Four Workarounds

Oxford University professor and award-winning researcher Paulo Savaget reveals the ways that the scrappiest organizations problem solve and how everyone can use the same tools at work and in life.

We constantly encounter complex problems at home, in our places of work, and in society at large. Even if we had all the time and money in the world, sometimes no good solution can be found. So, what should we do, especially when we can't wait? The answer: A Workaround.

When Paulo Savaget was ten months old growing up in Brazil, he became deathly ill. His parents had no access to baby formula he needed-but managed to save his life using a simple workaround. Decades later, Savaget began to study workarounds to find different ways they can address our most urgent problems.

For ages, corporations have been lecturing the world on how to get things done-but Savaget soon discovered that much about problem-solving can be learned from the scrappiest groups.

He focused his research on groups that have made an artform out of subverting the status quo. He identified four workarounds: the piggyback, the loophole, the roundabout, and the next-best. This book explains how each one works and how to know which one to use when.

The Four Workarounds covers stories of how seemingly intractable problems - from public urination to the challenges of delivering life-saving medicine to remote communities - were unconventionally addressed. Savaget shows how some of the world's most influential and admired organizations have used and benefited from these scrappy tactics. And he demonstrates how we can, too.