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Tag: Problem statements

  • Problem Perspectives

    The skill of using problem perspectives is one of the most important skills you can learn in life. It helps you to see the world in a different way and solve a better problem. So what is this “problem” perspective thing? Well, it’s when we look at our own job, or our clients business, through an outside lens. Instead of just being like “I AM doing marketing”, you look at it as: “my potential customers need to be able to understand why they should buy my product”. And if that is true then I start thinking about how this problem fits into the best solution for them. View the problem from their perspective.

    Are you in the business of solving problems? If your answer is yes, then it’s not a coincidence you read this blog. I’m going to show you why your problem perspectives matter, share with you how it’s affecting how you’re solving problems and how to fix it.

    When we start solving problems in our careers, whether we realize it or not, we’re positioning ourselves to be successful at our jobs and potentially even at life. One of the areas that benefits from understanding our problems-perspectives is how we approach marketing campaigns and creative briefs.

    Are you a Business Owner, Entrepreneurs, Marketer, or something else? Do you know if your business is solving the right problem?

    Asking this question using problem perspectives can help you determine what kind of business you should be in and help you avoid wasting time and resources on a bad idea.

    Consider your problem perspectives

    Here are some questions to ask yourself about your problem perspective:

    • What is the problem that I am trying to solve?
    • How do other people regard this problem? Are they aware of it or unaware?
    • How have others attempted to solve this particular problem before me? Have they succeeded? If so, how did they do it? How did they fail?

    If you’re like most people, you have a lot of problems. There’s the problem with your hair, the problem with your job, and the problem with your relationship. But if you’re also like most people, you don’t think about how to solve those problems. How do you take on something as big as solving all of your problems?

    It’s easy to get caught up in the daily grind of life—and it’s also easy to get stuck in a rut where all we do is solve one problem at a time. But what if we could see things from different perspectives? What if we could solve our best problems by looking at them through new lenses ie using problem perspectives?

    In this course, I’m going to help you develop perspective-taking skills. You can choose how to solve your best problems by reframing your perspective. We’ll learn how to identify what kind of problem perspective might work best for each situation—and how to use that insight when faced with difficult choices or tough times.

    I’m going to give you a simple test to determine which perspective is working best for your job and career. The test is easy: just ask yourself one question: What would happen if we solved this problem? Can we make something happen? If your answer is yes, then go ahead and solve it! If your answer is no (or maybe?), then find another way to solve it or ask someone else who can!

    10 Professions That Need To Be Sure They Are Solving The Right Problems

    Here are the top ten professions that need to be sure they are solving the right problem.

    1. The CEO of a company needs to be sure that their company is solving the right problem.
    2. People who want to do things differently or better
    3. A salesperson needs to be sure that they are solving the right problem for their client.
    4. A teacher needs to be sure that they are solving the right problem for their students.
    5. A business owner needs to be sure that they are solving the right problem for their employees.
    6. A researcher needs to be sure that they are solving the right problem for their research project, or they haven’t done it yet!
    7. A student needs to be sure that they are solving the right problem for their paper or presentation, or else it won’t count!
    8. A manager needs to be sure that their employees are solving the right problem so they can help them succeed in achieving their goals and objectives at work or in life overall!
    9. An artist needs to be sure that she is solving the right problems for herself in order to create beautiful art pieces!
    10. An athlete needs to be sure that she is solving her best possible athletic problems by training hard, staying healthy, eating well and sleeping enough each day so she can compete at her highest level when called upon by her coach or teammates during practice hours.

    Skills for problem perspectives

    The most important skill is to solve the right problem, and the best way to do that is being clear about your problem perspective. By keeping these simple considerations in mind as you move through your research, design and development process all other aspects of your work should be clearer and easier.

    These steps can solve your best problem with problem perspectives.

    • Pick a problem to solve (Start by picking a problem that you are motivated to solve).
    • Brainstorm solutions (Focus on solutions you could implement yourself without a lot of resources).
    • Evaluate your solutions (Determine which solutions work and which do not).
    • Implement the best solution (Pick the solution that worked and get started on implementing it).

    I hope you will learn to know, respect and use the power of perspectives. In my experience as a Master / Business advisor, as a course instructor and trainer, as well as working with International businesses I have found that “The person who can solve his own problems usually understands and recognizes the problems of others”

  • Learning to Solve the Right Problem

    What’s the worst nightmare for a product manager? When he/she is working on creating a solution…and this realization strikes like lightning: “Wait a minute…what problem am I actually solving? … How can I be sure I actually solve the right problem?”

    Or when someone asks this question in a meeting — and it puts everything on hold.

    You see, solving problems is innate to product managers. It’s what helps the team, department, product, and company as a whole succeed when product professionals like product managers solve problems that matter. But, the secret that makes a product manager great, is identifying and solving the right problems first.

    (We’ll get to that shortly later in the post)

    First, let’s have a look at the 5 powerful benefits you’ll gain by leveling up your knowledge — and learning how to think outside the box to solve the right problem!

    1.   You’ll make your workflow smoother.

    Obstacles can hinder your workflow. When you solve the right problem, you overcome the right obstacle at the right time, you can keep your projects running smoothly. More often than not, you’re tackling a bunch of complex problems at the same time. By learning how to solve those sudden, unexpected problems that matter the most first,  you can pave the way to a smoother workflow.

    2.   You’ll become a better team leader.

    When you solve the right problem, you become a better problem solver, better team leader. You’ll be able to keep your team cohesive and connected. Since you’re the first respondent to every new problem — your attitude to how you approach that problem matters the most. If you do that job the right way, your team will stay worry-free, and will be confident enough to put their trust in you. Resultantly, you’ll position yourself as a credible, trustworthy leader who knows how to go about incredibly complex problems, at any given time.

    3.   You’ll finish more work in less time.

    When you solve the right problem you save time. One single problem — even as mundane as renewing a software subscription — can put a ‘full stop’ to your work progress. Everyone just stops. All that time goes wasted, unproductive, or extremely less productive at the very least. But when you know what problems to prioritize first, how to identify them proactively, and then solve them before they hurt your productivity too much — that exact thing will help you do more in less time.

