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‘Esselar tanlovi-2019″ ishtirokchilari uchun namunaviy esse

Ushbu mustaqil mavzuda yozilgan esse “Esselar tanlovi – 2019” ishtirokchilariga bir namuna sifatida berildi.  Diqqat bilan o’qing.  12 varoqli daftarga qo’lyozma shaklida yozing va bizga jo’nating.  Sizning fikringiz biz uchun muhim!!!

“Ota-ona”, ”do’st”, ”ustoz” kabi insonlar juda ko’p tilga olinadi, juda ko’p madh etiladi. Lekin, men doimo buvijonlarimiz ham mana shunday tillarda doston bo’lishlarini xohlardim. Chunki, mening buvim ana shunday bebaho so’zlarga arzigulik ayol edilar. Ko’pchilikning fikricha, buvi bu – ertak aytib beruvchi, shirin taomlar tayyorlovchi, pand-nasihat beruvchi, yaxshilikka yetaklovchi inson. Lekin mening nazarimda, buvi bu – mehr, uzoq o’tmish va kelajak timsoli. Balki, bu so’zlarim ko’pchilikka yoqmas, ammo men uchun buvi nomi aziz va mo’tabar. Bolalik chog’larimni yaxshi eslayman. Juda ko’p vaqtim, yozgi ta’tilning deyarli har kuni buvimnikida, qishloqda o’tardi. Bolaligim buvijonimning keng va qaynoq bag’rida yayrab, yashnash bilan o’tdi. Men kundan-kunga ulg’ayib, o’sib borardim. Buvijonimning ko’zidan nuri, tanidan kuchi ketib, nurli yuzlari esa ajin bilan to’libborardi.

Buvim men yangi chaqaloq paytimda qandli diabet kasalligiga chalingan edilar. Ular shu kasallik bilan o‘n olti yil kurashdilar. Ne-ne og‘riqlar, ne-ne dardlar buvimdagi irodani, ulardagi matonatni, tuzalib ketishga bo‘lgan ishonchni sindira olmadi. Buvimning oyimga aytgan juda ko‘p gaplarini eslab qolganman. ’’Hayot qanchalar shirin ekanligini bilmaysanda, bolam. Unda qancha yashasang ham to‘ymaysan, yana yashaging kelaveradi.’’ Buvimning bu gaplari tez-tez qo‘log‘imga chalingan. Buvijonim hamma ayollar kabi pazanda, orasta, chevar edilar. Ammo ularda insoniylik, rostgo‘ylik, ochiq ko‘ngillik, mehmondo‘stlik, yumshoqfe’llik kabi pokiza xislatlar bor edi. Men ulardagi mana shu xislatlarni e’zozlardim.

Mehmondo‘stliklari uchun keng, ammo oddiygina fayzli xonadonlaridan mehmonlarning qadami uzilmas edi. Goho o‘zlarini unutib qo‘ysalarda ammo meni, o‘sha ’’Nima olib keldingiz?’’ deya qarab turuvchi nigohni unutmas edilar. O‘tgan yili men ham 8-sinfni tugatdim. Imtihonlardan so‘ng qishloqqa yo‘l oldim. Buvim endi avvalgilardan-da qarib qolgan edilar. Endi meni ko‘targan o’sha qo‘llarga o‘zim tirgak, nuri ketgan ko‘zlarga o‘zim nur bo‘ldim. Buvijonim yuzlarida tabassum ko‘rish uchun ularga turli sovg‘alar hadya qilardim. Tunlari buvim ikkimiz supa ustida yulduzlarni tomosha qilib yotardik. Men ularni oyoqlarini uqalardim, ular esa menga yoshlik chog‘larini gapirib berardilar. Buvimning qaynoq pinjiga kirib olib, tong qanday otganini ham bilmay qolardim. Yozgi ta‘til ham tugab, yangi o‘quv yili boshlanish arafasida edi. Endi shaharga ketishim kerak, ammo ko‘nglim g‘ash, yuragim bezovta edi. Xohlasam ham, xohlamasam ham ketishim kerak. Xayrlashish vaqtlari og‘ir. Buvim o’sha kuni meni shunchalar boshqacha kuzatdilarki, qo‘llari titrar, ko‘zlaridan yosh oqar, tillari esa menga faqat oq yo‘l tilardi. Shaharga keldim. Oradan uch kun o‘tdi. Negadir bu kun men uchun juda og‘ir, qiyin edi. Qo‘lim hech ishga bormas, kun bo‘yi jizzaki bo‘lib yurdim. Vaqt o‘tib yarim tun bo‘ldi. Lekin uyqum kelmas, ko‘nglim nimadandir xijil edi, go‘yo. Tungi soat o‘n ikkida to‘satdan telefon jiringlab qoldi. Yuragim borgan sari tez urardi. Telefon go‘shagini ko‘tardim. Hech qancha vaqt o‘tmay telefon qo‘limdan tushib ketdi. Shovqinni eshitgan ota-onam, akam ’’nima bo‘ldi?’’ deya yugurib chiqishdi. Zum o‘tmay’’Buvijoooon’’ deya yig‘lay boshladim.

Ha, mening eng aziz insonim bu olamni, meni tark etgan edilar. Ammo, men ishonmadim. Qalbim ishonmadi, to qishloqqa borgunga qadar. Juma kuni masjidda janoza nomozi o’qildi. Masjidga tumonat odam yig’ildiki, hatto ko’pchilik bu yerga sig’madi. Shunda bildimki, buvijonim faqatgina men uchun emas, balki, butun qishloq ahli uchun qadrli ekanlar. “Yaxshi insonlar bu dunyoni tark etganlaridan keyin ham yashaydi” degan so’zlari men uchun isbot bo’ldi.

Endi bu dunyo menga qorong’u, hayot ma’nosini yo’qotgan edi. Kunlarning birida bir tush ko’rdim. Tushimda buvijonim oppoq kiyimda men tomonga qarab kelardi. So’ng qo’llarimdan tutdi-yu, oldiga chorladi, peshonamdan o’pib, menga uzoq qarab turdi. Qo’limga ikkita non tutqazdi-yu, ”sen qol, men endi ketay, lekin shuni unutmaki, men doim sen bilanman”. Shu so’zlarni aytdi-yu , bir zumda g’oyib bo’ldi. Ana shunda buvimning menga bo’lgan mehrlari qanchalik kuchli ekanligiga guvoh bo’ldim. Buvimning hayotlari men uchun ko’z ochib yumguncha o’tib ketdi. Buvijonim muslima ayol edilar. Ularni bilar-bilmas ko’p xafa qilganman. Qani endi vaqtni ortga qaytarolsam, qani endi ayblarim uchun uzr so’rasam, o’sha og’rigan oyoqlarini tinim bilmay uqalasam, hidlarini yana bir bor to’yib-to’yib hidlasam, hech bo’lmasa bir kun yana avvalgidek supa ustida buvim bilan uxlasam. Qani endi shularni loaqal bittasini qilolsam. Ammo, endi bularni orqaga qaytarib bo’lmaydi. Mana, buvimni qora tuproqqa qo’yganimizga ham o’n oy bo’libdi. Agar hozir hayot bo’lganlarida oltmish oltinchi bahorni qarshilagan bo’lardilar. Shu so’zlarni yozyapman-u, xayolimdan buvim bilan o’tgan eng yorqin damlarim esimga tushyapti. Yo’q, bu damlarni unutish gunoh, u insonni unutish gunoh.

