The recent hyperbole about free business models has gotten me more than a little excited.  I have read a great deal about it, though I still haven’t found the time to listen or read Chris Anderson’s new(ish) book.  One of the things though I have noticed that’s absent from debates about ‘free business models’ is the cost that comes with running, developing and diffusing new ideas.  There is a cost.  And that cost is value.

If you want to be a leading writer, you have to write and keep at it until you get good enough.  That will take a lot of time.  If you want to sing and be the best you can, you need to practice.  Anything that’s easy or ‘at hand’ is usually simple to learn and master.   The cost versus the benefit in that equation is something like this:

Simple thing + Low Skill = Low Benefit.

However, if we raise the barrier it should look like this:

Hard thing + hard skill = High Benefit.

However, there is something missing from that equation and it’s this:

Value + Hard thing + Hard Skill = High Benefit.

You could say it this way, the more value increases the higher the cost to you and to your consumers, students, partners, chickens and whatever other relevant category you would to shove in here.

Now I have added another cost to the learning of a skill that has been overlooked.  The free business model idea hinges on value, as do most other ideas.  Without value you can work as hard as you like at giving things away and it won’t matter a damn.   If we take a poorly written book or a bad movie and say, ‘I don’t know how anyone can like that’, the answer is value.

So what is the cost associated with value?

A key insight I have gained from spending a long time studying problem solving is this: it’s not always about just one point of reference.  We have all heard the terms ad-nausem about “thinking outside the box”.  Instead of reiterating that here I want to present five ways to gain new insights in sticky situations.

Technique # 1: Go ask someone outside the situation

Russell Ackoff says that in messy problems most of the answers come from outside the situation.   The situation often limits our ability to perceive new information about where we are at and where we are going.   If you are really stuck I would recommend going to talk to someone else outside the situation who doesn’t have an emotional investment.  They will show you some key things you may have missed.

Technique #2: Deliberately argue with yourself and others

Okay, so this won’t exactly present you with a trophy on “how to win friends and influence people.”  But what it will do is give you the ability to see the issue from multiple angles.  You know, life is not a novel, movie or play.  There are no narratives in life so to speak.  When you are faced with a mess you need to synthesise the available perspectives you have and understand their viewpoints.  There is no better way to do this than to debate and argue about them.  It should be noted here that I do not mean fight or squabble.  Wasting time on that kind of thing is just plain stupid.  I mean by reasoning through the alternatives through common sense talking.

Technique #3: Find the idea and present it’s enemy

C. West Churchman spoke about the “systems” approach and it’s enemies in the 1970’s.  Now, I don’t wish to give you an academic treatise on that, but consider what an enemy of a theory would be?  It’s the opposite idea.  Every idea you have is only as good as it is defended.  That is, evolutions’ enemy is creationism for example.  What’s your idea?  Create it’s enemy and that will soon show you new perspectives that will help you gain insights.

Technique #4: Make an intuitive leap

Horst Rittell said that a plan is only as good as the variables around it.  As soon as you try something, you change the environment and you change the variables.  So why not make an intuitive leap and try something.  You’re stuck on a problem?  Act!  Don’t get stuck in the paralysis of analysis.  It will create a platform for failure.  Try something and see what happens.  Only failure awaits and given where you are now… surely it can’t be all that bad?

Technique #5: Lateral Thinking

A well established method for seeing new patterns in messy situations is to invoke lateral thinking.  This is moving sideways within established thought patterns by introducing new ideas.  You can learn the basics of it by attempting it.  In my way of thinking Lateral thinking takes a core idea and adds another idea to that core idea creating a synthesis.   I have seen things like people making a new chocolate bar and thinking about how a tyre might relate to it.  From that we think black, chocolate… licorice… chocolate covered licorice!  De Bono himself says that lateral thinking in “systems” terms requires a sideways shift in our thinking.  So we stop picking the problem apart, we start using different ideas in conjunction with the problem to give ourselves a new insights.  At first it seems illogical.  However, after a while of doing it you will find your mind will automatically create the bridge between the core idea and the lateral idea.

