Einstein is quoted as having said that if he had one hour to save the world he would spend fifty-five minutes defining the problem and only five minutes finding the solution.
This quote does illustrate an important point: before jumping right into solving a problem, we should step back and invest time and effort to improve our understanding of it. Here are 10 strategies you can use to see problems from many different perspectives and master what is the most important step in problem solving: clearly defining the problem in the first place!
The Problem Is To Know What the Problem Is
The definition of the problem will be the focal point of all your problem-solving efforts. As such, it makes sense to devote as much attention and dedication to problem definition as possible. What usually happens is that as soon as we have a problem to work on we’re so eager to get to solutions that we neglect spending any time refining it.
What most of us don’t realize — and what supposedly Einstein might have been alluding to — is that the quality of the solutions we come up with will be in direct proportion to the quality of the description of the problem we’re trying to solve. Not only will your solutions be more abundant and of higher quality, but they’ll be achieved much, much more easily. Most importantly, you’ll have the confidence to be tackling a worthwhile problem.
Problem Definition Tools and Strategies
The good news is that getting different perspectives and angles in order to clearly define a problem is a skill that can be learned and developed. As such, there are many strategies you can use to perfect it. Here are the 10 most effective ones I know.
1. Rephrase the Problem
When a Toyota executive asked employees to brainstorm “ways to increase their productivity”, all he got back were blank stares. When he rephrased his request as “ways to make their jobs easier”, he could barely keep up with the amount of suggestions.
Words carry strong implicit meaning and, as such, play a major role in how we perceive a problem. In the example above, ‘be productive’ might seem like a sacrifice you’re doing for the company, while ‘make your job easier’ may be more like something you’re doing for your own benefit, but from which the company also benefits. In the end, the problem is still the same, but the feelings — and the points of view — associated with each of them are vastly different.
Play freely with the problem statement, rewording it several times. For a methodic approach, take single words and substitute variations. ‘Increase sales’? Try replacing ‘increase’ with ‘attract’, ‘develop’, ‘extend’, ‘repeat’ and see how your perception of the problem changes. A rich vocabulary plays an important role here, so you may want to use a thesaurus or develop your vocabulary.
2. Expose and Challenge Assumptions
Every problem — no matter how apparently simple it may be — comes with a long list of assumptions attached. Many of these assumptions may be inaccurate and could make your problem statement inadequate or even misguided.
The first step to get rid of bad assumptions is to make them explicit. Write a list and expose as many assumptions as you can — especially those that may seem the most obvious and ‘untouchable’.
That, in itself, brings more clarity to the problem at hand. But go further and test each assumption for validity: think in ways that they might not be valid and their consequences. What you will find may surprise you: that many of those bad assumptions are self-imposed — with just a bit of scrutiny you are able to safely drop them.
For example, suppose you’re about to enter the restaurant business. One of your assumptions might be ‘restaurants have a menu’. While such an assumption may seem true at first, try challenging it and maybe you’ll find some very interesting business models (such as one restaurant in which customers bring dish ideas for the chef to cook, for example).
3. Chunk Up
Each problem is a small piece of a greater problem. In the same way that you can explore a problem laterally — such as by playing with words or challenging assumptions — you can also explore it at different “altitudes”.
If you feel you’re overwhelmed with details or looking at a problem too narrowly, look at it from a more general perspective. In order to make your problem more general, ask questions such as: “What’s this a part of?”, “What’s this an example of?” or “What’s the intention behind this?”.
For a detailed explanation of how this principle works, check the article Boost Your Brainstorm Effectiveness with the Why Habit.
Another approach that helps a lot in getting a more general view of a problem is replacing words in the problem statement with hypernyms. Hypernyms are words that have a broader meaning than the given word. (For example, a hypernym of ‘car’ is ‘vehicle’). A great, free tool for finding hypernyms for a given word is WordNet (just search for a word and click on the ‘S:’ label before the word definitions).
4. Chunk Down
If each problem is part of a greater problem, it also means that each problem is composed of many smaller problems. It turns out that decomposing a problem in many smaller problems — each of them more specific than the original — can also provide greater insights about it.
‘Chunking the problem down’ (making it more specific) is especially useful if you find the problem overwhelming or daunting.