    4.   You’ll be delivering on-time projects.

    On-time projects boost clients’ satisfaction, your department’s success, and your company’s success. But that’s only possible when you’re fast, efficient, and instinctive to solving the right problems, at the right time.

    5.   Happy clients/customers, happy You.

    This is the most important benefit. At the end of the day, all that matters is how happy and satisfied your heart is by your work progress. As a product manager, you’re always at the forefront of every new obstacle. At times, it can even leave you overwhelmed on how to understand exactly what problems you’re facing — let alone how to solve those particular problems. When you master your problem-solving skills, you become confident, competent, satisfied, and a profitable team player for the company.

    It’s Time.

    Which problems should you solve first? The important ones, of course.

    But how do you know which one is the most important one? Learn how to solve the right problem!

    Instead of rushing, I want you to pause for a second.

    Breathe.

    What happens mostly is that managers rush into problems. The science behind why that happens is because we’re trained so instinctively.

    Think about your school days. Your questions were well-framed and well-stated, all you needed were to figure out solutions/answers.Think about your childhood.

    Your parents made it very clear about the things you’re doing wrong – and even guided you how to fix them.

    Think about your mentor. They paved the way by making you well-aware of the  hidden problems that were sabotaging your success.

    The same pattern is continued by most managers in their professional life as well.

    They just rush instinctively, without creating better problem statements first…

    Without actually stopping and figuring out the root cause of the problem.

    They jump into ‘solution space’ too quickly, instead of spending enough time exploring the ‘problem space.’

    If you’re also a victim of that…stop.

    Because when you’re in business, problems and obstacles can be complex.

    Often extremely nerve-racking, coming from all different root causes.

    That leads to unsolved clusters of problems — or worse, working on wrong problems at the wrong time.

    Before anything, simplify what the problem actually is — and whether it’s the right one to focus on first.

    What you should do instead is to…pause…wear your detective hat…look at everything with a fish-eye lens…

    And craft better problem statements.

    Get a hold of yourself — and see the problem as a whole using my Power Perspective method.

    This is a brand new course I created to help product managers, entrepreneurs, or business professionals.

    This course will teach you a compact, systematic approach to craft better problem statements using the unique power of perspective — so you can solve your best problems.

    You’ll be able to create solutions that are effective and thorough.

    Learn More about this course right here.

  • The power of perspective helps high school students and college students learning how to solve the right problem

    Children develop problem-solving skills at various rates; by and by, students should figure out how to handle issues with grit and creativity, particularly as they figure out how to adapt to difficulties or resolve the struggle. In addition, Problem-solving using the power of perspective is an essential skill that children can develop because it prepares them to face increasingly complex academic and interpersonal issues as they mature.

    The 21st century is about new difficulties and issues which require a new set of skills as we confront problems that matter. The world around is developing quickly, and youngsters need to acquire essential skills, for example, critical reasoning, problem-solving, and critical thinking. Several studies have shown that children today need to develop these skills to solve key real-world problems.

    This article will explore the benefits of learning how to solve the right problem for high school students and college students.

    Why is better Problem-Solving needed for Students?

    In the past, the student followed a mechanical progression in education. Consistently presented new difficulties and concepts for them as they undertook a standardized, one-size-fits-all educational plan and examination. Education was concerned about finding the right solution and scoring high grades to arrive at a higher level. There was little room for out-of-the-box thinking that considered innovative solutions. The more data student could hold and spew, the better prepared they were for a test, ultimately translating to their real-life success. Therefore, students were kept astray from practical skills and complex real-world problems they would eventually face after finishing their formative years in school and college.

    Problem Solving is a systematic process that includes critical reasoning and thinking to find a suitable solution to problems to achieve desired objectives. Following are the reasons why Problem solving is essential for school and college students.

    • When children solve problems exclusively or in a gathering, they become stronger. Accordingly, it makes them capable of taking more calculated risks. They figure out how to check out a problem using the power of perspective.
    • It helps students differentiate between solvable issues and problems that cannot be solved.
    • It is essential to get ready for school and college students to face complex interpersonal and academic problems.
    • Students who learn Problem-solving skills frequently have a more profound understanding of causality.
    • Problem-solving is essential for a child’s development because confident and productive children usually grow up as successful and confident adults.
    • Employers always demand individuals who can work in a group and jump out of their inherent thinking mode, particularly since many of the difficulties that the world faces today are unique and new.
    • When students practice problem-solving consistently, they can develop better friendly and situational mindfulness. They will also figure out how to manage time properly and develop patience.
    • Students who figure out how to take care of problems from childhood are curious, resourceful, and determined.

     

    PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS BUILD CONFIDENCE

     

    Solving problems means making choices. When children tackle problems all alone or in a group, they become resilient. They figure out how to check out difficulties according to a new viewpoint. Hence, they go ahead with additional reasonable courses of action.

    Problem-solving is significant in children’s development because certain because confident, capable children usually grow into confident, capable adults that be the change makers they need to be.  Students using the power of perspective to practice problem-solving consistently can create more prominent situational and social awareness.

    As students mature, the problems they face become more complex:

    • How do I make lasting friendships?
    • How can I bring to my community?
    • Which career suits my skills and interests best?

    Consequently, we offer a course on how to solve the right problem for high school students and college students. Click here for more information.

    As students develop their Problem-solving skills, they learn how to depend on independent, creative thinking, which enhances their sense of independence; these skills then prepare students for life and future careers.

    Tips to Improve the Problem Solving, Creative Thinking, and Critical Reasoning Skills

    Following are some of the tips for improving the Problem-solving skills of school and college students and making them more creative and skilled people to take care of 21st-century problems:

    • Explain the advantages of group work and invite them to take part in group activities.
    • Encourage decision-making by engaging them to deal with problems using the power of perspective.
    • Allow children to express their opinions and ideas in public and avoid intervening as it might hamper their confidence.
    • Try to ask students questions and problems as it helps children learn creative thinking skills.
    • Allow children to consider new ideas and find unique and creative solutions to challenging problems.
    • Enroll with us to teach children essential group activity problem-solving, critical reasoning, and creative thinking skills. Our Tutorials help to prepare confident and competent individuals who are ready to face real-world 21st-century problems.

    PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS PREPARE STUDENTS FOR FUTURE CAREERS

    Children who figure out how to solve problems when they are young tend to appreciate lifelong learning. They are curious, motivated, and innovative.

    Employers want new hires should think inventively, particularly since many problems that society faces today are new.

    Despite the requirement for individual greatness, employers also want new team members. Taking classes that support the power of perspective problem-solving can be invaluable as students look ahead to college and careers.

    Problem-solving is significant in child development since it trains young people to think independently and collaborate. Accordingly, our students participate in academic teams that build leadership through problem-solving activities. Our graduates are ready to enter adulthood because they know how to solve problems.

     

    Why Choose US?  

     

    Our goal is to ignite intellectual inquiry and build the problem-solving, imagination, collaboration, and communication skills our students should develop, design, and lead in school, college, and beyond.

    Let’s solve the Problem! We are providing the course on problem-solving at a very affordable price. Click here to check out the course outline.  We also added the promotional video, which you can check out by visiting our website.

  • How Solving The Correct Problem Can Save Social Entrepreneurs Thousands

    As a social entrepreneur, you want to do good. You want to change the world and help people find success, fulfillment and happiness. You want to solve problems that matter! Most nonprofits fail because they didn’t solve the right problem. They were trying to win hearts when they should have been working on minds and using their talents to achieve something unique.

    Did you ever start a project, only to realize you were solving the wrong problem? In some cases, it can be as simple as rethinking your goals. But it is not necessarily easy to see the disconnect between what you were trying to accomplish, and how much time and money you could have saved if only you thought differently. If this happens to you, there are ways that you can learn from your mistakes and build a better solution for yourself in the future.

    Social entrepreneurs are always looking for new ways to solve problems. When it comes to social enterprises, the problem can be very complicated and nuanced, which can make it difficult to figure out what exactly it is that needs to be solved.

    Social entrepreneurs are passionate about helping people. They have a desire to make a difference in the world and often have great ideas for how to do so. However, there is often more than one way to solve a problem.

    In social entrepreneurship, there are two main ways to solve problems:

    -Focus on your own perspective: You can solve your best problem by focusing on it and solving it just for you. This may mean changing the way you think about something or focusing on one aspect of the problem that is less obvious than others.

    -Focus on your customers’ perspective: You can also solve your best problem by focusing on what your customers want and need. This may mean creating an entirely new product or service based on what they want or need.

    It’s easy to get bogged down by a problem. But what if you could fix it?

    That’s exactly what Problem Perspectives: Solve Your Best Problem! is here for—to help you refine your problem statement so that you can find the best solution to your problem.

    Problem Perspectives is a course on problem-solving techniques that will help you understand the power of perspective and how to use it to your advantage.

    You’ll learn how to apply the “power of perspective” to solving your best problems, and you’ll learn how to see the big picture and make good choices on a variety of topics. You’ll also learn how to use the “power of perspective” to solve difficult problems in your life.

    You’ll get real-life examples with step-by-step explanations so that you can practice what you learn.

    In this course, we’ll be talking about problem perspectives.

    The first thing we want to do is make sure you understand the problem perspective—and why it’s important.

    You see, there are two different kinds of problems: problems and issues.

    A problem is something that we can’t ignore or get around—a loss of revenue or legal action from a client would be an example.

    An issue on the other hand is just a concern that needs to be resolved in some way (like how to increase sales) but isn’t necessarily critical to the business as a whole. So for example, if you run out of product and can’t get more in time for your next sale, that’s an issue since it simply needs to be resolved before you can move forward with your business plan.

    But what happens when these issues become too big? What happens when they start taking up too much time and resources? That’s where problem perspectives come in! Problem perspectives are used by organizations so they can solve their biggest problems first before moving onto others. This way they can avoid wasting their time and money by focusing on them first instead of letting them grow until they become too big for the company.

    This course will help you learn how to solve your best problem in order to come up with better solutions. You’ll discover how to refine your perspective by analyzing all the factors that contribute to a successful solution for your company and then choosing one that works for you!

    Through this course, you’ll learn:

    -How to pick the right problem and recognize its importance

    -How to use perspective analysis as a tool for decision-making

    -How to work with other stakeholders in order to improve the overall environment of your business

    Ultimately, I think the best approach for finding your best problem is to choose what you’re already passionate about and work there. This will spare you from working on a problem that you have no interest in solving because it’s not in line with what fuels your passion. It will also attract people who share your passions, which could lead to some amazing synergies. It will be easier to find ways to engage these kinds of co-workers, because they’ll want to contribute more than they would if they were just doing work.

    I hope that this has provided a bit of insight into how you can better define “your best problem” or what it is that you want to do. Hopefully next time you create a problem statement, you’ll be able to make it more impactful.

  • From Sustaining to Disruptive Innovation

    Managers know their companies must grow. Investment capital is not easy to come by. Firms are reluctant to take risks. Your clients are economically stressed.  Growth is hard, especially given today’s economic environment. Today’s managers have a problem. The status quo is not acceptable. They need innovative thinking to change the game. But not all innovations are the same. Sustaining innovation targets existing, high-end clients or customers demanding better performance than previously available. Disruptive innovation helps create a new market and value network. The types of innovation that you require will depend on the circumstances.

    Sustaining vs disruptive innovation

    Established competitors usually win competitive battles over sustaining technology. Year over year they grind out incremental improvements. On occasion, they develop products that leapfrog beyond the competition. It doesn’t matter whether the innovation is technologically advanced. This strategy works for the incumbents because it results in better products that they can sell for higher margins to their best customers. Established competitors have the resources to maintain a pipeline of sustaining innovation. For many incumbents, sustaining innovation is like fixing defects – a cost a business as usual.  But even for masters of this approach, there can be times when sustaining innovation is not enough. Customers or clients and the business environment may change (e.g., COVID) requiring managers to reassess their business models. 