Bonus Technique: Synthesis (concept shifting) – the act of creating new ideas

Okay, so I have sort of made the bonus point here swallow all the others.  It is the most powerful of all of them and for this reason I would recommend it.   I refer to synthesis as concept shifting.  It’s differs from lateral thinking in that causes us to create a series of new ideas to engage into the problem situation.  It abandons the idea that anything other than facts about a perception can be gained from analysis and instead creates new ideas out of the inherent tension in the situation and routinely shifts between them.  Sounds very academic doesn’t it?  It isn’t.  It’s simply the decision to follow ideas as they flow out of tension and shed light on new situations.  Don’t worry I am writing a book on it .

If I was to say that blogging was the best way to communicate deep information then I would be a liar on two counts.  Firstly, the count that blogging communicates shallow layers of information and secondly it does so in small parts.  What I want you to take out of this post is the idea that there are more than what I have said above… these however have served me well.  Try them out!

This massive image above is the model phone I have recently purchased through eBay.   When it arrived  I unwrapped the box and got really REALLY excited when I saw it.  It was shiny.  Alas, my excitement was followed by bewilderment when I couldn’t turn the bloody thing on.  I tried everything… except pushing the little button on the side (see above picture).  Turns out the graceful person I sent the phone back to tested it and it worked for him… just fine.  OOPS.   Me being used to pressing the red button to end a call (i.e. the button you ALWAYS USE NOKIA ENGINEERS) thought that the phone would have turned on that way.  It didn’t.

My definition of the problem was wrong

When you start something from the wrong basis or the wrong starting point it doesn’t matter how well you analyse it… you will never find a cause because the cause ain’t there!  You defined the problem wrong in the first place.  Like me and my hapless phone skills you are labouring under the wrong assumption.  If you walked to the bus stop and caught the 533 bus into town when you wanted to go to the Gold Coast, you are going to the wrong place.

Same thing applies when we tunnel down to our favourite perception rather than testing our known definitions of a problem.  This is not easy but it might save you six weeks waiting for you phone to return!

A key idea that emerged in recent years for as meaning something to me… is this strange idea of ‘pragmatism’.  In a very dirty definition this has to do with a description of events and things that involve practical elements or what kind of knowledge we think is useful.  So a pragmatic question might be what is useful as opposed to what isn’t useful to say or do.

Coming down out of the academic ’stratosphere’ for a moment I realised when I was reading something for a piece of work I wrote on strategic thinking (unpublished paper … so far anyway) that for the best part the desire to focus on the pragmatic means a desire to focus on that which is observable as ‘evidence’.  Or in my own words… stuff that works well and is seen to be ‘of use’.  Here is my key problem:

How will you know what works unless you try it…

I am in no way a philosopher of any sort.  Neither would I consider myself a bare bones pragmatist… it’s just a bunch of books and words.  However, this struck me about problems and how we approach them when I was writing and reading with my colleague had written.  How can something work and you not know it?  I give you the Campbell “Old Spice” Paradox:

You need to have experience in order to know what works.  However, what works doesn’t always (if ever) work the same way as things do in other contexts.  So, as I found Roy Bhaskar to explain in a round about way… philosophy fails to explain a lot to me.  This could be my remarkable denseness or the fact that I have come to find it a tiresome bore to interpret and try and decode the dense philosophy territory of philosophical works.  The exclusiveness of the language is my main concern… secondly the oversimplification of things to the point of sheer ignorance is the other.  But I digress… back to the main point.

Being too pragmatic, means I am not willing to try something because I don’t know if it’s going to work because I can’t establish it’s usefulness!  It reminds of what Horst Rittell said of wicked problems… you only have one shot to get it right.  We often don’t know what’s going to work so we model, test and fail… often.  The key thing to pull out of this is that often in life, love and the imagination there is a place beyond analysis.  A place where the most obscure of ideas has a home.  Call it irony, confusion or plain stupidity… my experience tells me that things in life often are confusing.

In closing this note on the key problem of being too pragmatic I want to deliberately confuse you by saying that it’s also one of the greatest strengths to recognise what works well, even if you don’t know it’s useful to do so.  What works well, often isn’t what works well.  This makes you hated.  But if you manage to convince people that it works well and they believe you… when you are dead they will say “nice” things about you, name halls after you and create bronze (well puter) statues in your honour.   Remember, if you have one shot to get it right be prepared to fail and succeed at the same time… it’s what I do!

*Image Courtesy: http://www.ultimatestreetcar.co.uk/wallpapers.php

I have heard it said that there is more to life than work… sadly not for most people.   In Western society I have noticed an emerging desire for work that goes beyond common sense.  I could blame organisational psychology or whatever but in my opinion we have developed a “job=life” attitude.  This has to stop… it’s not healthy.

