Approaching problems from a different angle can often result in solutions you never anticipated when you set out in the first place.

For my recent book, for instance, I was intending to put together an overview of the problems faced within the clinical trials industry when it comes to recruiting and retaining patients.

And then the title occurred to me – The Patient Recruitment Conundrum – which sounded to me like the title of a thriller novel. (Of the type favored by say Robert Ludlum, or Frederick Forysth).

This led me to revising the whole structure of the book such that it became a story, and to the development of a central character who solves puzzles and is brought in to solve the puzzle of patient recruitment.

Many people have told me they’ve preferred this to it being in a standard textbook style. Which all came about due to approaching the problem from a different angle.