Some of the typical questions you can ask to make a problem more specific are: “What are parts of this?” or “What are examples of this?”.
Just as in ‘chunking up’, word substitution can also come to great use here. The class of words that are useful here are hyponyms: words that are stricter in meaning than the given one. (E.g. two hyponyms of ‘car’ are ‘minivan’ and ‘limousine’). WordNet can also help you finding hyponyms.
5. Find Multiple Perspectives
Before rushing to solve a problem, always make sure you look at it from different perspectives. Looking at it with different eyes is a great way to have instant insight on new, overlooked directions.
For example, if you own a business and are trying to ‘increase sales’, try to view this problem from the point of view of, say, a customer. For example, from the customer’s viewpoint, this may be a matter of adding features to your product that one would be willing to pay more for.
Rewrite your problem statement many times, each time using one of these different perspectives. How would your competition see this problem? Your employees? Your mom?
Also, imagine how people in various roles would frame the problem. How would a politician see it? A college professor? A nun? Try to find the differences and similarities on how the different roles would deal with your problem.
6. Use Effective Language Constructs
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all formula for properly crafting the perfect problem statement, but there are some language constructs that always help making it more effective:
- Assume a myriad of solutions. An excellent way to start a problem statement is: “In what ways might I…”. This expression is much superior to “How can I…” as it hints that there’s a multitude of solutions, and not just one — or maybe none. As simple as this sounds, the feeling of expectancy helps your brain find solutions.
- Make it positive. Negative sentences require a lot more cognitive power to process and may slow you down — or even derail your train of thought. Positive statements also help you find the real goal behind the problem and, as such, are much more motivating.
For example: instead of finding ways to ‘quit smoking’, you may find that ‘increase your energy’, ‘live longer’ and others are much more worthwhile goals. - Frame your problem in the form of a question. Our brain loves questions. If the question is powerful and engaging, our brains will do everything within their reach to answer it. We just can’t help it: Our brains will start working on the problem immediately and keep working in the background, even when we’re not aware of it.
- If you’re still stuck, consider using the following formula for phrasing your problem statement:
“In what ways (action) (object) (qualifier) (end result)?”
Example: In what ways might I package (action) my book (object) more attractively (qualifier) so people will buy more of it (end result)?
7. Make It Engaging
In addition to using effective language constructs, it’s important to come up with a problem statement that truly excites you so you’re in the best frame of mind for creatively tackling the problem. If the problem looks too dull for you, invest the time adding vigor to it while still keeping it genuine. Make it enticing. Your brain will thank (and reward) you later.
One thing is to ‘increase sales’ (boring), another one is ‘wow your customers’. One thing is ‘to create a personal development blog’, another completely different is to ‘empower readers to live fully’.
8. Reverse the Problem
One trick that usually helps when you’re stuck with a problem is turning it on its head.
If you want to win, find out what would make you lose. If you are struggling finding ways to ‘increase sales’, find ways to decrease them instead. Then, all you need to do is reverse your answers. ‘Make more sales calls’ may seem an evident way of increasing sales, but sometimes we only see these ‘obvious’ answers when we look at the problem from an opposite direction.
This seemingly convoluted method may not seem intuitive at first, but turning a problem on its head can uncover rather obvious solutions to the original problem.
9. Gather Facts
Investigate causes and circumstances of the problem. Probe details about it — such as its origins and causes. Especially if you have a problem that’s too vague, investigating facts is usually more productive than trying to solve it right away.
If, for example, the problem stated by your spouse is “You never listen to me”, the solution is not obvious. However, if the statement is “You don’t make enough eye contact when I’m talking to you,” then the solution is obvious and you can skip brainstorming altogether. (You’ll still need to work on the implementation, though!)
Ask yourself questions about the problem. What is not known about it? Can you draw a diagram of the problem? What are the problem boundaries? Be curious. Ask questions and gather facts. It is said that a well-defined problem is halfway to being solved: I would add that a perfectly-defined problem is not a problem anymore.
10. Problem-Solve Your Problem Statement
I know I risk getting into an infinite loop here, but as you may have noticed, getting the right perspective of a problem is, well, a problem in itself. As such, feel free to use any creative thinking technique you know to help. There are plenty to choose from:
You may want to give yourself an Idea Quota of problem statements. Or write a List of 100 problems to solve. SCAMPER your problem definition. These are just some of dozen techniques you can try.