You are not your job

When you ask most people what they do for a living, the answer most offer is that, “oh I am a lawyer” or “oh I am [inserted job here]“.   The often cited unbalanced measuring stick called, “work-life balance” consists of working too much and then burning out.  You may like your job and enjoy doing it… but it’s just a job.  I don’t think we should make the mistake of selling our souls to a world that largely is run by people who have so much money that people have stopped meaning anything to them.  When you say that you are your job and your identity is wrapped up in what you do… then you are saying that you are that job.  Your priority in life is your ambition.

I know most people have nothing wrong with ambition… I have a big problem with it.  The ambition you have will often cause you to push people aside, make irrational judgments and enter into a reality of self-promotion which even the most deluded narcissist can see is wrong.  There is nothing wrong with goals neither as there anything wrong with trying to make a living… there is something very wrong when work becomes the centre of your life.

Working too hard is poison for you and your life

It’s sad to say but 4 billion people in this planet live on a dollar a day or much, much less.  The main assumption we have that these people need jobs.  I bet they already have one in most cases.  Perhaps they are working already for a big multinational?  Where did that get them?  Selling organs?  This point can’t be overstated … those who are working poor know exactly what I am talking about.  We work and work and work and work.  Where does it get us.? Sick, burned out… dead or dying.  It’s a sad state of affairs.

What have we got wrong about work?

From the day we hit pre-school (prep now) until the day we retire… we are working towards some kind of invisible goal.  As a matter of fact we become so used to it that when we reach our old age all we have to show for it is a house… if we are lucky.  Somewhere along the way we have bought the lie that work is what life is all about.  Work is what we do because we have to. If there was an alternative to work… I’d be doing it… sadly there isn’t.  I understand that some people love their work and there is a path where you can take that thinking.   Still, that “job” should never be given the status symbol of “identity” in your life.  Doing that only ever makes you realise that you are a slave to some invisible form of ambition.

So we work.  Like a stream of ants lining up to serve society.  Why do we do this?  Because we have to.  I was told that the university where I work runs off the good will of people who work there.  Indeed, it does… good will that is bought with a price.  That price is very high.  If I were to ask you to exchange your life for work at the age of ten or ask you to sacrifice your teenage dreams to do the right thing by your wife and family would you do it?  I bet you wouldn’t.  Why then do we act as though our jobs, cars, houses and the life give our lives meaning… when they don’t.  Clearly, if life was meant to be about work so society could advance… I am not seeing the advancement.  We still have all the same problems they did thousands of years ago… when evil landlords invented this work business.

Where is the greater good?

I have heard it said that to work is its own reward.  What is that reward?  Money?  Money that is gone before it hits my bank account.  Money that evaporates fast these days.  I am constantly reminded that my wife and I’s choice to have a parent at home is costing me dearly.  Yet, these are values I choose to live by.  A tough call?  Not really, if living purposefully and intentionally means I have to suffer to maintain my values than so be it.  I would rather live one day by what I believe and pay for it, than a thousand working to reach some invisible goal. That doesn’t mean however that it’s all smooth sailing or happy days.

So, what’s wrong with work?  Nothing.  If your work is fulfilling to you and meaningful and supporting of your values… then you have found a rare treasure.  What I think we have wrong about work is that it’s all life is supposed to be about.  Your life is your life.  You are here for a reason.  Yet, in finding that reason you do not have to sell your soul to make another person rich.  What I want you to take away from this post today is this: don’t let “work” become the end all and be all in your life.  The end result is just not worth it.

This all time classic “rap” song was a hit back in the day.  I was listening to this song again and reflecting on it’s ability to infuse it’s way into my brain when suddenly the lyrics didn’t quite add up.   Here are three things that I thought you should NEVER do when attempting to solve difficult problems.

If you have a problem yo I’ll solve it…

Most shrinks that a worth a dam will tell you that you can’t solve problems for other people if you want them to grow.  As a lecturer I can tell you the answer… but what’s going to happen when you need to actually know it?  You may remember me but I doubt you will remember the answer.  So I would disagree with Ice on this point… you should never take on problems for other people soley.  Don’t get me wrong I am not saying… bail out of the deal.  I am saying… work with people collaboratively to solve problems.  Facilitate!