    Disruptive Innovation

    The term “Disruptive innovations” means inventing or reinventing business models. A technology that enables market disruptions is a disruptive technology. It is the business model and not the technology that enables and creates the disruptive effect. The market is the thing that is disrupted by innovation.

    think outside the box for disruptive innovation

    To change from sustaining to disruptive innovation, your focus should not be on the product or service currently being delivered. Rather, your attention should be redirected to the clients’ needs that the product or service attempts to meet. Disruptive innovators significantly alter and improve a product or service in ways that the market did not expect. This is innovation by thinking outside the box of existing product or service offerings. The effects of your successful disruptive innovation can be seen in two dimensions – the market structure and the product features. By discovering or segmenting a  new category of customers or clients, the innovator disrupts the market structure.  By altering the product or service features and quality the innovator disrupts industry cost structures.

    Disrupters tend to focus on getting the business model, rather than merely the product, just right. Usually, this requires a maniacal focus on clients’ needs. Market segmentation then proceeds not merely on the basis of demographics, but also using psychographics based on clients’ goals in a particular context. As Zig Ziglar once opined, “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want”. By market segmenting on the customers’ or clients’ needs, and the contexts in which those needs arise, marketing messages can be more precisely delivered.   By refocusing on the customers’ / clients’ needs and context, new technologies or processes for satisfying those needs can be developed. To change from sustaining to disruptive innovation, you first need to resegment the market based on your clients’ needs and context, before working through the solution details.

    Clients' needs problem statement not biased by existing solution

    Your first step to change from sustaining to disruptive innovation, then, is capturing the clients’ needs in a clear, unbiased, problem statement. Talking to clients and customers can provide insight into their perceived needs. Your discussions here are, unfortunately, often biased. The inherent bias comes from many sources – existing offers in the market, the clients’ or customers’ world view, etc. Additional observation approaches can help to develop a broader perspective. Refining these inputs into a  clear problem statement can be a challenging, often iterative process. The iterations happen in conversation with clients or customers, but also in the analysis with reframing perspectives on the observations. With business model innovations, in particular, iterating through technical, legal, and business perspectives, can provide a broader perspective on the clients’ needs and context.

    We can help!

    Framing and reframing the problem from different perspectives can enable you to see past constraints. These constraints may not exist from a different perspective. Developing a client-centric, solution-agnostic problem statement can enable the needed creative thinking. You need a broader perspective of the clients’ problem to expose a wider variety of potential solutions. Our free Guide to Writing Problem Statements can help you get your clients’ needs problem statement right.  

    Whether you are a researcher, business professional, or social entrepreneur, the solutions you develop to the problems that you face matter!  We’d like to hear your thinking on the most important challenges so you can think outside the box for your clients. We have a brief survey that should take less than 2 minutes of your time to complete. You can start right away by going to this link. I look forward to sharing these insights and resources with you.

    A course on the use of perspective to refine problem statements is now available.

      Problem Perspectives Course

     

    If you need help bringing the power of perspective to your clients’ needs problem statement contact me.

     

  • When to Think Outside The Box

    Thinking outside the box simply means that you’re willing to consider different solutions and methods for reaching your goal or desired outcome.  You want to get from point A to point B, but you don’t necessarily need or want to take the tried and true route to get there (which is inside the box). This can also mean considering some creative alternatives in terms of the goals or desired outcomes. Moving the goalposts, even a little, can have an outsized impact on the game. The phrase is often associated with the Nine-Dot Puzzle, where the box is sometimes literally drawn around the nine dots, framing a solution space, or maybe inferred as the paper on which the dots are drawn.

    Think outside the box

    In a more general sense, the box is a perspective that provides a set of constraints on possible solutions.  A new perspective looks beyond that set of constraints to enable innovative thinking. Thinking differently can have a powerful and positive effect on your career. As an entrepreneur, this is why you need to think outside the box: it can help you get ahead of your competition in identifying and exploiting opportunities.

    Only incremental progress lies inside the box

    The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. – George Bernard Shaw

    Sometimes, we can get pretty stuck in our ways. We become complacent, just going through the motions, doing what we need to but no more. We’re scared to deviate from the set route and make our own paths. If everyone just accepted things the way they are, then there would never be any innovation or improvement in the world. 

    think outside the box

    A lot of the time we’re not even really present in what we’re doing – we’re on auto-pilot. If Thomas Edison was complacent and figured things were good enough the way they were, light bulbs and the electricity to power them might never have been commercially developed. If he hadn’t thought outside the box, the world could (literally) be a very dim place. Identifying topics where complacency exists can identify an opportunity for unconventional thinking. 

    More things are variable than you may expect

    Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right.
    — Henry Ford

    If you view things as unchangeable, then nothing will ever change for the better. By thinking outside the box, you are questioning the status quo. Asking how you could improve an experience, product, or service for your clients. This allows you to keep growing as a person and as an entrepreneur. Questioning the status quo can provide the new perspectives necessary for intelligent and forward-thinking decisions in business.

    think outside the box for disruptive innovation

    When first articulating a client’s problem statement, it is not uncommon to have a lot of unstated assumptions regarding unchangeable factors. Let’s face it – factors that can’t be changed or controlled are boring. In reality, many factors change with time, geography, etc. Indeed, seemingly arbitrary changes in environmental factors may be causing the clients’ difficulties. A better understanding of the clients’ problem space may enable better controls to be identified. As an example, mankind can’t control the weather. On a smaller scale, heating and air conditioning significantly improve the quality of life for millions of people. Specialized “clean rooms” enable various industrial processes (from semiconductor manufacturing to biomedical research). Just because the initial client problem description assumes some factor is unchangeable, does not mean that change and control of that factor is impossible. 