Hayotim malikasi, qalbim quyoshi, malaksiymoyim, mo’tabar insonim, aziz buvijonim! Yotgan joylaringiz nurlarga to’lsin! Siz mening qalbimda, yuragimda mudom barhayotsiz! Sizning o’sha nurli nigohingizni har oynaga boqqanimda o’zimda ko’raman. Mening qadri osmonim, hali siz istagandek muslima inson bo’laman. Buvijon!!!

UNUTMAYMIZ SIZNI, SIZNI BUVIJON

Osmon bugun jimjit, osmon yig’laydi, Tong otgandek, ammo quyosh chiqmaydi, Endi shabboda ham sizsiz esmaydi, Oramizdan ketdi eng go’zal bir jon, Unutmaymiz sizni, sizni buvijon!

Qalblar zirqiraydi bu judolikdan, Yoshlar tirqiraydi bu judolikdan, Odam ishonmaydi bu judolikka, Sizning pok ruhingiz biz-la yonma-yon, Unutmaymiz sizni, sizni buvijon!

Xayr, ko’zim nuri, xayr, mehribon, Xayr, hushzabonim, xayr, halol inson, Borar yo’llaringiz nurlarga to’lsin, Zarnigor unutmas sizni hech qachon Unutmaymiz sizni, sizni buvijon!

Muhammedova Zarnigor Chilonzor tumani, Sharq tongi mahallasi 281-maktab 9-sinf o’quvchisi. tel: (9989 __________)

P.S.  Esse so’ngida berilishi kerak:

• Ism va familiya
• Esse yozuvchining adresi
• Telefon nomeri
• O’qish yo ish joyi

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Baxtiyor Haydarovning "Baxt o'zi nima" nomli essesidan parcha

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problem solving techniques introduction

Introduction to problem solving skills.

What is problem solving and why is it important.

The ability to solve problems is a basic life skill and is essential to our day-to-day lives, at home, at school, and at work. We solve problems every day without really thinking about how we solve them. For example: it’s raining and you need to go to the store. What do you do? There are lots of possible solutions. Take your umbrella and walk. If you don't want to get wet, you can drive, or take the bus. You might decide to call a friend for a ride, or you might decide to go to the store another day. There is no right way to solve this problem and different people will solve it differently.

Problem solving is the process of identifying a problem, developing possible solution paths, and taking the appropriate course of action.

Why is problem solving important? Good problem solving skills empower you not only in your personal life but are critical in your professional life. In the current fast-changing global economy, employers often identify everyday problem solving as crucial to the success of their organizations. For employees, problem solving can be used to develop practical and creative solutions, and to show independence and initiative to employers.

Throughout this case study you will be asked to jot down your thoughts in idea logs. These idea logs are used for reflection on concepts and for answering short questions. When you click on the "Next" button, your responses will be saved for that page. If you happen to close the webpage, you will lose your work on the page you were on, but previous pages will be saved. At the end of the case study, click on the "Finish and Export to PDF" button to acknowledge completion of the case study and receive a PDF document of your idea logs.

• What Does Problem Solving Look Like?

The ability to solve problems is a skill, and just like any other skill, the more you practice, the better you get. So how exactly do you practice problem solving? Learning about different problem solving strategies and when to use them will give you a good start. Problem solving is a process. Most strategies provide steps that help you identify the problem and choose the best solution. There are two basic types of strategies: algorithmic and heuristic.

Algorithmic strategies are traditional step-by-step guides to solving problems. They are great for solving math problems (in algebra: multiply and divide, then add or subtract) or for helping us remember the correct order of things (a mnemonic such as “Spring Forward, Fall Back” to remember which way the clock changes for daylight saving time, or “Righty Tighty, Lefty Loosey” to remember what direction to turn bolts and screws). Algorithms are best when there is a single path to the correct solution.

But what do you do when there is no single solution for your problem? Heuristic methods are general guides used to identify possible solutions. A popular one that is easy to remember is IDEAL [ Bransford & Stein, 1993 ] :

• I dentify the problem
• D efine the context of the problem
• E xplore possible strategies
• A ct on best solution

IDEAL is just one problem solving strategy. Building a toolbox of problem solving strategies will improve your problem solving skills. With practice, you will be able to recognize and use multiple strategies to solve complex problems.

Watch the video

What is the best way to get a peanut out of a tube that cannot be moved? Watch a chimpanzee solve this problem in the video below [ Geert Stienissen, 2010 ].

[PDF transcript]

Describe the series of steps you think the chimpanzee used to solve this problem.

• [Page 2: What does Problem Solving Look Like?] Describe the series of steps you think the chimpanzee used to solve this problem.

Think of an everyday problem you've encountered recently and describe your steps for solving it.

• [Page 2: What does Problem Solving Look Like?] Think of an everyday problem you've encountered recently and describe your steps for solving it.

Developing Problem Solving Processes

Problem solving is a process that uses steps to solve problems. But what does that really mean? Let's break it down and start building our toolbox of problem solving strategies.

What is the first step of solving any problem? The first step is to recognize that there is a problem and identify the right cause of the problem. This may sound obvious, but similar problems can arise from different events, and the real issue may not always be apparent. To really solve the problem, it's important to find out what started it all. This is called identifying the root cause .

Example: You and your classmates have been working long hours on a project in the school's workshop. The next afternoon, you try to use your student ID card to access the workshop, but discover that your magnetic strip has been demagnetized. Since the card was a couple of years old, you chalk it up to wear and tear and get a new ID card. Later that same week you learn that several of your classmates had the same problem! After a little investigation, you discover that a strong magnet was stored underneath a workbench in the workshop. The magnet was the root cause of the demagnetized student ID cards.

The best way to identify the root cause of the problem is to ask questions and gather information. If you have a vague problem, investigating facts is more productive than guessing a solution. Ask yourself questions about the problem. What do you know about the problem? What do you not know? When was the last time it worked correctly? What has changed since then? Can you diagram the process into separate steps? Where in the process is the problem occurring? Be curious, ask questions, gather facts, and make logical deductions rather than assumptions.

Watch Adam Savage from Mythbusters, describe his problem solving process [ ForaTv, 2010 ]. As you watch this section of the video, try to identify the questions he asks and the different strategies he uses.

Adam Savage shared many of his problem solving processes. List the ones you think are the five most important. Your list may be different from other people in your class—that's ok!

• [Page 3: Developing Problem Solving Processes] Adam Savage shared many of his problem solving processes. List the ones you think are the five most important.

“The ability to ask the right question is more than half the battle of finding the answer.” — Thomas J. Watson , founder of IBM

Voices From the Field: Solving Problems

In manufacturing facilities and machine shops, everyone on the floor is expected to know how to identify problems and find solutions. Today's employers look for the following skills in new employees: to analyze a problem logically, formulate a solution, and effectively communicate with others.

