A few weeks ago, we talked about the importance of looking for disconfirming evidence when testing hypotheses. Indeed, this is vital, but, in some situations, supporting evidence might actually be the one helping you reach a solid conclusion. So, don’t discard it….
Complex problems can have a lot of moving parts, and it is easy to lose track of some of those. This why our working memory is a strong limiter in resolving complex problems. One way to address this limitation is…
Citing Baddeley (2003)*, the Oxford Handbook of Thinking and Reasoning defines working memory as ‘the ability to maintain and manipulate information in short-term memory while resisting interference.’ A recent report by the National Academy of Sciences partially dedicated to helping students with problems…
The National Academies Press recently published another of their reports—Discipline-Based Education Research: Understanding and Improving Learning in Undergraduate Science and Engineering (downloadable here). Chapter 5 of that publication is dedicated to problem solving; it advocates working forward: “[E]xpert problem solvers typically…
For those of us discovering the MECE concept (mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive), it can be oh-so-attractive: finally, a way to organize my thoughts! It’s simple and elegant. The acronym is even catchy. Why didn’t I hear of this before? This is it! Douglas…
Issue trees, issue maps, logic trees, how trees, why trees, diagnostic trees, solution trees, decision trees, fact trees, hypothesis trees… How should you call your trees? Your favorite consultancy has its own terminology and so does the rest of the world. Unfortunately, they don’t…
Say “root cause analysis” in any cocktail party and you’ll hear back “Ishikawa diagram.” Ok, that might work only with cocktail parties that cater to engineers, but an Ishikawa diagram is the de-facto tool of many to diagnose a problem….
Problem solving is about bridging the gap between where you are and where you want to be. Decision making is identifying the path you want to follow in bridging that gap. In that sense, decision making is part of the…
Teaching my course in problem solving I realized that many people face the same business problems. Although you should design each issue tree with your specific situation in mind, you shouldn’t have to start it from scratch. This is what…
Matthew Juniper, at Cambridge, demonstrates how to build issue trees. His approach is very similar to ours and he has an excellent video to describe it so you might want to watch it; here are the highlights I like best. Work on…