    Outside the box perspectives

    “The task is…not so much to see what no one has yet seen; but to think what nobody has yet thought, about that which everybody sees.” ― Erwin Schrödinger

    Thinking outside the box can expand your worldview, allowing you to have a greater perspective. This includes not only the events and happenings in your career but also in other dimensions in your life. When you’re willing to consider alternative points of view and ways of doing things, you’ll be more open to a variety of different points of view and potential solutions. Moving from the client’s problem to a solution is not always a straight line. Creativity is often required in developing an appropriate perspective before attempting solution innovation.

    This need for a new perspective is why so many businesses bring in outside consultants to help come up with new ideas. The consultants don’t carry the burden of constraints on their thinking from existing tools and processes. Their version of Outside-The-Box Thinking can dream up and offer up wildly new ideas that get people excited and lead to innovative pivots etc.

    We can help!

    Framing and reframing the problem from different perspectives can enable you to see past constraints. These constraints may not exist from a different perspective. Developing a client-centric, solution-agnostic problem statement can enable the needed creative thinking. For wider variety of potential solutions to be exposed, you need a broader perspective of the clients’ problem. Our free Guide to Writing Problem Statements can help you get your client program statement right.  

    Whether you are a researcher, business professional, or social entrepreneur, the solutions you develop to the problems that you face matter!  We’d like to hear your thinking on the most important challenges so you can think outside the box for your clients. We have a brief survey that should take less than 2 minutes of your time to complete. You can get started right away by going to this link. I look forward to sharing these insights and resources with you.

    A course on the use of perspective to refine problem statements is now available.

      Problem Perspectives Course

    If you need help bringing the power of perspective to your client problem statement contact me.

     

  • Change the Game: You could be the Game-Changer

    There is an episode of the vintage TV show “I Love Lucy” where Lucy works wrapping candies on an assembly line. The candies keep coming closer together as the line speeds up. Lucy, and her sidekick Ethel, scramble harder to keep up, though they keep getting further behind. Then Lucy finally says, “I think we’re fighting a losing game”.  Your business initiatives may have you feeling like that – working harder and harder to keep up rather than working smarter. In Lucy’s case, the increasing assembly line speed had some comedic value. It is no laughing matter, however, if your business initiatives are not seeing the results you need. Increasing costs (e.g. effort) and reduced value (e.g., customer traction, efficiency) are signs that it is time to change the game.

    Game-changer

    Automating a broken process (like Lucy’s) just accelerates the costs. Rather than fighting a losing game, recognize that it’s time to change the game to one that you can succeed at.  Analyzing your broken process may not help if you are working on the wrong problem. In every sector and region, reshaping our world,  are disruptive and innovative game-changers. These may be start-ups or larger corporates, or even social entrepreneurs. They are ambitious, stretching vision with enlightened purpose. Gamechangers see markets as kaleidoscopes of infinite possibilities, assembling and defining them to their advantage. They find their own space, then shape it in their own vision. Most of all game-changers have great ideas. They don’t believe in being slightly cheaper or slightly better. They out-think their competition. By thinking bigger and differently, game-changers are solving a different, better, problem to their competition.

    Game-Changing : not just for sports

    Lucy’s assembly line, and the sports arena, are not the only place game-changing plays are made.  Through innovation, and strategic vision, we can change the game in business deals, in our career, in relationships, and more. In the non-profit world,  “changing the game” can enable a path to relief for those that need it most. When we articulate the game we are playing, we can examine further with questions like, “what are the rules of this game?”, “how am I keeping score?” “Is this game serving the needs of my clients and myself?”

    Game-Changer

     Consider this thought experiment – suppose a  new entrant (e.g., a startup) is competing against an incumbent  (e.g. a large company). If the new entrant decides to offer the product (or some part of it) for free, (e.g., as open-source software)  and chooses to monetize its customer base through some other business model, this changes the rules of the game. Such action with a radically different business model changes customer perceptions. Thus changing the marginal return from existing competencies that the incumbent has. This reshuffles the market: winning no longer requires greater competencies along the status-quo dimension,  some new competitive dimension becomes the measure that determines the winner. In this new game, the existing incumbent company might have no real advantage compared to the new entrant.

    Be the game-changer you need to see

    The business model is just a type of model, and may not accurately represent the needs and purposes of your business stakeholders and most importantly, your clients. All models are wrong, but some are useful, (according to George Box). What is the model surrounding your business challenge? The rules are you are playing by? Parameters you think you need to follow? What beliefs do you have about the Client’s situation?  What would happen if you reversed or changed the old model’s beliefs? Is there a better foundation or structure or perspective would better serve your goals? your clients’ goals? What new perspective feels empowering? Whenever you feel stuck, see if you can’t find a new, more empowering perspective, and a bigger opportunity to serve your clients.

    Game-changer

    It’s easy to get distracted by the tools and processes in your current environment. This is especially true when you need to keep the current business running while finding a better way forward. But you won’t be thinking differently if you just focus on the same old tools and processes. Such a focus leads to merely incremental rather than disruptive innovation. To avoid such issues, a clearer statement of your client’s problem is needed before attempting to solve it.  Our free Guide to Writing Problem Statements can help you get your client program statement right.  

    We can help you change the game

    Whether you are a researcher, business professional, or social entrepreneur, the solutions you develop to the problems that you face matter!  We’d like to hear your view of the most important challenges in writing problem statements for your clients. We have a brief survey on the most important challenges that should take less than 2 minutes to complete. The survey takes less than 2 minutes and you can get started right away by going to this link. I look forward to sharing these insights and resources with you.

    A course on the use of perspective to refine problem statements is now available.

      Problem Perspectives Course

     

    If you need help bringing the power of perspective to your client problem statement contact me.

     

  • Framing and Reframing Perspectives

    Framing is a mental structure that is built upon the beliefs you have about yourself, your roles, your resources, your circumstances, and about other people. It is a structure you use to ascribe meaning in what you observe of the world around you. In other words, the meaning you perceive from any event is dependent upon how you frame it in your mind. As such, your frames shape how you perceive the world, yourself, and others. Our human perceptual capacity is like a magnifying glass that we can move over text or images. We focus in on something and often lose awareness of what originally surrounded that magnified area. It’s like cropping photos on our digital cameras. We crop the image to our preferred view of the scene and forget the bigger picture. Frames are inherent in your perception of the world; as such, they are either helpful within the context you are using them, or they are not. Frames can be optimistic or pessimistic, expand your possibilities or limit them (e.g. a growth or fixed mindset – (Dweck 2008)).  Frames are therefore appropriate or inappropriate, good or bad, depending on your objectives. The more control you can achieve of the frame, the more options you have for selecting a frame that is more appropriate for your objectives. Framing and reframing perspectives on problem statements brings greater clarity to that problem statement.