In this video, industry professionals share their own problem solving processes, the problem solving expectations of their employees, and an example of how a problem was solved.

Meet the Partners:

• Taconic High School in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, is a comprehensive, fully accredited high school with special programs in Health Technology, Manufacturing Technology, and Work-Based Learning.
• Berkshire Community College in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, prepares its students with applied manufacturing technical skills, providing hands-on experience at industrial laboratories and manufacturing facilities, and instructing them in current technologies.
• H.C. Starck in Newton, Massachusetts, specializes in processing and manufacturing technology metals, such as tungsten, niobium, and tantalum. In almost 100 years of experience, they hold over 900 patents, and continue to innovate and develop new products.
• Nypro Healthcare in Devens, Massachusetts, specializes in precision injection-molded healthcare products. They are committed to good manufacturing processes including lean manufacturing and process validation.

Making Decisions

Now that you have a couple problem solving strategies in your toolbox, let's practice. In this exercise, you are given a scenario and you will be asked to decide what steps you would take to identify and solve the problem.

Scenario: You are a new employee and have just finished your training. As your first project, you have been assigned the milling of several additional components for a regular customer. Together, you and your trainer, Bill, set up for the first run. Checking your paperwork, you gather the tools and materials on the list. As you are mounting the materials on the table, you notice that you didn't grab everything and hurriedly grab a few more items from one of the bins. Once the material is secured on the CNC table, you load tools into the tool carousel in the order listed on the tool list and set the fixture offsets.

Bill tells you that since this is a rerun of a job several weeks ago, the CAD/CAM model has already been converted to CNC G-code. Bill helps you download the code to the CNC machine. He gives you the go-ahead and leaves to check on another employee. You decide to start your first run.

What problems did you observe in the video?

• [Page 5: Making Decisions] What problems did you observe in the video?
• What do you do next?
• Try to fix it yourself.
• Ask your trainer for help.

As you are cleaning up, you think about what happened and wonder why it happened. You try to create a mental picture of what happened. You are not exactly sure what the end mill hit, but it looked like it might have hit the dowel pin. You wonder if you grabbed the correct dowel pins from the bins earlier.

You can think of two possible next steps. You can recheck the dowel pin length to make sure it is the correct length, or do a dry run using the CNC single step or single block function with the spindle empty to determine what actually happened.

• Check the dowel pins.
• Use the single step/single block function to determine what happened.

You notice that your trainer, Bill, is still on the floor and decide to ask him for help. You describe the problem to him. Bill asks if you know what the end mill ran into. You explain that you are not sure but you think it was the dowel pin. Bill reminds you that it is important to understand what happened so you can fix the correct problem. He suggests that you start all over again and begin with a dry run using the single step/single block function, with the spindle empty, to determine what it hit. Or, since it happened at the end, he mentions that you can also check the G-code to make sure the Z-axis is raised before returning to the home position.

• Run the single step/single block function.
• Edit the G-code to raise the Z-axis.

You finish cleaning up and check the CNC for any damage. Luckily, everything looks good. You check your paperwork and gather the components and materials again. You look at the dowel pins you used earlier, and discover that they are not the right length. As you go to grab the correct dowel pins, you have to search though several bins. For the first time, you are aware of the mess - it looks like the dowel pins and other items have not been put into the correctly labeled bins. You spend 30 minutes straightening up the bins and looking for the correct dowel pins.

Finally finding them, you finish setting up. You load tools into the tool carousel in the order listed on the tool list and set the fixture offsets. Just to make sure, you use the CNC single step/single block function, to do a dry run of the part. Everything looks good! You are ready to create your first part. The first component is done, and, as you admire your success, you notice that the part feels hotter than it should.

You wonder why? You go over the steps of the process to mentally figure out what could be causing the residual heat. You wonder if there is a problem with the CNC's coolant system or if the problem is in the G-code.

• Look at the G-code.

After thinking about the problem, you decide that maybe there's something wrong with the setup. First, you clean up the damaged materials and remove the broken tool. You check the CNC machine carefully for any damage. Luckily, everything looks good. It is time to start over again from the beginning.

You again check your paperwork and gather the tools and materials on the setup sheet. After securing the new materials, you use the CNC single step/single block function with the spindle empty, to do a dry run of the part. You watch carefully to see if you can figure out what happened. It looks to you like the spindle barely misses hitting the dowel pin. You determine that the end mill was broken when it hit the dowel pin while returning to the start position.

After conducting a dry run using the single step/single block function, you determine that the end mill was damaged when it hit the dowel pin on its return to the home position. You discuss your options with Bill. Together, you decide the best thing to do would be to edit the G-code and raise the Z-axis before returning to home. You open the CNC control program and edit the G-code. Just to make sure, you use the CNC single step/single block function, to do another dry run of the part. You are ready to create your first part. It works. You first part is completed. Only four more to go.

As you are cleaning up, you notice that the components are hotter than you expect and the end mill looks more worn than it should be. It dawns on you that while you were milling the component, the coolant didn't turn on. You wonder if it is a software problem in the G-code or hardware problem with the CNC machine.

It's the end of the day and you decide to finish the rest of the components in the morning.

• You decide to look at the G-code in the morning.
• You leave a note on the machine, just in case.

You decide that the best thing to do would be to edit the G-code and raise the Z-axis of the spindle before it returns to home. You open the CNC control program and edit the G-code.

While editing the G-code to raise the Z-axis, you notice that the coolant is turned off at the beginning of the code and at the end of the code. The coolant command error caught your attention because your coworker, Mark, mentioned having a similar issue during lunch. You change the coolant command to turn the mist on.

• You decide to talk with your supervisor.
• You discuss what happened with a coworker over lunch.

As you reflect on the residual heat problem, you think about the machining process and the factors that could have caused the issue. You try to think of anything and everything that could be causing the issue. Are you using the correct tool for the specified material? Are you using the specified material? Is it running at the correct speed? Is there enough coolant? Are there chips getting in the way?

Wait, was the coolant turned on? As you replay what happened in your mind, you wonder why the coolant wasn't turned on. You decide to look at the G-code to find out what is going on.

From the milling machine computer, you open the CNC G-code. You notice that there are no coolant commands. You add them in and on the next run, the coolant mist turns on and the residual heat issues is gone. Now, its on to creating the rest of the parts.

Have you ever used brainstorming to solve a problem? Chances are, you've probably have, even if you didn't realize it.

You notice that your trainer, Bill, is on the floor and decide to ask him for help. You describe the problem with the end mill breaking, and how you discovered that items are not being returned to the correctly labeled bins. You think this caused you to grab the incorrect length dowel pins on your first run. You have sorted the bins and hope that the mess problem is fixed. You then go on to tell Bill about the residual heat issue with the completed part.

Together, you go to the milling machine. Bill shows you how to check the oil and coolant levels. Everything looks good at the machine level. Next, on the CNC computer, you open the CNC G-code. While looking at the code, Bill points out that there are no coolant commands. Bill adds them in and when you rerun the program, it works.

