The solution to the problem might be the problem

• An interesting notion from the book about design¹, that we have to postpone the introduction of solution.
  • Even if we know that we have a solution, don’t rush and present it.
  • Think over it more. A similar approach has been described in Harry Potter and MOR, but back then I didn’t get the depth of the idea.
  • Even now, to be honest, not everything clear, I have some ideas about how problems have to be resolved and prepared for. Hadfield wrote about it, but there is also something that unsaid stayed.
• According to Norman, we are usually invited to solve the problem that really is a symptom of the real problem.
  • TOC has the whole thinking tool for exposing a problem, [[we can start drawing current reality tree|current reality tree]]. And this instrument is mighty great for finding the root cause or the major problem.
  • Designers, though, suggest a specific thinking tool, they call design thinking. Too many thinking tools for my taste, but we can work with this.
    • Back in the day I read a book about design thinking, but didn’t have a note-taking system, alas it all lost to me. But I can speculate a bit on the topic, and maybe something comes up.
• The first element of this kind of thinking is to start questioning.
  • Who says that this is a problem in need of solving?
  • How did you define the problem?
  • What are the consequences of it.
  • In Crucial Conversation there is a questionnaire to begin the conversation that might help with looking into the issue, and I think the most interesting insights come from “what if” questions.
    • What happens, if we do nothing about the problem? Are you certain? What else might happen?
  • Another element of DT could be the inquiry into the implemented solution: how can we be convinced that we solved the correct problem? Which assumption brought this problem forth?
    • Start with the assumption. And start unraveling it. Take the original problem you are presented with and use it as a suggestion, not the final statement and start thinking as broadly as possible, uncover as many underlying assumptions as you can.
  • Questioning everything can help avoid laundry list thinking, which is presenting obvious approaches to difficult situations. We tend to avoid the need to think deep.
    • The real hard problems are hard to find, but actually easy to solve. Now I am reading [[Risk Savvy — Gerd Gigerenzer]] and one of the ideas caught my attention.
      • That rule of thumbs and simple heuristics work better than sophisticated decision-making processes.
      • The example with the stock market 1/N²

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Reference:

1. 1. Norman D. The Design Of Everyday Things / D. Norman, Revised edition-е изд., New York, New York: Basic Books, 2013. 368 c.
2. 1. Gigerenzer G. Risk Savvy: How to Make Good Decisions / G. Gigerenzer, Reprint edition-е изд., New York, New York: Penguin Books, 2015. 336 c.