    Framing and Reframing Perspectives
    Photo Credit: Adobe Stock

    When you decide to work on a project with others, you frame that problem with a scope in a project statement so that everyone knows what is included and excluded. With an explicit project statement, everyone can understand what a successful project outcome is and what they need to focus on in order to complete their part of the project. In the same way, the frames you use on a daily basis provide a context for your thoughts, attitudes, decisions, and actions. They help guide the direction of your thoughts, attitudes, decisions, and actions to help you accomplish your desired outcomes. Your desired outcomes may be an internal change (e.g. in creating new habits) or an external change in the world around you. Problems have been described at the discrepancy between the current state and some desired future state (your objective). Just as a project statement guides the completion of a project, a problem statement can be used to guide the solution of a problem to achieve your objectives.

    When you’re stuck on a problem it often helps to look at it from another perspective. A “fresh pair of eyes” can be all that you need to come up with a great solution. Reframing is seeing the current situation from a different perspective. Reframing can be tremendously helpful in problem solving, decision making and learning. With reframing, one shifts one’s perspective to be more empowered to act effectively and impactfully. The goal of reframing is to expand your vision of a problem’s context so that you can consider a wider range of interpretations of what’s happened (the current state), or a wider range of potential future states (the desired outcomes), or a wider range of control mechanisms to transform the current state into the desired outcomes. Many times, merely reframing one’s perspective on a situation can also help people change how they feel about the situation.  Reframing enables a choice of how to frame a problem, an opportunity for empowerment through learning and decision making. Recall that some frames may be more or less helpful for achieving particular objectives. Frame selection choices may enable easier, more efficient problem resolution, and/ or greater impact or value in the achievable outcomes.

    Framing and reframing perspectives on problems

    Framing and reframing perspectives on problems highlights the differences between different perspectives. When we consciously reframe, we look for patterns, examine our filters, and question our perceptions, we can emerge with a new picture of reality. We can reframe by shifting the perspective in a variety of dimensions (e.g. time, people, risk, resources (input scale), results (output scale). Many problems require participation by others for solution. Truly wicked problems require significant attitude shift by large numbers of other stakeholders. If we share our new perceptions with others and hear theirs, we can shift perspective into an enlarged reality. It can create change and movement, in personal relationships, in organizations, and even society at large.

    The first step in solving your problem is to define the problem with a problem statement so that you can focus on the important aspects of your problem and remove the distractions that obscure its essential features. The process of selecting the essential aspects of your problem creates a (problem solving) framework for its resolution. Even without an explicit problem-solving framework, you inherently select some subset of information about your problem. If the problem is framed in such a way that essential elements remain obscured, then this frame may not be very helpful to resolving the problem. When consciously using a Problem-Solving Framework, you explicitly identify the essential features that you want to see in your problem statement.  Using and explicit frame to structure your problem statement provides a starting point. Framing and reframing perspectives on the problem statement typically proceeds by asking a series of questions from a new perspective and then recreating the problem statement based on that perspective.

    Is your client’s problem sensitive to the way it is framed?

    Framing and Reframing Perspectives
    Photo Credit: Adobe Stock

    Is your client’s problem sensitive to the way it is framed? Your client may not recognize the impact of framing the problem statement on potential problem solutions. Viable solutions may be cheaper and easier to develop if they only need to be applicable to clients within a reduced scope developed by refining the problem statement. 

    When developing the problem statement for your client, understanding diverse perspectives can impact the scope of the desired future state as well as constraints on viable solutions. If you are developing client problem statements, you might be interested in our free Guide to Writing Problem Statements.  Everyone has Client’s problems that they need to solve, but are they solving the right problem? Are you solving your best problem? Whether you are a researcher, business professional or social entrepreneur, the solutions you develop to the problems that you face matter!  We’d like to hear your view of the most important challenges in writing problem statements for your clients. We have a brief survey on the most important challenges that should take less than 2 minutes to complete. The survey tackles less than 2 minutes and you can get started right away by going to this link. I look forward to sharing these insights and resources with you.

    A course on the use of perspective to refine problem statements is now available.

      Problem Perspectives Course

    If you need help bringing the power of perspective to your client problem statement contact me.

    References

    (Dweck 2008) Dweck, C. S. (2008). Mindset: The new psychology of success. Random House Digital, Inc..

     

  • Temporal Perspective on the Problem

    When documenting a client’s problem, one of the categories of information that the problem statement should include is information about the when the problem occurred. Humans are creatures of “time,” and for many of us it is a fundamental factor in the way we perceive the world, but notions of time vary.  Temporal perspectives are an essential characteristic of culture, and cultural norm often follow from it. Around the world, different people live their daily lives at different tempos, and observe a different pace of life. This may be reflected in the speed at which they walk, the speed of decision-making processes, or how accurately they keep their clocks. The Hopi tribe of Arizona, USA, for example, have a language that lacks verb tenses, and their language avoids all linear constructions in time. The notion of cyclical time is common to religions like Buddhism and Hinduism; and there is considerable controversy among religious scholars as to precisely how “time” is employed in the divine scheme of things. Such cultural temporal perspectives can obviously impact perceptions of problems that we face. A temporal perspective on the problem can bring additional insight and clarity to the client’s problem statement

    Temporal perspectives on Problems
    Photo Credit: Adobe Stock

    Time is an essential dimension of the world around us. Temporal concepts are fundamental constructs and assumptions of human cognition. Temporal constructs include not just both clock time and psychological time, but also time-sensitive processes; time frame, time courses, and time lags; and the details of the temporal context as a whole. This may be evidenced by temporal language production and comprehension, temporal judgment and temporal reasoning. The concepts of past, present, and future are important mental constructs for structuring experiences. This allows us to organize our perceptual experiences and navigate, mentally, through time. This structuring of experience enables us to bound the temporal scope of decision making and perceived problems 