Bill is glad you mentioned the problem to him. You are the third worker to mention G-code issues over the last week. You noticed the coolant problems in your G-code, John noticed a Z-axis issue in his G-code, and Sam had issues with both the Z-axis and the coolant. Chances are, there is a bigger problem and Bill will need to investigate the root cause .

Talking with Bill, you discuss the best way to fix the problem. Bill suggests editing the G-code to raise the Z-axis of the spindle before it returns to its home position. You open the CNC control program and edit the G-code. Following the setup sheet, you re-setup the job and use the CNC single step/single block function, to do another dry run of the part. Everything looks good, so you run the job again and create the first part. It works. Since you need four of each component, you move on to creating the rest of them before cleaning up and leaving for the day.

It's a new day and you have new components to create. As you are setting up, you go in search of some short dowel pins. You discover that the bins are a mess and components have not been put away in the correctly labeled bins. You wonder if this was the cause of yesterday's problem. As you reorganize the bins and straighten up the mess, you decide to mention the mess issue to Bill in your afternoon meeting.

You describe the bin mess and using the incorrect length dowels to Bill. He is glad you mentioned the problem to him. You are not the first person to mention similar issues with tools and parts not being put away correctly. Chances are there is a bigger safety issue here that needs to be addressed in the next staff meeting.

In any workplace, following proper safety and cleanup procedures is always important. This is especially crucial in manufacturing where people are constantly working with heavy, costly and sometimes dangerous equipment. When issues and problems arise, it is important that they are addressed in an efficient and timely manner. Effective communication is an important tool because it can prevent problems from recurring, avoid injury to personnel, reduce rework and scrap, and ultimately, reduce cost, and save money.

You now know that the end mill was damaged when it hit the dowel pin. It seems to you that the easiest thing to do would be to edit the G-code and raise the Z-axis position of the spindle before it returns to the home position. You open the CNC control program and edit the G-code, raising the Z-axis. Starting over, you follow the setup sheet and re-setup the job. This time, you use the CNC single step/single block function, to do another dry run of the part. Everything looks good, so you run the job again and create the first part.

At the end of the day, you are reviewing your progress with your trainer, Bill. After you describe the day's events, he reminds you to always think about safety and the importance of following work procedures. He decides to bring the issue up in the next morning meeting as a reminder to everyone.

In any workplace, following proper procedures (especially those that involve safety) is always important. This is especially crucial in manufacturing where people are constantly working with heavy, costly, and sometimes dangerous equipment. When issues and problems arise, it is important that they are addressed in an efficient and timely manner. Effective communication is an important tool because it can prevent problems from recurring, avoid injury to personnel, reduce rework and scrap, and ultimately, reduce cost, and save money. One tool to improve communication is the morning meeting or huddle.

The next morning, you check the G-code to determine what is wrong with the coolant. You notice that the coolant is turned off at the beginning of the code and also at the end of the code. This is strange. You change the G-code to turn the coolant on at the beginning of the run and off at the end. This works and you create the rest of the parts.

Throughout the day, you keep wondering what caused the G-code error. At lunch, you mention the G-code error to your coworker, John. John is not surprised. He said that he encountered a similar problem earlier this week. You decide to talk with your supervisor the next time you see him.

You are in luck. You see your supervisor by the door getting ready to leave. You hurry over to talk with him. You start off by telling him about how you asked Bill for help. Then you tell him there was a problem and the end mill was damaged. You describe the coolant problem in the G-code. Oh, and by the way, John has seen a similar problem before.

Your supervisor doesn't seem overly concerned, errors happen. He tells you "Good job, I am glad you were able to fix the issue." You are not sure whether your supervisor understood your explanation of what happened or that it had happened before.

The challenge of communicating in the workplace is learning how to share your ideas and concerns. If you need to tell your supervisor that something is not going well, it is important to remember that timing, preparation, and attitude are extremely important.

It is the end of your shift, but you want to let the next shift know that the coolant didn't turn on. You do not see your trainer or supervisor around. You decide to leave a note for the next shift so they are aware of the possible coolant problem. You write a sticky note and leave it on the monitor of the CNC control system.

How effective do you think this solution was? Did it address the problem?

In this scenario, you discovered several problems with the G-code that need to be addressed. When issues and problems arise, it is important that they are addressed in an efficient and timely manner. Effective communication is an important tool because it can prevent problems from recurring and avoid injury to personnel. The challenge of communicating in the workplace is learning how and when to share your ideas and concerns. If you need to tell your co-workers or supervisor that there is a problem, it is important to remember that timing and the method of communication are extremely important.

You are able to fix the coolant problem in the G-code. While you are glad that the problem is fixed, you are worried about why it happened in the first place. It is important to remember that if a problem keeps reappearing, you may not be fixing the right problem. You may only be addressing the symptoms.

You decide to talk to your trainer. Bill is glad you mentioned the problem to him. You are the third worker to mention G-code issues over the last week. You noticed the coolant problems in your G-code, John noticed a Z-axis issue in his G-code, and Sam had issues with both the Z-axis and the coolant. Chances are, there is a bigger problem and Bill will need to investigate the root cause .

Over lunch, you ask your coworkers about the G-code problem and what may be causing the error. Several people mention having similar problems but do not know the cause.

You have now talked to three coworkers who have all experienced similar coolant G-code problems. You make a list of who had the problem, when they had the problem, and what each person told you.

When you see your supervisor later that afternoon, you are ready to talk with him. You describe the problem you had with your component and the damaged bit. You then go on to tell him about talking with Bill and discovering the G-code issue. You show him your notes on your coworkers' coolant issues, and explain that you think there might be a bigger problem.

You supervisor thanks you for your initiative in identifying this problem. It sounds like there is a bigger problem and he will need to investigate the root cause. He decides to call a team huddle to discuss the issue, gather more information, and talk with the team about the importance of communication.

Root Cause Analysis

Root cause analysis ( RCA ) is a method of problem solving that identifies the underlying causes of an issue. Root cause analysis helps people answer the question of why the problem occurred in the first place. RCA uses clear cut steps in its associated tools, like the "5 Whys Analysis" and the "Cause and Effect Diagram," to identify the origin of the problem, so that you can:

• Determine what happened.
• Determine why it happened.
• Fix the problem so it won’t happen again.

RCA works under the idea that systems and events are connected. An action in one area triggers an action in another, and another, and so on. By tracing back these actions, you can discover where the problem started and how it developed into the problem you're now facing. Root cause analysis can prevent problems from recurring, reduce injury to personnel, reduce rework and scrap, and ultimately, reduce cost and save money. There are many different RCA techniques available to determine the root cause of a problem. These are just a few:

• Root Cause Analysis Tools
• 5 Whys Analysis
• Fishbone or Cause and Effect Diagram
• Pareto Analysis

How Huddles Work

Communication is a vital part of any setting where people work together. Effective communication helps employees and managers form efficient teams. It builds trusts between employees and management, and reduces unnecessary competition because each employee knows how their part fits in the larger goal.