I’m on a roll time to go solo…

In the opposite manner a difficult problem is best solve by a group of people.  We have this sick notion in western society of the hero.  The early pragmatists believed that you could best solve problems by working with people in a team situation.  Collaborative endeavours and multiple views were the order of the day.  Fast forward a hundred or so years and now we are trying to be our very best without thinking of how we can make use of many minds.  It’s a sad state of affairs.

In WWII the war effort saw the greatest bringing together of disciplines.  Social scientists working alongside mathematicians and so on.  The concept of the mastermind group is amongst these great ideas.  If I had actual friends I think I would like to have a group of problem solvers with different ideas.  Sure, we would fight… but imagine the problems we would solve.  It would be great!  And yes, I think that economics rules the day at the moment… we need more perspectives!

Proof of concept lies in what works not what is said

Words words words!  I hear this and that about running dope and a “borrowed” hook from Under Pressure by Queen… what Vanilla doesn’t do is show me.   What we say in our problem solving efforts are largely just words… what actually works… now that’s where the money is.   The problem with ideas is that they can be thought of as being in two forms… passive (not used) and active (used).  When you take an idea and put it to work in an open environment there a many more variables than in the closed one of your mind.  That’s why the results are always different that you thought… you didn’t know the variables!

In other words, ideas are only as good as their proof of concept.  How well do they work?  This is gutsy because when you put them to work you may have an idea, data, intuition, knowledge, facts and so on.  You know that when you let them go… they are tested… much like how we stress test metal.   Imagine if that expensive car you have was not tested.   They just bolted bits and pieces on it and let it roll.  What if they went for the cheapest materials?   Stuff that works and improves things, proves the concept.  That doesn’t mean however, that we have reached the end.  We may not know the flaws for a couple of years yet!

The best thing I have heard (well one of the best) is that most people are rational.  When you see somebody doing something… there’s a reason for it most of the time.  Instead of judging you need to find out what works and why they did it.  Then you will find the concepts at work in the situation.  So in Vanilla’s case I have found a genuine concern in his ability to solve problems.  He wants to do it on his own and he wants to solve your problems.  Not only that but he talks too much and acts too little.  In short, I hope you are not the same.  I can’t say beyond conjecture why he thinks he can solve your problems… maybe he has access to metareality.  For the rest of us I would against his problem solving advice.

The ability to choose or a chosen ability?  Is it destiny, fate or what we make of it?  When you make choices is it you making the choice or some offensive simulacra?

The answer to this question of course is not answerable in this blog post.  Now I did promise to write about rhetoric and use of it in the question form.  So why not deal with a very basic rhetorical question?  A rhetorical question is one that demonstrates something in the hearer that provokes them to look for the answer in the question.  Here is an example:

If a man asks for bread from God he won’t get a snake will he?

That’s what I like about the New American Standard Bible.  It has questions in it that I never noticed before.   Here’s a better example:

Why do we keep on fighting?

The causal explanation of that question gives rise to more than one possible answer.   What about this one:

If I didn’t have a free will I couldn’t type this sentence could I?

You may argue:

How do you know the sentence was pre-determined?

Both statements are designed for maximum rhetorical effect.  The really don’t have a one-minute answer do they?  Sorry.  Somebody once said that problem solving isn’t so much about finding the right answers as it is about asking the right questions.  Questions that give rise to solutions that in turn give rise to more questions is what real problem solving is about.

Scholar Daniel Isenberg did a study of some managers in 1986 to see how they made their decisions. He found that most people solved a lot of their problems not by gathering more information but by talking to themselves. These managers would speak out aloud to themselves and reason through courses of action in order to better understand the decisions they made.

When solving problems talk to yourself

When I was growing up my parents said to me that talking to yourself is the first sign of madness. Can I say that talking to myself has not made me any more mad that I am right now… it has however helped me work through some options and solve problems better. I have driven from my house to other places hours away talking to myself about things the whole time. I have had people stare at me as they pass by … but I really don’t give a damn! It’s probably one of the most useful things I have learned about solving problems. It can get you out of a wrong thinking pattern and make you see things in a much clearer way.

The concept of ‘bible’ meditation is based on talking to yourself

The Hebrew word for meditation in the old testament is often thought about as contemplation. However, when I have looked it up it always says to mutter. How odd is the thought of Moses walking around chatting to himself about the people he had to deal with. Consider the Psalms. What are they if not an externalisation of a internal picture? Can I say that talking to you is a helpful activity? God said to Joshua to meditate on the law day and night. What does that mean? Talk about it, say it out of your mouth over and over… contemplate it… think about it from different angles.

