How do you solve problems? It’s one of the most important things in business and in life. Here are some ways to try
Define the Problem
The first step is to define the problem clearly, and also define all the terms clearly.
What exactly is the problem? Normally it’s a good idea to focus on understanding the problem really deeply, and defining it, then the solution is obvious.
Often people jump in straight away to try to solve a problem before they have a really clear idea about what it is that they are solving. Also, often when multiple people are trying to solve a problem, they might have different ideas about what the problem is, and trying to be solving different things. It takes some effort to define clearly what exactly the problem is, and what is the root cause of the problem. Often something is a symptom of the problem and not the actual problem.
Here’s a great Albert Einstein quote: “If I had an hour to solve a problem I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions.”
Sam Ovens also talks about this
Inversion
Munger is famous for his quote “All I want to know is where I’m going to die, so I’ll never go there.” This thinking was inspired by the German mathematician Carl Jacobi who often solved difficult problems by following a simple strategy: man muss immer umkehren (or loosely translated, “invert, always invert.”)
What will not work in solving a problem?
If you want to succeed, what will you not do? Then don’t do those, and also inverse it.
Simplify The Problem
A whole class of problem-solving techniques focuses on altering the given problem into a simpler form that is easier to analyze. Once a solution is found to the simplified problem, fresh ideas for attacking the original problem often become clear. This section will highlight multiple techniques for problem-simplification, as well as other useful techniques for problem-solving.
Go to the Extreme
In the opposite of simplifying the problem, you could also take it to the extreme to understand it better. Then the characteristics of the problem become more obvious or pronounced and clearer to see.
If you had a magic wand, what would you do? If you had a million dollars, what would you do?
Brainstorm ideas
This is a classic way to think of lots of ideas.