One tool that management can use to promote communication in the workplace is the huddle . Just like football players on the field, a huddle is a short meeting where everyone is standing in a circle. A daily team huddle ensures that team members are aware of changes to the schedule, reiterated problems and safety issues, and how their work impacts one another. When done right, huddles create collaboration, communication, and accountability to results. Impromptu huddles can be used to gather information on a specific issue and get each team member's input.

The most important thing to remember about huddles is that they are short, lasting no more than 10 minutes, and their purpose is to communicate and identify. In essence, a huddle’s purpose is to identify priorities, communicate essential information, and discover roadblocks to productivity.

Who uses huddles? Many industries and companies use daily huddles. At first thought, most people probably think of hospitals and their daily patient update meetings, but lots of managers use daily meetings to engage their employees. Here are a few examples:

• Brian Scudamore, CEO of 1-800-Got-Junk? , uses the daily huddle as an operational tool to take the pulse of his employees and as a motivational tool. Watch a morning huddle meeting .
• Fusion OEM, an outsourced manufacturing and production company. What do employees take away from the daily huddle meeting .
• Biz-Group, a performance consulting group. Tips for a successful huddle .

Brainstorming

One tool that can be useful in problem solving is brainstorming . Brainstorming is a creativity technique designed to generate a large number of ideas for the solution to a problem. The method was first popularized in 1953 by Alex Faickney Osborn in the book Applied Imagination . The goal is to come up with as many ideas as you can in a fixed amount of time. Although brainstorming is best done in a group, it can be done individually. Like most problem solving techniques, brainstorming is a process.

• Define a clear objective.
• Have an agreed a time limit.
• During the brainstorming session, write down everything that comes to mind, even if the idea sounds crazy.
• If one idea leads to another, write down that idea too.
• Combine and refine ideas into categories of solutions.
• Assess and analyze each idea as a potential solution.

When used during problem solving, brainstorming can offer companies new ways of encouraging staff to think creatively and improve production. Brainstorming relies on team members' diverse experiences, adding to the richness of ideas explored. This means that you often find better solutions to the problems. Team members often welcome the opportunity to contribute ideas and can provide buy-in for the solution chosen—after all, they are more likely to be committed to an approach if they were involved in its development. What's more, because brainstorming is fun, it helps team members bond.

• Watch Peggy Morgan Collins, a marketing executive at Power Curve Communications discuss How to Stimulate Effective Brainstorming .
• Watch Kim Obbink, CEO of Filter Digital, a digital content company, and her team share their top five rules for How to Effectively Generate Ideas .

Importance of Good Communication and Problem Description

Communication is one of the most frequent activities we engage in on a day-to-day basis. At some point, we have all felt that we did not effectively communicate an idea as we would have liked. The key to effective communication is preparation. Rather than attempting to haphazardly improvise something, take a few minutes and think about what you want say and how you will say it. If necessary, write yourself a note with the key points or ideas in the order you want to discuss them. The notes can act as a reminder or guide when you talk to your supervisor.

Tips for clear communication of an issue:

• Provide a clear summary of your problem. Start at the beginning, give relevant facts, timelines, and examples.
• Avoid including your opinion or personal attacks in your explanation.
• Avoid using words like "always" or "never," which can give the impression that you are exaggerating the problem.
• If this is an ongoing problem and you have collected documentation, give it to your supervisor once you have finished describing the problem.
• Remember to listen to what's said in return; communication is a two-way process.

Not all communication is spoken. Body language is nonverbal communication that includes your posture, your hands and whether you make eye contact. These gestures can be subtle or overt, but most importantly they communicate meaning beyond what is said. When having a conversation, pay attention to how you stand. A stiff position with arms crossed over your chest may imply that you are being defensive even if your words state otherwise. Shoving your hands in your pockets when speaking could imply that you have something to hide. Be wary of using too many hand gestures because this could distract listeners from your message.

The challenge of communicating in the workplace is learning how and when to share your ideas or concerns. If you need to tell your supervisor or co-worker about something that is not going well, keep in mind that good timing and good attitude will go a long way toward helping your case.

Like all skills, effective communication needs to be practiced. Toastmasters International is perhaps the best known public speaking organization in the world. Toastmasters is open to anyone who wish to improve their speaking skills and is willing to put in the time and effort to do so. To learn more, visit Toastmasters International .

Methods of Communication

Communication of problems and issues in any workplace is important, particularly when safety is involved. It is therefore crucial in manufacturing where people are constantly working with heavy, costly, and sometimes dangerous equipment. As issues and problems arise, they need to be addressed in an efficient and timely manner. Effective communication is an important skill because it can prevent problems from recurring, avoid injury to personnel, reduce rework and scrap, and ultimately, reduce cost and save money.

There are many different ways to communicate: in person, by phone, via email, or written. There is no single method that fits all communication needs, each one has its time and place.

In person: In the workplace, face-to-face meetings should be utilized whenever possible. Being able to see the person you need to speak to face-to-face gives you instant feedback and helps you gauge their response through their body language. Be careful of getting sidetracked in conversation when you need to communicate a problem.

Email: Email has become the communication standard for most businesses. It can be accessed from almost anywhere and is great for things that don’t require an immediate response. Email is a great way to communicate non-urgent items to large amounts of people or just your team members. One thing to remember is that most people's inboxes are flooded with emails every day and unless they are hyper vigilant about checking everything, important items could be missed. For issues that are urgent, especially those around safety, email is not always be the best solution.

Phone: Phone calls are more personal and direct than email. They allow us to communicate in real time with another person, no matter where they are. Not only can talking prevent miscommunication, it promotes a two-way dialogue. You don’t have to worry about your words being altered or the message arriving on time. However, mobile phone use and the workplace don't always mix. In particular, using mobile phones in a manufacturing setting can lead to a variety of problems, cause distractions, and lead to serious injury.

Written: Written communication is appropriate when detailed instructions are required, when something needs to be documented, or when the person is too far away to easily speak with over the phone or in person.

There is no "right" way to communicate, but you should be aware of how and when to use the appropriate form of communication for your situation. When deciding the best way to communicate with a co-worker or manager, put yourself in their shoes, and think about how you would want to learn about the issue. Also, consider what information you would need to know to better understand the issue. Use your good judgment of the situation and be considerate of your listener's viewpoint.

Did you notice any other potential problems in the previous exercise?

• [Page 6:] Did you notice any other potential problems in the previous exercise?

Summary of Strategies

In this exercise, you were given a scenario in which there was a problem with a component you were creating on a CNC machine. You were then asked how you wanted to proceed. Depending on your path through this exercise, you might have found an easy solution and fixed it yourself, asked for help and worked with your trainer, or discovered an ongoing G-code problem that was bigger than you initially thought.

When issues and problems arise, it is important that they are addressed in an efficient and timely manner. Communication is an important tool because it can prevent problems from recurring, avoid injury to personnel, reduce rework and scrap, and ultimately, reduce cost, and save money. Although, each path in this exercise ended with a description of a problem solving tool for your toolbox, the first step is always to identify the problem and define the context in which it happened.