Of course, how much effort you invest in defining the problem in contrast to how much effort you invest in solving your actual problem is a hard balance to achieve, though one which is attainable with practice.
Personally, I don’t think that 55 minutes of defining a problem versus 5 minutes acting on it is usually a good proportion. The point is that we must be aware of how important problem defining is and correct our tendency to spend too little time on it.
In fact, when you start paying more attention to how you define your problems, you’ll probably find that it is usually much harder than solving them. But you’ll also find that the payoff is well worth the effort.
References:
- Einstein’s Portrait: Yousuf Karsh.
- Einstein’s Quote: Cracking Creativity.
Loading ...
Hi Luciano,
Thank you for all the wonderful tips on rephrasing and looking at the problem differently. I definitely can get in the habit of feeling “stuck’ if I am asking myself the SAME question the SAME way. Then I am left with a blank look on my face and feeling like, “Huh? “I have NO CLUE of how to proceed”.
I have noticed when I take the time and devote it to really defining the issues at hand and rephrasing, “chunking” and looking at it from different perspectives — the answer can seem to manifest magically. You give very practical and easy to use tools to do this — some I have never thought of before but I can assure you I WILL be trying! Thank you!
Gratefully,
Jenny
“Einstein is quoted as having said that if he had one hour to save the world he would spend fifty-five minutes defining the problem and only five minutes finding the solution”
That’s so inspiring…
Thanks for sharing +_+
Problem definition is a communication issue. As a project manager in a meeting to kickoff new projects, I used to emphasize how tough communication is by asking everyone to envision a triangle and then showing how almost no one was picturing identical triangles, simple as they are.
I like this approach to problem solving, is has really depth. Sure you can also overcomplicate something, but as you (and Einstein) pointed out, most of the time it is more likely that the problem is not seen 100%.
Wow, good job in writing this. I think it’ll be really helpful.. I just need to go about remembering to actually put it in use
Thank you for presenting a very solid framework for problem solving. I recently wrote an article on creativity over at The Change Blog where I wrote that step one of the creative process is gathering all the available data. I think what you’ve said here fits in nicely with that and we both used Albert Einstein quotes
This is a quality article on the subject of problem.
From years of entrepreneurial consulting experience, I would say that 95% of the problems can be solved when the they are being thoroughly understood.
Asking the right questions to clearly define the problem is key to problem-solving just as sharpening the axes is to cutting the tree.
Thanks Luciano! You have offered a solid thinking framework for problem-solving that everyone can apply.
keep up the great work!
Great article. By seeing a problem from multiple perspective, we can have more insights to it. When we stand at a customer standpoint and see from what he see, we will be able to get more information than looking from our own standpoint.
Cheers
Vincent
Personal Development Blogger
PPl. please don’t tell me that after more than a thousand years of philosophy, 100 years of science and the enlightenment you can only come up with this article about critical thinking ????????
As a starter I would like to recommend the power of logic by layman and a good proff. Who can teach you how to think instead of what to think.
Cheers, …
Thanks for another great article, Luciano! This is an awesome toolset for problem solving, but I’d like to add a little bit of an Edison perspective to it. The prolific inventor would say that “genius is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration”. He’d do a lot of fiddling and experimentation as part of his process. Defining the problem right is important, but often the best way to get there is to try the wrong things first. After all, you won’t know you have the right thing until you try it, and even then you won’t know there’s nothing better until you play a little more. Failure can teach a lot when you pay attention. So experimentation and fiddling are good tools for problem solving too. Sometimes we have to stop trying to define the right problem first, in our minds, and go to the lab run some experiments with what we have to see what happens.
Thanks all for the insightful comments!
@Jacob from JobMob: I haven’t seen it from that angle (the one of communication), and I think it’s a great way to put it — thanks for the insight!
Problem defining is indeed a particularly difficult issue when solving problems in groups. I would say that exposing hidden assumptions (tool #2) is especially useful in such cases.
@Stephen: Stephen, would you mind sharing the link to your article so that readers can take a look?
@Jordan Cheng: I would say that entrepreneurship is all about defining problems. Well, there’s more to it, of course, but ‘finding the real problem’ is the hardest part and the one with the highest payoff for long-term business success. Thanks for bringing that to the discussion!