    As creatures of time, humans also change their temporal perspectives. Children develop temporal concepts through life experience and typically view temporal concepts with short time horizons. Adults have a dynamic and flexible temporal perspective – we live in the ever-changing present, and our perception of past, present, and future keeps changing.  Mature Adults (e.g., grandparents) may develop temporal perspectives that cover longer time horizons (e.g., generational).  Time goes so fast that, often, we don’t even notice it. Only when we take a moment of rest, can we see the imprint it leaves on the things around us. Time is a limited resource and people experience strain as they attempt to manage their life, including time pressure, time-based work-family conflict, and time urgency. The attitudes we have towards time can be a significant factor in our perspectives on the problems faced, our decision making, and our performance in resolving those problems. 

    It seems that change and time are inseparable: changes take time; are located and ordered in time; and they are separated by time. Even though change clearly takes time (as all changes occur at a finite rate), time does not seem to make change. Most environmental parameters change with time (e.g., temperature, light etc.). With sufficiently large timescales (e.g. geological time) even the ground on which we stand may change due to the effects of time. So too the problems we face can seem quite different when viewed from temporal perspectives with different timescales

    Time Perceptions vs Temporal Perspectives

    Time perception is a field within psychology cognitive linguistics and neuroscience that refers to the subjective experience, or sense, of time, as measured by someone’s own perception. In addition, different types of sensory information details (auditory, tactile, visual, etc.) are processed at different speeds by the complex systems of our neural mechanisms. Our brains learn to overcome these speed disparities to create a temporally unified representation of the external world. To get events correct timewise, our sensory systems must wait (about a tenth of a second) for the slowest information to arrive. This has the disadvantage of pushing our perceptions slightly into the past; but enables us to assemble perceptually coherent patterns and trends. Many of the problems we face occur at slow timescales relative to our perception, allowing us to develop analyses of the problem; before interacting with it. Some problems occur at on timescales comparable to our perception where the time to analyze the problem is not available, and our response may be simply autonomic reactions without conscious thought. Phenomena from our problems can also occur at timescales much faster than our perceptual threshold. At these timescales we can only directly perceive samples which may be difficult for our sensory systems to interpret, though electronic sensors and other mechanisms may enable indirect observations.   

    We are all time travelers in the sense that we all draw on past memories, experience the present and look forward to the future unfolding. Our conceptions of time are fundamental to our reasoning about the sequence of events and consequential decision making.  The temporal aspects include temporal dimensions of events, time granularities, temporal context, temporal patterns, event order, and retrospective and proactive operations. Our assumptions and expectations (e.g. on norms of behavior) often condition our responses.  Sequencing events is fundamental to identifying trends, correlation, causation and the controllable parameters we use to manipulate our environment, and the problems we experience within it.

    A temporal perspective refers to a specific point of view or attitude that an actor holds about time. Temporal perspectives involve attitudes, thoughts, and affective tone regarding our personal past, present, and future. Marketing professionals look at temporal perspectives as situational characteristics that deal with the effect of time on consumer behavior. A temporal perspective on the problem includes the actors temporal perspectives as well as the temporal aspects of the problem context.

    Conflicts can occur between different with different temporal perspectives – (e.g.,  in a financial investment context, investors with current or future temporal perspectives might be conflicted by disclosure policies – disclosure of a possible risk harms a firm’s current investors, but failure to disclose the risk harms the firm’s future investors). Time perspectives (Zimbardo & Boyd, 1999) involve a tendency to focus on a particular segment of time: past, present, or future.  Your attitudes to your past or future may evaluate positively or negatively.  Your attitude to the present may also be impacted by temporal concepts resulting in perspectives including: “fatalism” (no control), “hedonism” (no consequences) and “carpe diem” (seize the day).  For individuals, balance and positivity comes from making positive use of the past, finding healthy ways to relish the present, and routinely making plans for an improved future; finding a temporal perspective which realizes essential psychological needs and deeply held values. Selecting different temporal perspectives may enable new decision-making opportunities in dealing with the problems of life as we experience it. 

    Is your client’s problem sensitive to a temporal perspective on the problem?

    Temporal Perspective on Problems
    Photo Credit: Adobe Stock

    Is your client’s problem sensitive to a temporal perspective on the problem? They may not be aware of or report such temporal sensitivities. Your client may not recognize the impact of the their temporal attitudes and context in their problem statement or on potential problem solutions. Viable solutions may be cheaper and easier to develop if they only need to be applicable to clients within a reduced scope that can be developed through reframing the temporal perspective on the problem via the problem statement.

    When developing the problem statement for your client, understanding the geographic perspective can impact the scope of the desired future state as well as constraints on viable solutions. Our free Guide to Writing Problem Statements can help you get your client program statement right.  

    Everyone has Client’s problems that they need to solve, but are they solving the right problem? Are you solving your best problem? Whether you are a researcher, business professional or social entrepreneur, the solutions you develop to the problems that you face matter!  We’d like to hear your view of the most important challenges in writing problem statements for your clients. We have a brief survey on the most important challenges that should take less than 2 minutes to complete. The survey takes less than 2 minutes and you can get started right away by going to this link. I look forward to sharing these insights and resources with you.

    A course on the use of perspective to refine problem statements is now available.

      Problem Perspectives Course

    If you need help bringing the power of perspective to your client problem statement contact me.

     

  • Problems that Matter

    Dictionary definitions of problems distinguish between exercises in mathematical operations (e.g., construction of geometric proofs) and questions involving some doubt, difficulty or uncertainty that may be proposed for solution or discussion. Mathematical operations may be used in developing a solution. Problems that matter to people are more often ideas conceptualized in non-mathematical terms. Problems are essentially unmet human needs. These problems can be also viewed as an opportunity for innovation. There is a diversity of problems in the world around us- from chronic diseases, energy, fiscal policy to more mundane decision-making aspects of modern life. Many of the most challenging problems lack singular “silver-bullet” solutions.

