Kidlin's Law and why it matters

‘𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘧 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘥’. Welcome to Kidlin’s Law. 

This law got its name from a fictional character in James Clavell’s book ‘King Rat’.

While this law sounds simple, it holds deep truth for organisations navigating complexity.

🟠 To write down the problem clearly means we need to define it.

And we have all had the manager who has told us: Don’t come to me with problems, come to me with solutions. Or perhaps you have said that yourself! I am guilty of this too.

🟠 Too often, we rush to solve without truly understanding what we’re solving. We frame solutions as problems with statements like ‘We need a new system’, rather than pausing to explore why. 

🟠 That’s where human-centred design practices add value, especially when delivering change.

⚙️ Tools like journey maps, empathy interviews and ideation aren’t just creative exercises - they are problem-framing tools that involve people close to the problem and early in the change discovery phase. 

These tools help us shift from:

➡️ Symptoms to root causes

➡️ Complexity to clarity

➡️ Focus on solutions to problem defining 

➡️ Assumptions to co-creation

🎁 The reward, according to Kidlin is that once we clearly define the problem is that we are halfway to the solution. 🎁

Here at #changehacks we have an online course dedicated to Where Design Thinking Meets Change Management. You can check it out here along with our other learning programs.