There are several strategies that can be used to identify the root cause of a problem. Root cause analysis (RCA) is a method of problem solving that helps people answer the question of why the problem occurred. RCA uses a specific set of steps, with associated tools like the “5 Why Analysis" or the “Cause and Effect Diagram,” to identify the origin of the problem, so that you can:

Once the underlying cause is identified and the scope of the issue defined, the next step is to explore possible strategies to fix the problem.

If you are not sure how to fix the problem, it is okay to ask for help. Problem solving is a process and a skill that is learned with practice. It is important to remember that everyone makes mistakes and that no one knows everything. Life is about learning. It is okay to ask for help when you don’t have the answer. When you collaborate to solve problems you improve workplace communication and accelerates finding solutions as similar problems arise.

One tool that can be useful for generating possible solutions is brainstorming . Brainstorming is a technique designed to generate a large number of ideas for the solution to a problem. The method was first popularized in 1953 by Alex Faickney Osborn in the book Applied Imagination. The goal is to come up with as many ideas as you can, in a fixed amount of time. Although brainstorming is best done in a group, it can be done individually.

Depending on your path through the exercise, you may have discovered that a couple of your coworkers had experienced similar problems. This should have been an indicator that there was a larger problem that needed to be addressed.

In any workplace, communication of problems and issues (especially those that involve safety) is always important. This is especially crucial in manufacturing where people are constantly working with heavy, costly, and sometimes dangerous equipment. When issues and problems arise, it is important that they be addressed in an efficient and timely manner. Effective communication is an important tool because it can prevent problems from recurring, avoid injury to personnel, reduce rework and scrap, and ultimately, reduce cost and save money.

One strategy for improving communication is the huddle . Just like football players on the field, a huddle is a short meeting with everyone standing in a circle. A daily team huddle is a great way to ensure that team members are aware of changes to the schedule, any problems or safety issues are identified and that team members are aware of how their work impacts one another. When done right, huddles create collaboration, communication, and accountability to results. Impromptu huddles can be used to gather information on a specific issue and get each team member's input.

To learn more about different problem solving strategies, choose an option below. These strategies accompany the outcomes of different decision paths in the problem solving exercise.

• View Problem Solving Strategies Select a strategy below... Root Cause Analysis How Huddles Work Brainstorming Importance of Good Problem Description Methods of Communication

Communication is one of the most frequent activities we engage in on a day-to-day basis. At some point, we have all felt that we did not effectively communicate an idea as we would have liked. The key to effective communication is preparation. Rather than attempting to haphazardly improvise something, take a few minutes and think about what you want say and how you will say it. If necessary, write yourself a note with the key points or ideas in the order you want to discuss them. The notes can act as a reminder or guide during your meeting.

• Provide a clear summary of the problem. Start at the beginning, give relevant facts, timelines, and examples.

In person: In the workplace, face-to-face meetings should be utilized whenever possible. Being able to see the person you need to speak to face-to-face gives you instant feedback and helps you gauge their response in their body language. Be careful of getting sidetracked in conversation when you need to communicate a problem.

There is no "right" way to communicate, but you should be aware of how and when to use the appropriate form of communication for the situation. When deciding the best way to communicate with a co-worker or manager, put yourself in their shoes, and think about how you would want to learn about the issue. Also, consider what information you would need to know to better understand the issue. Use your good judgment of the situation and be considerate of your listener's viewpoint.

"Never try to solve all the problems at once — make them line up for you one-by-one.” — Richard Sloma

Problem Solving: An Important Job Skill

Problem solving improves efficiency and communication on the shop floor. It increases a company's efficiency and profitability, so it's one of the top skills employers look for when hiring new employees. Recent industry surveys show that employers consider soft skills, such as problem solving, as critical to their business’s success.

The 2011 survey, "Boiling Point? The skills gap in U.S. manufacturing ," polled over a thousand manufacturing executives who reported that the number one skill deficiency among their current employees is problem solving, which makes it difficult for their companies to adapt to the changing needs of the industry.

In this video, industry professionals discuss their expectations and present tips for new employees joining the manufacturing workforce.

Quick Summary

• [Quick Summary: Question1] What are two things you learned in this case study?
• What question(s) do you still have about the case study?
• [Quick Summary: Question2] What question(s) do you still have about the case study?
• Is there anything you would like to learn more about with respect to this case study?
• [Quick Summary: Question3] Is there anything you would like to learn more about with respect to this case study?

What Is Problem Solving? How Software Engineers Approach Complex Challenges

From debugging an existing system to designing an entirely new software application, a day in the life of a software engineer is filled with various challenges and complexities. The one skill that glues these disparate tasks together and makes them manageable? Problem solving . 

Throughout this blog post, we’ll explore why problem-solving skills are so critical for software engineers, delve into the techniques they use to address complex challenges, and discuss how hiring managers can identify these skills during the hiring process. 

What Is Problem Solving?

But what exactly is problem solving in the context of software engineering? How does it work, and why is it so important?

Problem solving, in the simplest terms, is the process of identifying a problem, analyzing it, and finding the most effective solution to overcome it. For software engineers, this process is deeply embedded in their daily workflow. It could be something as simple as figuring out why a piece of code isn’t working as expected, or something as complex as designing the architecture for a new software system. 

In a world where technology is evolving at a blistering pace, the complexity and volume of problems that software engineers face are also growing. As such, the ability to tackle these issues head-on and find innovative solutions is not only a handy skill — it’s a necessity. 

The Importance of Problem-Solving Skills for Software Engineers

Problem-solving isn’t just another ability that software engineers pull out of their toolkits when they encounter a bug or a system failure. It’s a constant, ongoing process that’s intrinsic to every aspect of their work. Let’s break down why this skill is so critical.

Driving Development Forward

Without problem solving, software development would hit a standstill. Every new feature, every optimization, and every bug fix is a problem that needs solving. Whether it’s a performance issue that needs diagnosing or a user interface that needs improving, the capacity to tackle and solve these problems is what keeps the wheels of development turning.

It’s estimated that 60% of software development lifecycle costs are related to maintenance tasks, including debugging and problem solving. This highlights how pivotal this skill is to the everyday functioning and advancement of software systems.

Innovation and Optimization

The importance of problem solving isn’t confined to reactive scenarios; it also plays a major role in proactive, innovative initiatives . Software engineers often need to think outside the box to come up with creative solutions, whether it’s optimizing an algorithm to run faster or designing a new feature to meet customer needs. These are all forms of problem solving.

Consider the development of the modern smartphone. It wasn’t born out of a pre-existing issue but was a solution to a problem people didn’t realize they had — a device that combined communication, entertainment, and productivity into one handheld tool.

Increasing Efficiency and Productivity

Good problem-solving skills can save a lot of time and resources. Effective problem-solvers are adept at dissecting an issue to understand its root cause, thus reducing the time spent on trial and error. This efficiency means projects move faster, releases happen sooner, and businesses stay ahead of their competition.

