Question Maps
Thriving in the era of turbocharged BS
Overconfident much?
Solvable — A three step process to solve complex problems
Go beyond traditional decision analysis
Strategic Thinking is available for pre-order
Improve your thinking by mapping it
Don’t overdo that MECE thing – make your ideas independent and collectively exhaustive
Don’t get lost in the terminology
Use your issue tree as a decision tree
Be more MECE (mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive)
Use Standard Issue Trees – Part 1 – A Profitability Tree
Learn to build issue trees by watching
Be insightful
Case study: cables negotiation — part 4/8 — Test your hypotheses
Case study: cables negotiation — part 3/8 — Build a why issue tree (2/2)
Use existing frameworks wherever possible
Be MECE—mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive
Draw question maps
Overconfident much?
Solvable — A three step process to solve complex problems
Balance humility and confidence
Use the SCQ rules quick reference sheet
Embrace the messiness of evidence
Recognize the different levels of trustworthiness for evidence
Frame with an SCQ sequence
Meet William
Embrace the distributed nature of decision making
What a problem solver can learn from the unfolding 737 Max story
Define stuff
Consider favoring simplicity over completeness
Don't look for perfection, it can be destructive
Don’t look for the "right" answer when an acceptable one will do
Be a specialist and a strategic thinker
Use the saturation framework, others
Don’t underestimate the human side
Go beyond traditional decision analysis
Watch for bikes! (expect the unexpected)
Strategic Thinking is available for pre-order
Recognize and market your transferrable skills
The book is coming
Choose an appropriate level of accuracy
Borrow ideas from other disciplines
Use Bayesian inference
Leverage analogies
Improve your thinking by mapping it
Diagnose before looking for solutions
Use an assertion-evidence structure in your slides
Manage your confirmation bias
Focus your analysis on what matters
Use inductive, deductive, and abductive logic
Did Chris Froome dope to win the 2013 Tour de France? Part 3 – Conclusion
Did Chris Froome dope to win the 2013 Tour de France? Part 2
Did Chris Froome dope to win the 2013 Tour de France? Part 1
Look for confirming evidence too
Capture your diagnostic analysis in a why map
Use a MECE structure but let your ideas be ICE
Don’t (always) trust your intuition
Look (primarily) for disconfirming evidence
(Truly) engage
(If you’re not an expert,) embrace constraints
Make your ill-defined problem a well-defined one
Find a good frame
Help others be successful
Integrate decision making into your overall problem-solving approach
Be careful what you conclude
Check your assumptions
Frame your problem
Improve your innovation by leveraging isomorphic problems
Use crowdsourcing to boost your organization’s innovation capacity
Boost your working memory
Work forward in solving problems, not backward
Improve your (team’s) T
Change how you recruit, train, and evaluate people
In appropriate settings, ask only experts
Don’t overdo that MECE thing – make your ideas independent and collectively exhaustive
Resist the marshmallow
Know when to discard experts
To create effectively, transcend brainstorming
Don't over-generalize your expertise
Build on victories
Don’t get lost in the terminology
Triangulate on answers
Use an Ishikawa diagram… or a diagnosis issue tree
Diagnose like a Tappet Brother
Be more MECE (mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive)
Use Standard Issue Trees – Part 1 – A Profitability Tree
Adapt your leadership style
Learn to build issue trees by watching
Brainstorm effectively
Get a devil’s advocate
Don’t look for the single perfect issue tree
Be insightful
Reframe your thinking
Don’t do cargo cult business
Simplify!
Put design to your service
Get technological help (building issue trees)
Follow the Pareto Principle
Develop your presentation from the first day
Balance satisficing and optimizing
Case study: cables negotiation — part 4/8 — Test your hypotheses
Case study: cables negotiation — part 3/8 — Build a why issue tree (2/2)
Case study: cables negotiation — part 2/8 — Build a why issue tree (1/2)
Case study: cables negotiation — part 1/8 — Build a good problem identification card
Use existing frameworks wherever possible
Diverge effectively in your thinking
Ask “so what?”
Use processes appropriately
Use logic
Build a problem identification card
Practice and enlist others
Be MECE—mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive
Draw question maps
Only ask how if you know why