@Jason: I plan to write articles about critical thinking in the future. I am not sure I follow your comment, but thanks for the book recommendation.
Here’s the link to it in case other readers are interested: The Power of Logic.
@Thales: That’s a great, great insight. This is something that I would have included in the article (if only I had thought of it). Thank you so much for sharing!
Like you said, defining the problem is, at many times, an interactive process.
The fact is that we don’t need to be inactive until we have the perfect problem definition: we can (and should) work on solving the problem, learn, and go back to further refine its definition.
I think the trick is to not forget about the problem statement altogether after you start solving the problem; to keep in mind that going back to the definition phase is always an alternative.
I really came to know good info from this blog
thanks, good work buddy….
Another great thought and a post worth reading again and again
cheers
Luciano, as this technique is based mainly in words (and his relationships) wouldn’t be useful (in your opinion) to include some other brain dimensions like recording, writing, drawing or even singing your problem. What do you think?
Nice article…there are some real pearls here that anyone can use for problem solving.
This “Blog” and the associated postings illustrate why the medium is so pointless and juvinile. The “Awesome Toolkit” varies between statement of the bleeding obvious to a handfull of creative problem solving techniqes that have been around for decades and could be culled from anywhere. However, the superficiallity of the article is exceeded by the superficiallity of the commentators. They say it is an “Awesome Toolkit” and that having had massive experience as a consultant that your approach must be right. Do these people really believe that? Are they so gullible and superficicial to think that this cut and paste job really reflect excellent thinking? of course not they are part of the cycle of the juvenille blog world that says “hey I will say nice things about him and he and his friends will say nice things about my blog”. The consequence is a complete loss of real critical faculties and evaluations. In one sense of course it does not matter – superficial non-entities writing obvious stuff and telling each other they are awesome hurts no one – perhaps. Except that if these people extend this form of groupthink beyond the confines of there virtual world the consequences of group think can be very serious. Many of the failures of the first world war are down to Groupthink and indeed the decision making process that led to the Iraq invasion smack of groupthink.
So, if the point of this article is to help people define the problem then it should start by realising that the true problem is the author and the people who think it is Awesome and their inabbility to provide real evaluation and distinguish between the mundane and original and the rip off and obvious.
Loved the article. Einstein’s techniques can be applied to looking for work, too. That’s why I hipped my readers to this piece http://tinyurl.com/5ejs2u
Well done, Luciano!
-Mike
loved it!
Luciano, another great post. I have commented on this and another post at http://vitaljourney.org/2008/1.....greatness/. Its important for people to engage in Meta-Cognition, identification of self-limiting beliefs, and to be in alignment with your core or signature strengths to be truly great. The practice of deep understanding of your problem as highlighted here and engaged critical thinking can’t be accelerated to its full potential without replacing self-limiting beliefs with greatness beliefs.
As always, thanks for a fantastic blog post….
OK, I heard somewhere that Abe Lincoln stated that if he had ten minutes to chop down a tree he would spend 9 sharpening his axe. Not entirely the same but eerily similar.
“Each problem has hidden in it an opportunity so powerful that it literally dwarfs the problem. The great success stories were created by people who recognized a problem and turned it into an opportunity.”
—Anonymous.
With this ten point action plan, plenty of opportunities can be created.
Great post. Keep it up.
Hey, great post. It’s refreshing to find a post that has some substance.
I’m glad you brought up the way Einstein looked at problems. Defining the problem is such an important step that is often overlooked. What happens if you don’t define the problem first is that the solution itself can be another kind of problem.
Sometimes if you really take a while to examine the problem, you might find that a big problem can seem much smaller, and the solution actually requires much less effort. Sometimes the problem disappears altogether after looking at it!
This is my first time checking out your site. It looks like it’s full of great information. I’ll be back for more!
John Orrett: There’s no need to be rude. We are all here to learn.
If you have something on your own to share with us, please put a link to it here and we will try to learn from you – without prejudice and with good manners. In case you don’t have a blog yet, consider investing your time in producing one, you’ll see how rewarding it is.