Improving Software Quality

Problem solving also plays a significant role in enhancing the quality of the end product. By tackling the root causes of bugs and system failures, software engineers can deliver reliable, high-performing software. This is critical because, according to the Consortium for Information and Software Quality, poor quality software in the U.S. in 2022 cost at least $2.41 trillion in operational issues, wasted developer time, and other related problems.

Problem-Solving Techniques in Software Engineering

So how do software engineers go about tackling these complex challenges? Let’s explore some of the key problem-solving techniques, theories, and processes they commonly use.

Decomposition

Breaking down a problem into smaller, manageable parts is one of the first steps in the problem-solving process. It’s like dealing with a complicated puzzle. You don’t try to solve it all at once. Instead, you separate the pieces, group them based on similarities, and then start working on the smaller sets. This method allows software engineers to handle complex issues without being overwhelmed and makes it easier to identify where things might be going wrong.

Abstraction

In the realm of software engineering, abstraction means focusing on the necessary information only and ignoring irrelevant details. It is a way of simplifying complex systems to make them easier to understand and manage. For instance, a software engineer might ignore the details of how a database works to focus on the information it holds and how to retrieve or modify that information.

Algorithmic Thinking

At its core, software engineering is about creating algorithms — step-by-step procedures to solve a problem or accomplish a goal. Algorithmic thinking involves conceiving and expressing these procedures clearly and accurately and viewing every problem through an algorithmic lens. A well-designed algorithm not only solves the problem at hand but also does so efficiently, saving computational resources.

Parallel Thinking

Parallel thinking is a structured process where team members think in the same direction at the same time, allowing for more organized discussion and collaboration. It’s an approach popularized by Edward de Bono with the “ Six Thinking Hats ” technique, where each “hat” represents a different style of thinking.

In the context of software engineering, parallel thinking can be highly effective for problem solving. For instance, when dealing with a complex issue, the team can use the “White Hat” to focus solely on the data and facts about the problem, then the “Black Hat” to consider potential problems with a proposed solution, and so on. This structured approach can lead to more comprehensive analysis and more effective solutions, and it ensures that everyone’s perspectives are considered.

This is the process of identifying and fixing errors in code . Debugging involves carefully reviewing the code, reproducing and analyzing the error, and then making necessary modifications to rectify the problem. It’s a key part of maintaining and improving software quality.

Testing and Validation

Testing is an essential part of problem solving in software engineering. Engineers use a variety of tests to verify that their code works as expected and to uncover any potential issues. These range from unit tests that check individual components of the code to integration tests that ensure the pieces work well together. Validation, on the other hand, ensures that the solution not only works but also fulfills the intended requirements and objectives.

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Evaluating Problem-Solving Skills

We’ve examined the importance of problem-solving in the work of a software engineer and explored various techniques software engineers employ to approach complex challenges. Now, let’s delve into how hiring teams can identify and evaluate problem-solving skills during the hiring process.

Recognizing Problem-Solving Skills in Candidates

How can you tell if a candidate is a good problem solver? Look for these indicators:

• Previous Experience: A history of dealing with complex, challenging projects is often a good sign. Ask the candidate to discuss a difficult problem they faced in a previous role and how they solved it.
• Problem-Solving Questions: During interviews, pose hypothetical scenarios or present real problems your company has faced. Ask candidates to explain how they would tackle these issues. You’re not just looking for a correct solution but the thought process that led them there.
• Technical Tests: Coding challenges and other technical tests can provide insight into a candidate’s problem-solving abilities. Consider leveraging a platform for assessing these skills in a realistic, job-related context.

Assessing Problem-Solving Skills

Once you’ve identified potential problem solvers, here are a few ways you can assess their skills:

• Solution Effectiveness: Did the candidate solve the problem? How efficient and effective is their solution?
• Approach and Process: Go beyond whether or not they solved the problem and examine how they arrived at their solution. Did they break the problem down into manageable parts? Did they consider different perspectives and possibilities?
• Communication: A good problem solver can explain their thought process clearly. Can the candidate effectively communicate how they arrived at their solution and why they chose it?
• Adaptability: Problem-solving often involves a degree of trial and error. How does the candidate handle roadblocks? Do they adapt their approach based on new information or feedback?

Hiring managers play a crucial role in identifying and fostering problem-solving skills within their teams. By focusing on these abilities during the hiring process, companies can build teams that are more capable, innovative, and resilient.

Key Takeaways

As you can see, problem solving plays a pivotal role in software engineering. Far from being an occasional requirement, it is the lifeblood that drives development forward, catalyzes innovation, and delivers of quality software. 

By leveraging problem-solving techniques, software engineers employ a powerful suite of strategies to overcome complex challenges. But mastering these techniques isn’t simple feat. It requires a learning mindset, regular practice, collaboration, reflective thinking, resilience, and a commitment to staying updated with industry trends. 

For hiring managers and team leads, recognizing these skills and fostering a culture that values and nurtures problem solving is key. It’s this emphasis on problem solving that can differentiate an average team from a high-performing one and an ordinary product from an industry-leading one.

At the end of the day, software engineering is fundamentally about solving problems — problems that matter to businesses, to users, and to the wider society. And it’s the proficient problem solvers who stand at the forefront of this dynamic field, turning challenges into opportunities, and ideas into reality.

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Does a College Degree Still Matter for Developers in 2024?

An introduction to problem solving: understanding the basics.

In today’s fast-paced and complex world, the ability to solve problems is an essential skill that can greatly impact our personal and professional lives. Whether it’s finding a solution to a technical issue or resolving a conflict with a colleague, problem solving is a valuable tool that can help us overcome challenges and achieve our goals. In this article, we will explore the concept of problem solving, the stages involved, various problem-solving techniques, common barriers, and ways to enhance this critical skill.

The Concept of Problem Solving

At its core, problem solving can be defined as the process of finding solutions to issues or challenges that arise in different situations. It involves identifying the problem, evaluating potential solutions, and implementing the most effective one.

Problem solving is a fundamental aspect of human cognition and is essential for navigating the complexities of everyday life. From solving puzzles and riddles to addressing complex societal issues, problem solving is a skill that we constantly rely on.

When faced with a problem, our brains engage in a series of cognitive processes to analyze the situation, generate possible solutions, and evaluate their potential effectiveness. This cognitive process involves critical thinking, logical reasoning, and creativity.

Defining Problem Solving

Problem solving is not just about finding quick fixes; it is about addressing the root cause of a problem and devising sustainable solutions. It requires analytical thinking, logical reasoning, creativity, and open-mindedness.

Analytical thinking involves breaking down complex problems into smaller, more manageable parts, allowing us to better understand the underlying issues. Logical reasoning helps us make sense of the information available and identify patterns or connections that can lead to potential solutions.

Creativity plays a crucial role in problem solving by enabling us to think outside the box and come up with innovative solutions. It involves exploring different perspectives, challenging assumptions, and considering alternative approaches.

Open-mindedness is also essential in problem solving, as it allows us to consider different viewpoints and ideas. By being open to new possibilities, we can expand our problem-solving repertoire and increase the likelihood of finding effective solutions.