Talking to yourself moves you into creativity

Try this. Say you are facing a money crisis. Start saying to yourself what you think the problem is… what can I do about? They begin to cycle through the options and reflect on them. You will find as you cycle through the ideas you will begin to get the bigger picture issues and a solution may just present itself. It may not! The thing is you have begun to ‘meditate’ or contemplate the problem from different angles.

Talking to yourself helps to structure your thoughts

When you begin to look at the way you think you might find that overtime you are stuck in the same patterns. In my next post I am going to talk about how rhetoric can work to help you structure your thoughts in such a way that new ways of seeing will emerge. Most people freeze up when it comes to rhetoric but if you follow it through and make good use of clever rhetorical questions you will find that it helps you to develop better ways of thinking. New patterns… new ideas… new solutions. Will they be any better? That’s the real question isn’t it?  So stay tuned!

By doing this I have found ways around problems that I couldn’t see before and I have found answers where my linear thinking patterns weren’t helping.  I think they key thing that’s not said here but is implied is this: what is the mechanism through which you believe?  If you could change what you believe by thinking and mastering new beliefs through using this mechanism then what would that be like?  See, I got that by talking to myself .

Join my problem solving forum today for $1

99 ways to solve a problem? When I wrote this a while ago I got to thinking about the different stuff I have read over the last few years and it hit me. BY GOD there are so many different ways to solve problems.  I sat down for about ten minutes and wrote down a list of problem solving techniques which I thought covered the basics.  You know what, there were many more.  Onward problem solvers.

Ok cheese aside, here is a list of 99 problem solving techniques:

1. resolving it
2. absolving (doing nothing)
3. dissolving it
4. solving another problem
5. shifting the boundary
6. changing your mind
7. mediation
8. mathematical modelling
9. using a decision support tool
10. flip a coin
11. use the ‘decision maker’
12. Ask a friend
13. Do the first thing you write down
14. Use a method
15. Use a methodology
16. Pin the tail on the donkey
17. Dartboard approach
18. Challenge assumptions
19. Work backwards from the answer
20. Use modelling tools like Visio or Freemind
21. Use mind mapping
22. Use cognitive mapping
23. Look at the problem sequentially
24. Look at the problem non-sequentially
25. Use comparison
26. Use metaphors
27. Build diagrams of the problem
28. Play the devil’s advocate
29. Ask someone who knows nothing about the problem
30. Ask an expert
31. Use your imagination to see what it would be like if the problem was solved
32. Visualise the problem
33. Visualise the answer
34. Use simulation
35. Use What if analysis
36. Use the ‘sherlock holmes’ approach
37. Conjecture first approach
38. Use an analogy
39. Reframe the problem
40. Try something, take notes, try again
41. Cost Benefit Analysis
42. Consider the opportunity cost
43. Apply a statistical model
44. Act it out
45. Use the dialectic
46. Use systems thinking
47. Make a concept of the problem
48. Use a known theory
49. Model the causes
50. Remodel the causes
51. Read a book that answers the problem
52. Find a lateral solution
53. Go back in time
54. Consider multiple levels of causality
55. Use forecasting
56. Change the way you engage the problem
57. Collaborate
58. Think of the problem as a opportunity
59. Use Irony
60. Create an epistemology map
61. Use dialogue mapping
62. Brainstorming
63. Appreciative inquiry
64. Idealised redesign
65. creative thinking
66. Critique
67. Speak out loud
68. Invoke the second loop of learning
69. Use the general problem solver
70. Combine different approaches
71. Use Idea networks
72. Satyagraha
73. Use contradictions
74. Use reflective thinking
75. Use Escapism
76. Argue
77. Be single minded
78. Be double minded
79. Be multiple minded
80. Use complexity science
81. Use problems structuring methods
82. Trial and error
83. Use a random object
84. Change the variables
85. Speculate
86. Make something up
87. Speculate ‘root’ causes
88. Map multiple narratives
89. Solve someone else’s problem
90. Think like a woman
91. Gamble
92. Bridge Building
93. Meditation
94. Negotiation
95. Create a revolution
96. Make multiple possible answers
97. Use faith
98. Read a blog post that solves the problem
99. Research

I could go on and on … given half the chance I will.  So whenever you are facing a problem remember there are many ways to solve it.   I have listed just 99 here… I am sure you can think of more.  Go ahead try it.

