Watering Plants with Fire Hoses: How “Brilliant” Ideas Can Easily Fade Into “Obscure” Outcomes

A fire hose to water a flower pot? You are right, it is nonsense. Fire hoses were not designed to water flower pots. They were conceived to put out fires by pouring liters of water in just a matter of seconds. No matter how thirsty a plant might look like standing in its pot, a fire hose would undoubtedly produce a disastrous result. This blog is about these apparently brilliant ideas and how they sometimes fade into obscure outcomes.

This is my first post in a series of shared thoughts and snapshots about designed solutions that turned out with negative or positive outcomes. I aim to accomplish three goals by doing so. First, with the help of candid snapshots, I will elaborate on some thoughts about design and the unexpected uses of ideas, products and services. Secondly, I will explore unorthodox applications of design thinking to quotidian social situations. This is my lame sense of humor disguised as an experiment, so bear with me on this one. Last but not least, I will analyze and discuss the positive or negative influences some designed solutions have had throughout history and might be having right now in [m(y]our)] world.

Now, let me expand on two concepts that will be showing up frequently in future posts.

Unexpected uses of designed solutions. Although a caricature, watering plants with a hose epitomizes the conundrum of unexpected uses. We are surrounded by mundane objects with contradicting messages or confusing instructions. This ambiguity usually leaves room to interpret and use them in unexpected ways. This is a designer's nightmare.

Call the pros if you need to put out a fire.

Unexpected uses are a potential risk designers are constantly dealing with while conceptualizing a product, improving a service experience or envisioning a new technology. When an artifact or message is open to interpretation of use, users usually feel its their fault if they are not getting the promised or expected outcome. This is why research with users is so important while designing and developing anything intended for them. I'm interested in exploring new ways to successfully engage with users through research and gain useful insights that will benefit the design process.

Uncontrolled passion while designing solutions. However, designers can also become "too excited" when searching for a solution. The hose metaphor also symbolizes an uncontrolled passion that can cause a smaller problem to grow in complexity, thus asking for a more complicated solution. As the problem turns more complex, it can reach a point of no return where it practically becomes unsolvable. Think again on watering a thirsty plant with a fire hose. You initially might be solving the problem of hydrating a dry pot but at what cost. It is most likely the plant will be blown away by the hose's pressure, breaking the pot or even worse, killing the plant. Sure the gardener's intentions were good but a more thoughtful analysis on the plant's needs could have prevented this disaster. Just in case you got lost in the metaphors, by gardener I meant designer and by plant I was referring to users.

What comes next? On my next post I will try to do my first lame experiment. I will test design thinking on break ups and relationships.