Method and imagination: how to solve a problem

There are two classic ways to go wrong when facing a problem. The first is to solve the wrong problem, quickly and well. The second is to go round in circles with the same three solutions, none of which works.

The answer to the first is method; the answer to the second is imagination. The trick is to use them in the right order: first you understand, then you invent, then you go back to method to choose. People who run projects do this every day, but it works just the same for a car that won’t start, a group of friends who never manage to meet, a morning that always ends in a rush.

First, understand

The scientific approach to problem solving has nothing academic about it. It is a sequence of questions, to be asked calmly, in order.

1. Is there really a problem? We often see a symptom (“we’re always late leaving”) and mistake it for the problem. The symptom tells you where to look, not what to fix.
2. What is it, in one sentence? Who, what, when, how much. “Three mornings out of five we leave after 8:10 and the children are late for school” is a defined problem. A good definition already does half the work.
3. What pieces is it made of? A big problem breaks down into small ones: breakfast, the bathroom, the school bag, who takes whom. Often one piece weighs more than all the others.
4. What could be causing it? Form hypotheses, more than one. “The school bag gets packed in the morning”, “one bathroom for four people”.
5. How do I check? A small test, for a short time. For one week, the bag is packed the night before: what changes?
6. Which solution do I choose? The one that solves the most with the least effort, not the most brilliant one.
7. Does it actually work? Apply it and watch. If it doesn’t work, go back to step 4 with one more piece of information.

It looks slow. In fact it is the fastest way, because it saves you from solving the wrong problem three times.

Then, invent

When the obvious solutions aren’t enough, you need to widen the field. In creative projects this phase is called divergent: for a while you look for many ideas, not the right one. The rules are few, and they work around a kitchen table too.

• Don’t judge the proposals, neither other people’s nor your own. Judgement comes later.
• Accept the risk of saying something silly. Many good ideas are born from a bad idea said out loud.
• Combine and build. Half of one idea plus half of another often makes a whole solution.
• When you get stuck, take a break. And eat something. It works.

Lateral thinking

Edward de Bono, who coined the term in 1967, put it like this: logical thinking digs the same hole deeper, lateral thinking tries digging somewhere else. A few ways to step sideways:

• Flip the problem. Instead of “how do we get there on time?”, ask “how could we be sure to be late every single day?”. The list that comes out is a map of what needs to go.
• Provoke. Make a deliberately absurd statement (“what if the school came to pick us up?”) and ask what is useful in it. Maybe a lift shared with the neighbours.
• Change eyes. How would a child solve it? A chef? Someone with half the budget, or twice the time?
• Pick a random word from a book and look for a link to the problem. It feels like a game, and that is exactly why it unblocks you.

The story of the Post-it note is the most quoted example, and for good reason. In 1968 Spencer Silver, a chemist at 3M, accidentally created a weak adhesive: it sticks, but it peels off. For years nobody knows what to do with it. Until his colleague Art Fry, tired of bookmarks falling out of his choir hymn book, thinks of using it there. What was needed wasn’t a better adhesive: it was a different problem.

Then, choose

After opening up, you close down: this is the convergent phase. Line up the ideas, pick two or three criteria (how much it costs, how long it takes, how much it solves) and choose. Then back to method: a small test, observe, correct.

Method and imagination are not two different personalities, one for rigorous people and one for creative people. They are two phases of the same work, and you need both.