This book goes through a simple and practical framework for solving problems by getting the reader to reframe the problem. Each chapter had some interesting stories from the book that emphasised each step of this process. Thomas writes:
The way you frame a problem determines which solutions you come up with.
By shifting the way you see the problem–that is, by reframing it–you can sometimes find radicially better solutions.
Solve the right problem
The first part of the book is exactly about this — making sure that the right problem is solved first. In general, we have a linear fashion of solving a problem.
Thomas asks, “How much do we waste — time, money, energy, even lives — by solving the wrong problem?”
To me, this just instantly clicked! I was taken through a whirlwind of ideas, world problems, and issues that sometimes need a moment to ask, “is this the right problem?” A bit crypt at first, but it made more sense as I read on.
The slow elevator problem
Now, this is a great example and one in that I use to illustrate (if you’ve heard me talk) the problem with solving the first problem. He mentions:
You are the owner of an office building, and your tenants are complaining about the elevator. It’s old and slowl and they have to wait a lot. Several tenants are threatening to break their leases if you don’t fix the problem.
This is a loaded problem as it already states what the solution space is — speed. He goes on to explain that many of us eager to solve problems will go into finding solutions for this space. e.g. “Could we improve the motor?” or “ Could we improve the algorithm?”
However, if you pose this problem to building managers, they suggest a much more elegant solution: put up mirrors next to the elevator. This simple measure has provided effective in reducing complaints, because people tend to lose track of time when given something utterly fasinatcting to look at–namely themselves.
As designers, we tend to see a problem, put on our design hats and use a design process to solve it. But in reality, those who ask the above question are already one step ahead (kudos!). We should always stop to find out if the problem is genuine.
Not every problem needs to be solved, only the right ones.
How to reframe
The book focuses on defining the problem by making you write down the problem, and in this process, you’re:
- slowing down
- being forced to be specific
- creating mental distance
- makes it easier for everyone to see the problem
- create an anchor for discussion
This process seems all too similar to me, given we tend to use this technique when problem-solving in most design teams. But I love how Thomas breaks it down to make you understand why they are important.
He also goes on to explain a couple of common pitfalls in defining the problem:
- An ill-defined mess or pain point
”Pain points often cause people to jump to solutions without pausing to consider what’s going on. e.g. Our new product isn’t selling. We need to invest more in marketing.” - A goal we don’t know how to reach
”pain points… at least have some kind of starting point to explore. Goals don’t necessarily give that: you may be entirely clueless in terms of where to start.” - Someone fell in love with a solution
”Sometimes, people have fallen in love with an idea–we should do X!–with zero evidence that the solution they are dreaming of solves a real-world problem. e.g. We should build an app!”
Look outside the frame
Thomas goes into great detail about looking outside of the frame to any external factors that could be causing the problem.
In this section, Thomas goes into framing problems to match our own expertise. He quotes a book called The Conduct of Inquiry, where Abraham Kaplan coined “the law of the hammer”. If you give a small child a hammer, they will find that everything they encounter needs pounding.
The real mistake happens when you keep using the hammer even after it’s clear that it’s not working.
My spouse is never ready to leave the house on time, no matter how much I yell at them. Hmm, maybe I should try some more yelling next time. The first fifty failures could have been statistical aberrations.
Letting go of your hammer. It’s not bad to have a default solution. But there are projects where you have only one shot to get it right, maybe when your go-to solution can cause harm, or when you’ve tried the same solution time and time again aiming to get a better result.
Thomas explains how previous events could create a chain reaction that could cause the problem in view. He also explains we should look at previous work (in the same space) for any learnings.
The book also explores the concept of hidden influences. Thomas refers to the marshmallow test, where kids were asked to wait in a room alone with a marshmallow in front of them for 15 minutes. If they refrained from eating it, they would get a second one. The study explained that kids who refrained become high-achieving and healthy people. But when a similar study was conducted they raised there was a hidden influence, which was that kids from less privileged backgrounds would choose to eat the marshmallow straight away because they grew up in environments in which food might not be around the next day.
The result: it wasn’t about willpower, it was about money.
Look for hidden factors that could affect the problem.
Rethink the goal
This chapter looks at potentially analysing the goal as a way forward. Rather than seeing the problem as an obstacle toward a goal, it could create a subtle trap that makes us try to find a way around it. Thomas asks if we’re pursuing the right goal at this point. He mentions a really good example of this moment:
Mateo took over the leadership of the review team. The team managed an important central database for their business. Every day, lots of other people inside the company would send various small change requests to the team. After making sure the change was okay, the team would apply it, essentially acting as a clearinghouse for the database.
They were working hard to achieve an important and rather ambitious goal set by their old leader:
We need to cut our response time in half.
Now they did this by allowing the team to be faster at handling requests. Matteo realised that the real goal wasn’t about the team’s speed, as the original goal had a big assumption “all requests had to be handled by the review team”. Once they stepped away from this. They could focus on a better solution, letting the business make simpler changes to the database without the involvement of the review team.
This allowed the team to focus on managing more complex changes to the database and removed the two-week lag for 80% of those requests.
This story shows the power of rethinking your goal. By questioning what you’re thinking to achieve, you can sometimes find a way forward that creates better results.
Overcome resistance
Thomas uses this chapter to write about how to overcome resistance to reframing by being aware of challenges you might need to overcome. He discusses running learning experiments to gauge how users respond to problem-solving.
Thomas writes about how a leader, Marc, took over a European company and noticed that staff weren’t innovating. The management team wanted to roll out a training program that they believed would help, but they got interrupted by Charlotte, Marc’s PA. “I’ve been working here for twelve years… and in that time I have seen three different management teams try to roll out some new innovation framework. None of them worked. I don’t think people would react well to the introduction of another set of buzzwords.”
Now her presence in the meeting wasn’t accidental. Marc invited her because she would have a better understanding of what was going on in the company. He wanted the team to see beyond their own perspective. They soon realised that they had become in love with the solution before they had really understood the problem. Marc goes on to say that “many of our employees know how to innovate — but they didn’t feel very engaged in the company.” The managers had first framed the problem as a lack of skill-set but it was more of a motivation one. The team dropped the training program and rolled out a series of changes to promote engagement. e.g. flexible working hours, increased transparency, active participation in decision-making, etc.
Find ways to overcome resistance, either through learning experiments, research, or bringing the right people into the meeting.
I found this book to be really interesting. I learned some techniques when approaching a problem by trying to explore other areas that create the pain point.
Do you have any other books that have helped shape how you solve problems?
