Looking for workarounds

When there's a gap in a service, people will instinctively find their own workarounds to fill that gap.

Here's a wonderful one I saw recently in New Zealand. In some rural areas, mailboxes for a street or block are located in one central location. So what should the mail delivery person do if they have a large box or package to deliver and it doesn't fit in the box? These mailbox owners came up with an ingenious solution. This wooden block placed in the mailbox indicates that there's a package waiting in the plastic box below!

Some workarounds, like this one, are fun and will hopefully remain forever more (who can resist the quirky novelty of finding a handmade wooden block in the mailbox?). But uncovering workarounds is also a perfect way to find gaps in a service or product.

Find the gaps, and you may well find opportunities for improvement or perhaps even to create something brand new.

What workarounds are the people you're serving using?