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The Five Step Approach for Tackling Complex Problems
Discover the Core Problem
Go beyond the basic features being asked for and get to the heart of the problem.
Ask questions like: Who cares about this problem? Why is it important to them?
If there are no good answers to these questions, is the problem even worth working on?
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Key Ideas
Ask Questions
The right questions are at the heart of discovery. And one of the very first questions you should be asking yourself is “What assumptions can I challenge?”
The mere act of trying to discover what assumptions you and others are making can give you a new perspective on the challenge you're facing.
Discover the Core Problem
Go beyond the basic features being asked for and get to the heart of the problem.
Ask questions like: Who cares about this problem? Why is it important to them?
If there are no good answers to these questions, is the problem even worth working on?
Divide and Conquer
After you come up with a solution to your problem, take a close look at it.
Which pieces could be split into separate modules or components? Can any of those components provide value independently? If not, can any be tweaked so that they do provide independent value?
Find your MVP
Think about what would make a good MVP (Minimum Viable Product) for your problem.
Get creative in what you consider an MVP. Maybe showing random strangers at Starbucks a napkin drawing of your app’s layout would be good enough for example.
Let your Subconscious Work
After spending time researching your problem, you’ll probably find yourself also thinking about it in your spare time.
This is when all the different pieces you’ve been studying for so long can suddenly click together in a new way, giving you fresh insight.
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Use the why lens
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Problems as opportunities
Problems fuel great leaders, providing opportunities to learn and grow to the next level.
The greater the problem, the hungrier they are for a solution. Leaders like Richard Branson, Elon Musk, and Bill Gates view problems as golden opportunities to disrupt the market and revolutionize the customer experience.
Acknowledging the problem
Great leaders acknowledge there is a problem and demonstrate the severity of the problem and the benefit of the solution to stakeholders, partners, and shareholders.
This way, the leader not only takes responsibility for making the problem transparent, but he or she also explores different dimensions of the problem, consequently benefiting from others’ ideas.
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Data is Not Reality
- We see organizations and the engineers who work in them steering towards big data, so it is commonly assumed that data means acumen and direction.
- Any Data, by itself, does not bring clarity. Data is just information, not reality. It does not represent anything in the field of actuality.
- Data is also, never complete. Getting more and more Data does not equate to getting more clarity.
Incomplete Data is Misleading
Our brains like to fill up incomplete information based on our prejudice and confirmation bias.
As all data is inherently incomplete, we use our minds to fill the missing information, based on the existing data we have, and that can go obverse.
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The Art of Decision-making:
- Get 1% smarter every day;
- Focus on things that don’t change or change very slowly over t...
Decision-making cascades
... through everything you do. That's the power of compounding. If you get 1% better at understanding how the world works, how human behavior works, how economic systems function, and understanding your own brain — that 1% improvement impacts everything you do.
Study things that never change
The best kind of knowledge is not ephemeral junk , that will be useless in a few years, but the core pillars of human knowledge and the major academic disciplines. That knowledge changes very slowly over time and it’s a core foundation that you can build upon and grow from.
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