Instead of trying on your own to solve a problem, or create the problem, or figure out the solution, and instead of trying to take a small handful of people and figure it out, I frequently recommend opening up to many different vantage points or multiple perspectives. This is where more is better than less. Invite your people in, and solve the problem, or, better, to first frame the problem and then solve the problem.
There are multiple vantage points in an organization, from philosophy, cultural policy, to strategy tactics, logistics and tasks, and many feedback loops within these vantage points. And this is a major point of acceleration. I often hear, “I want to bring no more that 10.” But the iterative relationships and interdependencies within the organization may mean you need to have 20 or 30 people there to really get to the answer. Sadly, this really tends to freak people out and scare people away. But there’s nothing to be afraid of. You need to invite people in to help you solve your problem (with a with a process in hand). This is a key way to get multiple vantage points in an organization, scanning together, framing a problem, understanding their creative process. And then, you can go through design, build, use.
Think again of the creative process model. Think about putting lots of vantage points into that model. You see, easily, that you'll come up with an answer much more quickly than you would in the old way, which is incremental, involves fewer people, lots of churn and ends up being kind of painful. Of course, you have to have the stomach for bringing in lots more people to help you address whatever that you're trying to create or innovate or solve. It takes courage.
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