We are all exposed to COVID-19 and its multiple types of implications. So, let’s use the wisdom of crowds to map out all the things that we—people (individuals and families), hospitals (and other healthcare organizations), other orgs (companies, non profits),…
Managing the complexity of problems through mapping them out is a recurrent theme on this site. I recently wrote a post for Oxford University Press’s blog that summarizes the four rules that good question maps follow: Answer a single type…
The 737 is Boeing’s best-selling plane, with over 10,000 of them sold. Its latest version, the 737 Max, was introduced in 2011 to respond to Airbus’ new generation of more efficient planes. However, after two fatal crashes, regulators have grounded the…
When I was a teenager, I was lucky enough to learn how to fly gliders. One evening, a friend of my parents—retired Air Force General Philippe Archambeaud—asked me how many hours I had flown. “Thirty,” I said. “Well,” he replied,…
Download this quick reference guide to the four key rules for developing quality situation-complication-question (SCQ) sequence.
Let’s face it, at 45, I’m no spring chicken. More like a summer chicken. And without a single standalone marathon in six years, I was concerned that the 2019 Lausanne Marathon could get me to realize that my last go…
As audiences, we shouldn’t be careful about people who qualify their assurance. On the contrary, we should be careful about people who speak with certainty.
The first time I taught problem solving at Rice, I gave my students a full semester of concepts and tools: questions maps (which I called issue trees, back then), SCQs, decision matrices, etc. They politely listened during the boring lectures,…
Not all types of evidence are equally trustworthy. The higher the level, the more confidence you can have.
You take your seat in attendance, the meeting starts, and our friendly presenter, Bob, projects a “background” slide. It’s filled with information related to the issue at hand. Some of the information is clearly relevant, other appears barely peripheral, and…
I’ve never experienced anything like it: Even when staying at a race hotel, I’ve never been so close to the start line. We just happen to be able to see the start line of the 20k of Lausanne from our…
As some may know, I have a book on strategic thinking in complex problem solving. It uses a story to introduce the problem-solving process and tools: one day, my dog William goes missing, and there’s a pretty good chance that…
Decision making is a critical part of solving complex problems. In theory, it happens after framing the problem and exploring options and criteria, in the form of a climax where the fundamental components of the process—the question you’re answering, the…
Over the past five months, two Boeing 737 Max airliners have crashed, killing 346 people. Although the story is still unfolding and the investigation is underway, preliminary evidence suggests that design flaws are the cause of the crashes. Here’s a recap…
If someone starts a phrase with “strategy is about … ,” assume that what comes next is hot air. Because three phrases later, strategy will be about something else. And three phrases after that, it will be about something else….
“All models are wrong but some are useful.” – George Box As an engineer, I was trained to model the world: take a complex system—say, an oil-well drillstring extending several kilometers underground—make assumptions on what matters (e.g., contact with the…
‘Nothing avails but perfection’ may be spelt shorter: ‘Paralysis.’ — Winston Churchill Up until recently, my job entailed updating the faculty policy of a research-intensive university. How do you change the rules that regulate the life of some 500 tenured…
Looking for perfection isn’t necessarily desirable because it’s expensive and the end product isn’t even necessarily optimal.
Many of us first interact with problems in a primary-school mathematics class. If your experience is anything like mine, it might have gone like this: “Édouard has a swimming pool. One pump can fill the pool in two hours; the…
There’s widespread agreements across disciplines that effective problem solvers have both deep and broad knowledge (see references below). Depth of knowledge usually isn’t the problem, because it is the central component of many formal training programs. However, most of us don’t…
Culture eats strategy for breakfast. You can have the best idea in the world, if you can’t implement it, you are not going anywhere. That means that you’ll need to engage key people in your strategic thinking and implementation processes, so let’s talk…
Isomorphic problems are those that have the same underlying structure. Recognizing that that new problem you’re facing is similar to one that has been solved before, or a simpler one, can go a long way in improving your creativity. Meet…
Recently, I had a conversation with a dean of engineering. He was looking for a big idea—one to take his school from here (top 20 in the US) to there—the ultra-nerd stratosphere. I offered that he promoted training his students…
A central aspect of my approach to solving complex problems builds on the widespread agreement that effective problem solvers are T-shaped, with both depth and breadth of knowledge. Develop a breadth of skills & knowledge The breadth of knowledge—what I call strategic thinking—includes having…
For most of the problems you solve in your everyday life, you can safely rely on intuition. Complex problems, however, are a different breed. For those, you might be better served following a formal process that guides you through clarifying…
My upcoming book, Strategic Thinking in Complex Problem Solving, is available for pre-order. It will ship on August 3, 2016. The book includes many of the ideas covered on this site with a deeper treatment and references. Here is a brief intro:…
Dealing with a complex problem, it often feels like we should be gathering a lot of information. However, that impression might just misleading. Instead, you should focus on gathering high-quality information, which you might achieve by adopting a top-down approach…
Facing a complex problem, we’re often quick to think of solutions as ways to eliminate it. But that’s not the only way to proceed. At times, you may be better off with an approach that retains the problem but simply…
What do movie producers, presidents of football clubs, symphony orchestra directors, university presidents, and managers of rock bands have in common? They are all in charge of highly talented and independent people whose potential, when they work together, amounts to…