"but why hasn't it been done before"

In past posts I have talked about a few types of arguments we currently use when developing technologies that I like to call "biased 3rd party arguments". These arguments rely on a non-existant 3rd party to "help" us judge what technologies we should develop and what technologies we should put on the shelf. A perfect example is the devil's advocate. When someone invokes the devils advocate, they are not themselves making an argument against an idea, they are bringing in a 3rd party (the devil's advocate) in order to make an argument they may or may not believe in. Occam's razor is the same way, it invokes a 3rd party to come and make an argument. The problem with these arguments is that they are inherently biased toward the status quo by allowing people who dont have a valid argument to substantiate the claims they are making.

Adding to this list, lets talk about the question "why hasn't this been done before". If you have every worked on a project that is even a little bit different then the status quo, I guarantee someone (probably a manager or investor) has asked you this. Just like Occam's razor and the devil advocate, this argument invokes a 3rd party, All Of Time, to enter the room and pass judgement on your idea and, just like Occam and the devil's advocate, All Of Time is much more biased then we think.

I struggle to really empathize with the folks that ask this question, but I imagine the thought process is something like this: "in all the human effort of all time, nobody has had this idea? impossible, someone must have already thought of this and found a problem with it, therefore there is a problem we just are not seeing". This line of reasoning is dangerous because it lines up all of the humans who have ever had a thought on one side of the argument and the idea holder on the other while simultaneously failing to highlight any real problems. 

I get nervous and excited when I show new people what I am working on because they probably are going to tell me something I am doing wrong. That happens all the time, and while frustrating, it always leads to a better solution and technology in the end. Creativity is just as much a product of criticism wich highlights solvable problems as it is "smartness". But invoking "why has this not been done before?" creates an unsolvable situation. While the idea presenter can guess or perhaps even come up with a convincing argument, they can never know for sure. Why were the abominations known as Crocs not invented until they were? We can guess but we can't interview all the people who lived and died in sweet ignorance before 2002 to find out the truth. What's worse, is that this question does not actually help the presenter at all. Instead, they are thinking "great, now I have to spend a few hours trying to come up with a convincing argument why nobody has done this before". So not only is there clearly no answer to the question, it only hinders the presenter in improving their idea.

So what should you do next time you see an idea that you are sure should have been done before?

First and most importantly, stop talking, and think with your brain. Clearly you feel like there is a problem with the idea. Its too simple. It won't work as well as the presenter thinks. This is your chance to help, don't screw it up by talking to soon. Figure out a real problem and then tell the presenter. This might take you weeks. You might need to talk to others about what you are thinking, but do not say anything critical until you have a real issue. When you do tell the presenter, don't bring any imaginary people into the conversation. "I think that your working fluid will have corrosion issues at the injector". It's good to be critical and you don't even need to be all that nice about it; trust me, people aren't! A statement like this can save months and months of project time and the idea presenter should thank you for being critical... eventually.