The Anti-Problem

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Surface non-obvious intervention points for a familiar problem by designing methods to achieve the exact opposite outcome.

Use it when: Teams have run out of ideas on a known problem or suspect current practices might be worsening it.

Skip it when: The group lacks agreement on the core problem statement or faces an emergency requiring immediate compliance rather than creative re-examination.

Group arrangement: Subgroups of 3 to 4 people (or a single group of up to 5) working in parallel.

Timing: Gamestorming source cites 30 to 45 minutes; UWT structures this run sheet at 35 minutes.

Materials and tools

• 2 pads of sticky notes in different colors per subgroup
• 1 fine-tip marker per person
• 1 sheet of flipchart paper per subgroup
• Room whiteboard and dry-erase markers for initial framing
• Drafting tape for wall display
• Shared digital whiteboard and internet access (for remote or hybrid formats, with 1 connected device per in-person subgroup)

Before participants arrive

1. Define the target problem statement ahead of time.
2. Write the original target challenge visibly on the main room board.
3. Set out flipchart paper, markers, and two contrasting pads of sticky notes at each subgroup table.

Say this to open

We are stuck on our target challenge, so we will stop trying to solve it directly. Instead, we are flipping it into the anti-problem: the extreme opposite outcome. Your job is to invent concrete ways to make this anti-problem succeed completely. Write one idea per sticky note and aim for volume.

How to run it

1. Frame the anti-problem 5 minutes

   Present the original problem on the board. Work with the room to define its extreme opposite. For example, if the challenge is 'How do we increase patient portal signups?', the anti-problem is 'How do we ensure zero patients ever sign up?' Write the agreed anti-problem clearly. Form subgroups of 3 to 4 people, or keep 4 to 5 people together as one group.

2. Brainstorm anti-solutions 12 minutes

   Subgroups work at their stations. Participants write ways to cause the anti-problem on the first color of sticky notes, one idea per note, and stick them on their flipchart. Encourage extreme, fast tactics to guarantee the bad outcome. Call time at 12 minutes.

3. Gallery walk and reversal 8 minutes

   Give groups 3 minutes to walk the room and read other charts. Teams return to their tables and pick their 2 favorite anti-problem ideas. On their second color of sticky notes, they write the direct reversal of each tactic. For example, 'hide the reset link behind five submenus' reverses to 'put a one-click reset link on the login screen'.

4. Debrief and application 10 minutes

   Ask 1 spokesperson per subgroup to read their top reversed idea aloud in 30 seconds or less. Then select 1 debrief question for whole-room discussion. Take 2 or 3 quick comments that link the reversed ideas back to real-world operations.

Debrief questions

• Which anti-problem tactic sounded uncomfortably close to something we actually do today?
• Which reversed idea gives us an immediate, small test we can run this week?
• What system habit became visible only when we tried to make things worse?

Finished output: A posted flipchart of inverted tactics and at least two concrete reversed solutions per small group.

Remote

Run in video breakouts of 3 to 4 participants. Set up a digital whiteboard with a framed section for each team containing the prompt, an anti-problem brainstorm zone, and a reversal zone. Broadcast time warnings, call participants back after reversal, and share the main canvas for the gallery debrief.

Hybrid

Keep in-person attendees in physical table groups and remote attendees in dedicated virtual breakout rooms. Provide 1 laptop or tablet per physical table so an in-person scribe can post their team's two chosen reversals onto the shared digital board alongside remote teams before whole-room debriefing.

Access and participation choices

• Participants may sketch, type, or verbally dictate ideas to a peer scribe.
• Any participant may pass on speaking to the whole room by nominating a peer presenter.

If the session gets stuck

Groups generate pure jokes that seem unusable.

Ask the group to identify the functional mechanism under the joke, then reverse that mechanism.

Participants slip into solving the original problem during the brainstorm.

Remind the room that constructive solutions are banned during step 2. Urge them to focus entirely on causing failure.

Terms used here

• Anti-problem: The exact inverse of an existing problem, formulated so success means causing the unwanted result.