Avoid Being Stung by the Einstellung Effect

The Einstellung Effect, where the German word means approach or way of doing something, refers to trying to resolve an issue, problem, or opportunity only by using approaches that have worked in similar situations, rather than looking at each new situation on its own terms.¹ This narrow, habitual left-brain dominated tendency inhibits creativity.

Another term for this creativity-innovation barrier is design fixation which may be defined as an “unintentional adherence to a set of ideas or concepts limiting the output of the conceptual design.”² The ominous word is “unintentional” because it reminds us that we may unknowingly or habitually rule out a fresh perspective.

Why mess with success?

Engineering professor and author Richard McCuen³ explains what we are referring to here as the Einstellung Effect or design fixation by putting it in the context of the following typical four-step engineering process:

1. Observation: “…Facts are collected and observations are made on the system.” 
2. Recollection: “…Past experience is reviewed and solutions to similar problems in the past are identified.”
3. Reasoning: “… Pros and cons of the possible decisions are identified and the implication of each alternative stated.” 
4. Decision: “…The best alternative is selected.”

What can we do?

Assume we want to avoid the Einstellung Effect because it typically causes us to miss out on personal and organization benefits often associated with creative approaches to resolving technical and nontechnical challenges. We don’t want to thoughtlessly get stung by Einstellung.