I just found this site, and I think I’ll be coming back a lot! Nice post. My comment actually has little to do with the above post though: I’ve been looking through some other articles on here (I found the 120 list and the Mind Palace particularly helpful) and I was wondering if you could help me a bit with mind mapping. I have read quite a bit about it (I am a big fan of Michael Gelb’s books) but I never get it right it seems. It seems to make the topic(s) more confusing that anything else! I don’t have the money to spend on computer software, so I use a large dry-erase board with many different colored markers. I have run through the topics so many times in my mind, that it really seems there is no more to be learned from them, which is a very depressing feeling you probably know…yet I am not better at putting it into my life and having a thorough understanding! If you have any more tips for mindmapping or things similar to that please tell! Also…Have you got anymore memorization tips similar to the Mind Palace? I really enjoyed that post; It has become quite easy for me to remember a list of 30 or so items using houses (I have also sometimes started replacing the ‘house/palace’ with family trees, the human body, books, people, and imaginary things! It all works.) I think what I need is a totally new way to look at things. The post above is very good in that respect…I’ve tried the tips above, but it isn’t helping. If you have any more tips on mind mapping and seeing new points, I will be very grateful!
Thanks for taking the time to make a website like this and having such a positive, encouraging attitude. Few people have that, so it is appreciated.
@John Orrett
People don’t have time to become deeply knowledgable about every topic under the sun. Therefore pages like this work well as introductions – I don’t imagine that anyone expects any more from it than that. Nobody thinks or expects that this is original thought.
You really come across as having an axe to grind, and if you really feel superior to others, at least have the class to be polite or keep your OPINION to yourself.
You know, people always say I think too much…but really I’m just a creative problem solver. I love this article!!!
Nice post, good intro, well and easy written.
I like to comment that I have been reading “Practical Guide to eXtreme Programming” and was funny to see all the concepts you talked about here appearing on the book, mostly on project conception and requirements gathering, in one way or another.
Also I would like to say to John Orrett: there has to be some start point to get deeper into these topics, and lectures like this are the ones that get people motivated and started.
Very great rundown!, I find it funny that most of the items listed to help solve problems I have been using for years. Solving problems in the manners described above is how I am able to learn things quite quickly. From troubleshooting, cooking, to learning to code different languages.
@FreeMasons: I do have plenty of other memorization tips. However, as a stand-alone technique, the only one that is comparable to the Memory Palace technique is the Phonetic System. These two techniques, when combined, can produce unbelievable results.
I plan to write one article about the Phonetic System and another one on how to combine various memory methods.
@davidecr: The link to eXtreme Programming was not intentional, but now that you mention, yes, eXtreme Programming and Agile methods can teach a lot not only about problem solving, but about personal development as whole! You just gave me a great post idea!
Thanks!
Often, people reporting a problem have tried to reach a conclusion about what is wrong. The current issue may resemble some previous issue, or they may have heard someone use a term and think the term applies to the problem they are reporting.
Thus, the computer user, seeing a strange screensaver, might assume they have a “virus” because the guy down the hall had one last week. Or a patient may come in to a clinic claiming they have disease X which they just happen to have seen on a TV show. Or a customer may return a product because their friend says the last time they got one it came with additional parts or features, so the customer assumes his product is defective.
When people report problems, they often leave out a lot of important details. So, when I hear of a new user problem, I VERIFY the report.
Many times this saves me hours. Tact is key here, never make the reporting person feel like you are challenging them. “Can you show me how you got the error” is often the first thing I ask.
So, gently verify the facts before you spend an hour solving a problem that does not exist.
@John Rosengarten: You mention some very interesting points! Yes, when solving a problem, previous experience can definitely help sometimes… but it can also be a source of many biases. These biases can become entangled with the problem, making it much harder to solve it than if you tackled it with a ‘clear mind’.
It is also very true that we tend to cling to solutions and inappropriately “include” them in the problem…
Thanks you so much for this insightful comment!
Your point has been taken. Believe it or not. It is very helpful to my GDL course. (Graduate Diploma Course ).
Sincerely yours
I dont agree with Einstein. It’s basically the example on how NOT to approach a problem.
1.
IT Projects massively failed and fail because of this way thinking: spending a lot of time defining the problem and then a short amount of time solving it. It’s a waterfall way of approaching complex problems. Which is pretty old fashioned.
