Backed by observational / correlational evidence.
- Avoid: Looking only to direct competitors for adaptation — which reproduces the same frame rather than breaking it. The most valuable adaptations come from completely unrelated fields.
Why it works
Adaptation is analogical reasoning applied to design: finding how a solved problem in one domain maps onto an unsolved problem in another. This works because the solution structure — the relational pattern — can transfer even when the surface content is entirely different. Analogical mapping is one of the most studied mechanisms of human creative cognition.
How to do it
- 1Describe the core problem or function without domain-specific terms.
- 2Ask: "Where else has a problem with this structure been solved?" Look in nature, history, other industries.
- 3Identify the relational pattern in the foreign solution and ask how it could map to your context.
- 4Do not require a perfect mapping — partial analogies often generate the most interesting ideas.
What the evidence says
ObservationalAnalogical reasoning is one of the best-studied mechanisms of creative problem-solving. Cross-domain analogies reliably produce more innovative solutions than within-domain search.
Honest caveat: Surface similarity can mislead — a compelling analogy may not transfer the right structural relationship. Evaluating whether the mapping is deep or merely surface-level requires domain knowledge.
- — Gick & Holyoak (1983), schema induction and analogical transfer, Cognitive Psychology
Common mistake
Looking only to direct competitors for adaptation — which reproduces the same frame rather than breaking it. The most valuable adaptations come from completely unrelated fields.
IX Coach surfaces analogies from domains outside your field when you describe a problem, prompting structural mapping rather than surface imitation.
Practice this with IX Coach →