SPEAK TO THE PROBLEMS 3.5: The Thinking Model

SPEAK TO THE PROBLEMS

(SHORT NOTES FROM PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS:

Problem-Solving Approaches at http://www.mindtools.com)

Hurson's Productive Thinking Model

Solving Problems Creatively

Be creative at every stage of the problem-solving process.

Creativity is incredibly important in problem-solving.

Hurson's Productive Thinking Model helps you do this.  This framework encourages you to use creativity and critical thinking at each stage of the problem-solving process.  This means that you get a better understanding of the problems you face, and you come up with better ideas and solutions.

About the Model

The Productive Thinking Model was developed by author and creativity theorist, Tim Hurson, and was published in his 2007 book, "Think Better."  The model presents a structured framework for solving problems creatively.

The model consists of six steps, as follows:

    Ask "What is going on?"

    Ask "What is success?"

    Ask "What is the question?"

    Generate answers.

    Forge the solution.

    Align resources.

(From "Think Better: An Innovator's Guide to Productive Thinking" by Tim Hurson. © 2008. Reproduced with permission from The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.)

The advantage of this model over other problem-solving approaches (like Simplex or Plan-Do-Check-Act) is that it encourages you to use creative and critical thinking skills at each stage of the problem-solving process.  This means that you can take a well-rounded look at a problem, and you can come up with better potential solutions.

Step 1: Ask "What is Going On?"

First, you need to get a good understanding of the problem that you want to deal with.  This is often the most involved part of the process.  To do this, explore the following four questions:

a. What is the Problem?

First, brainstorm all of the problems and issues – a tool such as CATWOE  will help.

List as many issues as possible, even if you already have a good idea of what your main problem is.

Then, use an Affinity Diagram to organize the issues:

·       identified into common themes, and

·       identify the most important problem or group of problems to deal with.

o   use techniques like Pareto Analysis or Paired Comparison Analysis to decide.

b. What is the Impact?

Next, brainstorm how the problem impacts you and your organization, and how it affects other stakeholders such as customers, suppliers, and competitors.

Make a list of all of your stakeholders, and identify the positive and negative impact that the problem has on each of them.

Role storming is also useful here, as it helps you look at problems from other people's perspectives.

c. What is the Information?

Now, gather information about the problem.  Make sure that you have evidence that the problem really does exist.

It helps to use tools such as

·       Cause and Effect Analysis,

·       Root Cause Analysis, and

·       Interrelationship Diagrams

to identify the actual causes of your problem.

d. What is the Vision?

Finally in this step, identify your vision for the future once you've solved the problem – Hurson calls this the "Target Future."

Begin by writing down as many Target Futures as possible, and then narrow these down to something that is achievable and that is important to you.

Step 2: Ask "What is Success?"

In this step, develop your Target Future by defining what success is once you've implemented a solution to your problem.  A good way to do this is to use the "DRIVE" acronym.  This stands for:

    Do                                What do you want the solution to do?

    Restrictions                  What must the solution not do?

    Investment                  What resources are available?

What are you able to invest in a solution?

How much time do you have?

    Values                          What values must this solution respect?

    Essential outcomes       What defines success?

How will you measure this?

Step 3: Ask "What is the Question?"

The aim in this step is to generate a list of questions that, if answered well, will solve your problem.

• To do this, look at all of the information that you gathered in the first two steps.
• Then brainstorm the questions that you will need to answer to achieve your Target Future.

If you generate a long list of questions, narrow these down to the questions that are most relevant for solving your problem.

Step 4: Generate Answers

In this step, you generate solutions to your problem by coming up with answers to the questions that you developed in the previous step.

Again, brainstorm as many possible solutions as possible, and don't criticize – just concentrate on coming up with lots of ideas. If you're struggling to come up with solutions, use techniques like

• Reverse Brainstorming,
• Random Input, and
• Provocation.

Step 5: Forge the Solution

You're now going to develop your ideas into a fully formed solution.

1. Evaluate the most promising ideas by comparing them with the success criteria that you identified in step 2. Pick the solution that best meets those criteria. (Decision Matrix Analysis is helpful here.)

2. Then develop your best idea further. What else could make this idea better? How could you refine the solution to fit your success criteria better?

3. If you're working on a complex problem or project, don't underestimate the effort needed to develop and refine your solution.

Step 6: Align Resources

In this last step, you identify the people and other resources that you need in order to implement your solution.

For small projects, Action Plans  are useful for this. However, if you're implementing a large-scale project, you'll need to use a more formal project management approach.

Tip:  At this point, you may still decide not to move ahead with your solution.

Key Points

1. Tim Hurson developed the Productive Thinking Model and published it in his 2007 book "Think Better." The model provides a structured approach for solving problems creatively.

2. There are six steps in the model:

    Ask "What is going on?"

    Ask "What is success?"

    Ask "What is the question?"

    Generate answers.

    Forge the solution.

    Align resources.

3. The advantage of the model is that it encourages you to use creative and critical thinking skills at each step of the problem-solving process. This means that you can take a well-rounded look at a problem, and you can come up with better solutions.