RUP (wikipedia) and Agile methods (wikipedia) brought a new paradigma: iterative loops: so definitely not spending a lot of time in definition/analysis phase but going through loops of iteration with constant change because not many people can think up a complete solution in front. Normal people change their mind every day and get more insights every day.
Thus you solve the problem in parallel to defining the problem.
Places this would not work is where you have distributed teams where the costs of the iterations would unbalance the profit gained out of iterations.
2.
This does not mean that the rest of methods and approaches to problem definition are invalid. The addition here to make is that, in practice (in the real world), the humans who have to define the problem are most of time not einsteins, they have great problems thinking in a structured (IT/scientific) way.
Even if we give them tools like Rational RequisitePro / Telelogic Doors / etc… (wikipedia: requirements management) they are most of the time not able to make a clear minto like description of the problem. They like to work iterative and they need something to structure aside from workshops. Even the day after a workshop they have new ideas which should ideally be drawn on the whiteboard used during the workshop.
Even more ideally the whiteboard should be constantly in a loop with the rest of the tooling the problem solve department uses.
So my tip for consultants out there: take a look at something like Rational Requirements Composer (google) it does precisely that.
Thanks for your thoughtful comment, Edward!
I am very fond of agile methods myself (I’m even an Agile Manifesto signatory!).
Although I wouldn’t say that the Waterfall approach is outdated in all cases, I definitely agree that defining the problem as you go is a great approach many times, and you make many other excellent points in your comment.
The emphasis of the article (and Einstein’s quote’s) is not so much on spending the time defining the problem upfront, but simply on the importance of spending enough time on it (either upfront or “agilely” — as you go).
Very good article, Tony Robbins always talks about asking good questions, this is just taking it a step further. Very helpful
One of the best post I have ever read. Thanks.
I’m so happy to have found this site. Kudos to you for a great article on Einstein!
Hi there Luciano
great post – as the comments atest.
I struggled to find a method to help me define problem statements for ideation sessions. I ended up writing my own and have a free downloadable problem statement workbook here http://thinkinghow.com/writing.....statement/
I will use the great information and insight that you have shared here to go back and revise my own tools.
Many thanks
…and I‘m using your insights to refine my own tools. You have a terrific resource there, Steve — thanks for sharing!
I like the idea of combining the future and present states in a single statement, looks very promising.
I am curious to see an example of the method in use. Maybe you have that in another post of your blog (?) Would you mind sharing?
John Orrett,
I totally agree with your comment.
And to those who say that this blog post is just an introduction and therefore doesn’t need to be accurate, well.. An introduction to what? Given that the article does not refer to the sources of the knowledge being communicated, it doesn’t serve as an introduction to anything but becomes and end on itself. Also, given the superficiality John Orrett refers to, I would bet that no one or almost no one who read this went further than just thinking how “cool” the article was. Some may have done some (little) further research with the intention to regurgitate the content on their own blogs.
Edward de Leau,
you are wrong.
Defining the problem before solving it doesn’t mean taking a Waterfall approach. Defining the problem doesn’t mean just thinking, you may also need to experiment or do some prototypes that will help you better understand the problem. Once you do, you can deliver the real solution. That’s what Iterative processes are about; about understanding the problem better than you can with a Waterfall approach.
jj thank you for telling me i am wrong. I clearly have no idea what teams, companies or the largest enterprises on the planet would be doing in the definition phase…………. seriously: thats why i mentioned Rational Requirements Composer (google) because:
In my experience the audience for this knowledge or blog article, so in real practical life between the persons defining the problem over and over again is not used to thinking in this way. They are not scientists, they are “the business”. And building prototypes (i always ask what kind of prototype methodology are you talking about, see books since 1985 on different kinds of prototype methodologies) is not
something i see as as their work usualy then already a budget has to be formed, then a PID (if you follow prince 2) has to be defined and many many many months later (when everyone forgot about the real business plan behind it) that specialist contractor developer who knows the stuff on product Y because he seems to be the only free person in the world with that knowledge and who needed to have 5 months before the infrastructure department could be funded to reserve a testing server after hundreds of meetings explaining why port 23 needs to be open again going through 26 escalation channels can only then build a prototype…
around that time the original definition team is working in another company and there is noone left anymore to test the prototype so the project is disbanded…
the end of most projects
I’m trying to say: prototyping is already another phase IRL.