    Photo Credit: Adobe Stock

    Human nature drives us to focus on and solve problems that matter.  These are the problems or challenges that relate to real human needs. Many are familiar with Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs.  Manfred Max-Neef also proposed a taxonomy of needs: subsistence, protection, affection, understanding, participation, leisure, creation, identity, and freedom. While we may be focused on our own immediate needs, all humans have multiple needs, and there are billions of humans on our planet with multiple needs, and all these other peoples’ problems matter.

    Innovation for problems that matter

     Thomas Edison once explained his approach to innovation succinctly: “I find out what the world needs. Then, I go ahead and invent it.” The most successful businesses tend to be born out of that sweet spot where what the world needs intersects with what you are deeply passionate about. We all want to solve problems that matter. We feel connected to the decisions we make; and the impact they have on people. When we are working on these sorts of important problems that we all care about, it becomes an emotional process. 

    Solving problems that matter has an impact on those people whose needs are now met through this innovation. The innovation of a solution to a problem may impact one person, or provide an aggregate solution affecting many people. Impact happens in a variety of ways – through the entrepreneurial ventures; through research publications; and, most importantly, through the actors (in the problem) who’s behavior and lives change. The metrics used to measure the scale of the impact will vary with the goals of the specific innovation – e.g. Physical event statistics (temperature, time between events, number of successful outcomes), monetary value, reported satisfaction, etc.

    There are a multiplicity of approaches to innovating problems into solutions. Some methods involve direct action (e.g., where control variables are accessible), while others take an indirect approach by influencing external stakeholders.  Some approaches provide temporary solutions (e.g. maintain the status quo in the face of disruptive events); or lead to incremental improvements while others are truly disruptive and transformative. The world is full of a bewildering number of organizations that may be relevant to your problem: government agencies, nonprofits, large corporations, etc. These organizations offer different kinds of resources and pursue different opportunities and platforms to effect change. They comply with different legal, operational, and tax regimes across different countries. Regardless of the solution approach, an effective problem statement is required.

    Innovations can be developed at different levels of organizational, or technological abstraction. You can work on a organizational challenge through the United Nations, the national government, a non-profit or for-profit corporation or one-on-one. Innovations on technology challenges can be focused in different ways. For example, focused on a specific deployment, a particular type of solution architecture, or more generic technology independent frameworks. Technology innovations (e.g., Artificial intelligence) can enable the opportunity for other innovations through automating certain tasks. But these need to be applied to the context of the problem that matters. Innovations at higher levels of abstraction can have a much larger impact; but are harder to assess, iterate, and implement. Working directly with people can give you immediate feedback and a firsthand view of the human impact; but are often constrained to a smaller population.

    Innovators, Innovation and transformation

    Innovators have diverse motivations and incentives for engaging with particular problems. There are more reasons than there are people. For some, it is just a job; for others, maybe, it is a more lucrative job. Some love the challenge, some want to give back, while others are looking to “save” or “empower” other people. Some may engage to satisfy their ego, to earn bragging rights, or to discover the thrill and adventure of problem solving in an exotic locale. 

    Innovating solutions to problems that matter is not a “save-the-world mission”; but rather a rigorous, multidisciplinary, integrative discipline that requires collaboration to deliver impact.  Innovator in interdisciplinary teams may share a common interest in harnessing the power of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and design to find practical and sustainable ways to improve the human condition. The may value rigorous data-driven and evidence-based approaches to create and deliver new products and services that transform ways of thinking and doing. But science, technology, mathematics and design don’t help if applied to solve the wrong problem, or people don’t adopt it. The answers for problems that matter often require attitude adjustments from various stakeholders. 

    Industry transformation is not about solving problems for the clients that matter, but about working with clients that focus on the problems that matter.  Investors celebrate disruptive technologies for the profit they promise or fear them for the losses they could generate. What is revenue like, what are the margin structures, are there network effects, what is defensibility, how are engagement and retention numbers trending? These are all important ways to evaluate how large and valuable a business can be. However, it is particularly satisfying when a company marries strong performance with a mission to solve some of the largest problems our society faces. The age of judging companies only on their longevity is now past. Great companies solve problem that matter – new workplaces, new food sources, new medicines, etc. What problems matter to you and your clients?

    Reframing the problems that matter

    If you’re going to go through the hell of building an organization (whether for-profit or not), you might as well come out the other side having built something to solve a problem that matters.  A big problem can be solved by solving little problems; but keep the end goal in mind. The happiest and most successful people don’t just love what they do. They are obsessed with solving an important problem, a problem that matters to them. It’s actually a lot easier to work intensely on solving a problem you are really passionate about. Take the time to identify which of the problems in the world you are passionate about solving.  Life is just too short to build things that don’t make the world better. 

    Photo Credit: Adobe Stock

    Is your client’s problem sensitive to the way it is framed? They may not be aware of or report such sensitivities. Your client may not recognize the impact of framing their problem statement on potential problem solutions. Conversely, viable solutions may be cheaper and easier to develop if they only need to be applicable to clients within a reduced scope that can be developed through reframing the problem statement.

    When developing the problem statement for your client, understanding the geographic perspective can impact the scope of the desired future state as well as constraints on viable solutions. Our free Guide to Writing Problem Statements can help you get your client program statement right.  

    Everyone has Client’s problems that they need to solve, but are they solving the right problem? Are you solving your best problem? Whether you are a researcher, business professional or social entrepreneur, the solutions you develop to the problems that you face matter!  We’d like to hear your view of the most important challenges in writing problem statements for your clients. We have a brief survey on the most important challenges that should take less than 2 minutes to complete. The survey takes less than 2 minutes and you can get started right away by going to this link. I look forward to sharing these insights and resources with you.

    A course on the use of perspective to refine problem statements is now available.

      Problem Perspectives Course

     

    If you need help bringing the power of perspective to your client problem statement contact me.