What's Your Problem Flashcards
The way you ______ determines which solutions you come up with.
Frame a problem
By shifting _______ (that is, by _____ it), you can sometimes find radically better solutions.
The way you see the problem
Reframing
Most of the problems we encounter in the real world have already been framed for us. “The problem is that the elevator is slow.”
In our eagerness to find a solution, many of us:
- Don’t notice how _______.
- We take it for _____.
- We start coming up with ideas to _____.
The problem is framed
Granted
Solve the problem (“how to make the elevator faster” (upgrade the motor, replace elevator, etc).)
A solution space is a ______ that share assumptions about _______.
The elevator example of this is _____.
cluster of solutions
what the problem is
Problem: The elevator is too slow.
Solution Space: Make it faster (upgrade motor, etc).
At the heart of reframing is a counterintuitive insight:
Sometimes, to solve a hard problem, you have to ________.
Instead, you must turn your attention to ______—not just to analyze it, but to _________.
stop looking for a solution to it
the problem itself
shift the way you frame it
Reframing is different than analyzing a problem.
Analysis is when you ask (elevator example) ______ and try to understand the _________.
Reframing is when you ask _______.
“Why is the elevator slow”
various factors that influence the speed
“is the speed of the elevator the right thing to focus on?”
2 ways of reframing a problem are _____ and_______ the frame.
Exploring
Breaking
Exploring the frame is when you ____ the problem by delving deeper into the _______.
reframe
original problem statement (first framing)
Exploring the frame is similar to _____ the problem, but with the added element that you keep an eye out for ________.
Analyzing
Overlooked aspects of the situation that might make a difference.
Breaking the frame is when you step away completely from the _______ of the problem.
initial framing
If you don’t master ________, you will get trapped by the _____ of the problem.
breaking the frame
initial framing
Much of problem solving depends on our ability to ____ our own beliefs, and to _____ assumptions that we may have held onto for a long time.
question
challenge
By introducing reframing early in the process, before people fall in love with a specific solution, you can prevent _____ and achieve your ______.
wasted effort
goals faster
The very idea that a ____ exists can be misleading because problems typically have _____ and can be addressed in ______.
single root cause
multiple causes
many ways
Reframing is not about finding ____. It’s about finding _______.
the real problem
a better problem to solve
Tackling problems involves 3 activities that you cycle through repeatedly:
- ____ and ____ the problem. Determine what to focus on.
- ____ the problem. Study the chosen framing of the problem in depth, trying to quantify it and understand the finer details.
- _____ the problem. The actual steps you take to fix it, things like experimentation, prototyping, and eventually implementing the full solution.
Framing, reframing
Analyzing
Solving
_____ is a loop off of the straight line path. It’s a brief, deliberate redirection that temporarily shifts people’s focus to the higher-level question of how the problem is framed. And then getting back on the path with a new or improved understanding of the problem.
Reframing
The reframing loop is _____ throughout the problem solving journey.
Repeated
3 steps of reframing
- Frame
- Reframe
- Moving forward
Step 1, Frame: What’s the __________?
problem we’re trying to solve?
Step 2, Reframe: Is there a different way to ______? Challenge your initial ______ of the problem.
see the problem
understanding
The aim of reframing is to rapidly uncover as many ______ as possible.
potential alternative framings