Failure can be an excellent teacher—if you can figure out where you went wrong. But how can you locate missteps? This article from Forbes offers a simple three-part protocol to conduct a post-mortem on a project to guide a creative revision. (Note: if you’re thrown off by the word “inefficiencies,” you might substitute “problems” or “failures.”)

The IGA Framework
The inefficiencies, glue, alternatives (IGA) framework involves three five-minute sessions of sitting with your eyes closed. For this exercise, you’ll need a piece of paper folded into three equal parts, a pen or pencil, a timer, and a comfortable, quiet place to sit. Here’s the three-step approach for recognizing challenges, understanding why they exist and discovering creative solutions.

1. Choose a recent project you’ve worked on, either completed or in progress. Then set a timer for five minutes, close your eyes and reflect on the most notable inefficiencies that arose during this project. As you discover them, open your eyes and write them in the “inefficiencies” section. Ideally, you’ll have more than one.

2. Choose one inefficiency to address. Before setting the timer for another five minutes, set your intention: Your goal is to understand the glue that held this inefficiency together. A few questions to ask yourself could be:
• Why did this inefficiency persist?
• Has it happened before?
• What was my role in it?
Try not to let blame dominate this session. The goal is to pinpoint the glue so we can melt it (find a suitable solution). Write a few relevant notes in the “glue” section.

3. In this final five minutes, you’ll brainstorm potential solutions to the inefficiency, capturing what comes to you in the “alternatives” section.

“Three Creativity Exercises to Spark Employee Innovation” by Cameron Conaway