Problems, problems… we all have them. One of the most popular ideas in problem solving circles is that problem solving can be broken down into a set of steps. This is a foundational idea to problem solving and for some reason the most well known. If you do a google search for ‘problem solving‘ this will be in results in some form. Even though I have major reservations about what such heuristics can achieve… it’s still a major part of how we think about problems and is therefore quite helpful.

A Five Step Process to Problem Solving

The five steps are usually classified in terms of the ‘life-cycle’ concept. The steps are sometimes four or six or eight but the logic is always the same. So here we go the five step process to problem solving.

Step 1 – Define the problem

Through my research into problem solving I have come to the conclusion that this is an issue of perception. What we think the problem is, the problem is. What we think the problem isn’t… the problem isn’t and so on. However, a working definition of the problem helps us to frame possible solutions. It gives us a ‘best guess’ on what is a useful definition (shape and structure) of the problem so we can begin to move forward. The definition is what you think the problem is. You can always see different views of a problem by saying to yourself, ‘Well the problem is…[insert problem definition here]‘. That’s your definition of the problem. Remember seeking multiple points of view for the problem will result in a richer, more multidimensional definition.

Step 2 – Diagnose Causes

According to your ‘working definition’ you now have root causes of the problem in mind. Note: it’s diagnose ’causes’ not cause. This phase of the problem solving cycle leads us to look for what lies beneath our assumptions and conclusions of a problem to find the generative mechanisms that cause the problem. I believe these things are perceptual as I said in the first paragraph. An example of what I mean can be found in recent economic trends. The causes of the housing crisis are always defined as being economic. This is an example of a diagnosis. It’s from the 1+1=2 school of stupid thinking. In this step we are not looking for simple answers. We are looking for the structures that ’cause’ the problem to exist… either in the mind of the beholder or somewhere else. The important thing in this phase is to look at the definition and trace it back to what would cause that definition to be a problem in the first place. What is the root cause or causes of the problem? Finding the answer to this is the challenge of problem solving.

Step 3 – Diagnosing Solutions

A solution is the proposed answer to what the problem is defined to be. A good solution not only fixes the problem but shifts it so it cannot occur again. The misnomer with ’solutions’ is that there is always an answer to be found inside the system. In reality, the problem environment may be wider and require that the overall system (technical, political, social) be shifted to change things so the problem cannot recur. We are looking for ways to stop the cause from happening. At this level of the exercise we don’t require more information. We need the right way of seeing in order to find the way forward.

Step 4 – Choosing Solutions

After we have found solutions to implement from different alternatives you choose which ones you can try. This will depend on a variety of factors. Things like: political correctness, social competency, relevance, context and power. All of these things help and prevent many problems from being solved at the same time. Choosing the solution is not just a matter of the best choice… it’s a matter of the right choice. This means you pick the solution that’s best given the context and what is feasible or desirable. Some answers are great but the social context surrounding the problem won’t allow the kind of solution that would work. If the best solution was always available to be chosen then we would have world peace. Clearly we don’t so sometimes we are stuck with the one that is ‘right’ for the time.

Step 5 – Implementation and Reflection

The term implementation means when you put the solutions to work. There is a two part process involved in this: The action and the reflection. Here is where I have sort of led you up the garden path. You never really ‘finish’ with some problem solving activities. You try what works and if you get lucky and the stars align you have a once off solution. More times than not it’s a process of action, iteration and reflection. You find a part of the cause, you try a solution, you reflect, you learn, you try again. And on you go from there. As you learn about the problem, you learn more about the causes. The more you learn about the causes the more you see the possibilities of solving it and so on. The most important thing is to never promise anyone that you have ‘the answer’. I can tell you from eight years of studying this stuff… the sands of social context can shift in a second. A problem can be a solution by the end of the same day! Take caution in implementation… make sure you actually learn.

So there you have it… the linear 5 step process to problem solving. Sure, it’s not perfect. It does however, give us a firm foundation upon which we can reflect and learn about the reality of problem solving. One final word of caution… this isn’t a recipe or a ‘process’ that is to be followed by rote. It’s a guide as to what you can expect. Each situation you encounter is different. Always allow for different views, concepts and ideas. If you have to go back and start again do it.  Don’t stick to a plan that doesn’t work… stick with the context and go forward. Good luck problem solving!