The Importance of Problem Solving Skills

Effective problem solving skills are crucial for success in various areas of life. Whether it’s in our personal or professional lives, being able to tackle challenges effectively can lead to personal growth, improved decision-making, and enhanced problem-solving abilities.

In the workplace, problem solving skills are highly valued by employers. Employees who can identify and resolve issues efficiently contribute to a more productive and efficient work environment. They are also better equipped to handle unexpected situations and adapt to changing circumstances.

Outside of work, problem solving skills are equally important. They enable us to navigate personal relationships, make informed decisions, and overcome obstacles that may arise in our daily lives. By developing strong problem solving skills, we can approach challenges with confidence and resilience.

Furthermore, problem solving skills are not limited to specific domains or professions. They are transferable skills that can be applied across various contexts. Whether you are a scientist, an artist, a teacher, or a parent, the ability to effectively solve problems is invaluable.

Overall, problem solving is a multifaceted skill that requires a combination of cognitive abilities and a mindset that embraces challenges. By honing our problem solving skills, we can become more adept at finding innovative solutions and navigating the complexities of life.

The Stages of Problem Solving

Problem solving typically involves several stages that help guide the process from identifying the problem to implementing and evaluating the solution. Let’s explore these stages in detail:

Identifying the Problem

The first step in problem solving is identifying the issue at hand. This requires careful observation, gathering relevant information, and clarifying the problem’s scope and impact.

During the process of identifying the problem, it is crucial to engage in active listening and effective communication. This allows for a comprehensive understanding of the problem and ensures that all stakeholders are involved. Additionally, conducting thorough research and analysis aids in identifying the root cause of the problem, which is essential for developing effective solutions.

Developing Potential Solutions

Once the problem is identified, the next step is brainstorming and generating potential solutions. This is where creativity and critical thinking come into play. It’s important to consider various perspectives and evaluate the pros and cons of each potential solution.

During the brainstorming phase, it is beneficial to encourage a diverse range of ideas and perspectives. This can be achieved through group discussions, individual reflection, or even seeking external input. By exploring multiple solutions, one can increase the chances of finding the most innovative and effective approach.

Implementing and Evaluating the Solution

After choosing the most promising solution, it’s time to put it into action. This involves developing an implementation plan, allocating necessary resources, and monitoring progress. Once implemented, it’s important to evaluate the solution’s effectiveness and make adjustments if needed.

During the implementation phase, effective project management skills are crucial. This includes setting clear goals, establishing timelines, and assigning responsibilities. Regular monitoring and evaluation of the solution’s progress help identify any potential challenges or areas for improvement. By continuously assessing the solution’s effectiveness, one can ensure that it aligns with the desired outcomes and makes a positive impact.

Problem solving is not a linear process, but rather an iterative one. It often requires revisiting previous stages and making adjustments based on new information or unexpected obstacles. By embracing flexibility and adaptability, problem solvers can navigate through the complexities of finding and implementing effective solutions.

Problem Solving Techniques

When faced with a problem, it’s essential to have a set of techniques and tools to aid in the problem-solving process. These techniques not only help in finding solutions but also encourage creativity and critical thinking. Let’s explore a few commonly used problem-solving techniques:

Brainstorming is a technique that encourages free thinking and idea generation. It involves gathering a group of individuals with diverse backgrounds and perspectives to generate a wide range of ideas without criticism or judgment. The goal is to create an environment where creativity can flourish, leading to unique and innovative solutions. During a brainstorming session, participants can build upon each other’s ideas, sparking new thoughts and possibilities.

For example, imagine a team working on a project to improve customer satisfaction for a company. During a brainstorming session, team members may suggest ideas such as implementing a loyalty program, enhancing customer service training, or developing a user-friendly mobile app. By allowing all ideas to be expressed without evaluation, the team can explore various possibilities and consider unconventional approaches.

Root cause analysis is a systematic approach to problem solving that focuses on identifying the underlying causes of an issue. It aims to dig deep and understand the core problem rather than merely addressing its symptoms. By uncovering the root cause, it becomes possible to develop targeted solutions that address the fundamental issue.

For instance, let’s say a manufacturing company is experiencing a high rate of product defects. Instead of simply fixing the defects as they occur, a root cause analysis would involve investigating the factors contributing to the defects. This analysis may reveal issues such as faulty machinery, inadequate training, or ineffective quality control processes. By addressing these underlying causes, the company can implement long-term solutions that prevent future defects and improve overall product quality.

Decision Matrix Analysis

A decision matrix is a tool used to evaluate multiple options based on predefined criteria. It provides a structured approach to decision-making by visually comparing various solutions and considering their respective advantages and disadvantages. This technique helps in making informed decisions and selecting the most suitable solution.

For example, imagine a project manager tasked with selecting a software vendor for a company’s new customer relationship management (CRM) system. The decision matrix would include criteria such as cost, functionality, user-friendliness, and customer support. Each potential vendor would be evaluated and scored based on these criteria, and the decision matrix would provide a clear visual representation of the strengths and weaknesses of each option. This analysis enables the project manager to make an objective and well-informed decision that aligns with the company’s needs and goals.

By utilizing problem-solving techniques like brainstorming, root cause analysis, and decision matrix analysis, individuals and teams can approach problems in a structured and effective manner. These techniques not only help in finding solutions but also foster collaboration, critical thinking, and innovation.

Barriers to Effective Problem Solving

Despite the benefits of problem solving, there can be barriers that hinder the process. Let’s explore a few common barriers:

Cognitive Biases

Cognitive biases are inherent mental shortcuts that can affect judgment and decision-making. These biases may lead to faulty reasoning, overlooking crucial information, or favoring familiar solutions over more effective ones.

One example of a cognitive bias is confirmation bias, where individuals tend to seek out information that confirms their existing beliefs or hypotheses while ignoring contradictory evidence. This can limit their ability to consider alternative perspectives and hinder problem-solving efforts.

Another cognitive bias is the availability heuristic, which is the tendency to rely on immediate examples or information that comes to mind easily. This can lead to overlooking less accessible but potentially relevant information, limiting the effectiveness of problem-solving approaches.

Overcoming cognitive biases requires self-awareness and a willingness to challenge one’s own assumptions. By actively seeking out diverse perspectives and considering a wide range of information, individuals can mitigate the impact of cognitive biases on problem-solving processes.

Lack of Information

Insufficient or inaccurate information can impede problem-solving efforts. Without a comprehensive understanding of the problem and relevant data, it becomes challenging to develop effective solutions.

One way to address this barrier is through thorough research and data collection. By gathering relevant information from reliable sources, individuals can gain a deeper understanding of the problem at hand. This may involve conducting surveys, interviews, or analyzing existing data sets to gather insights.

Additionally, collaboration and seeking input from others can help fill in knowledge gaps. By engaging with individuals who have different perspectives or expertise, new information and insights can be gained, leading to more effective problem-solving approaches.

It’s also important to critically evaluate the information gathered, ensuring its accuracy and relevance. By verifying the credibility of sources and cross-referencing data, individuals can make more informed decisions and overcome the barrier of a lack of information.

Emotional Barriers

Emotions such as fear, stress, or frustration can cloud judgment and hinder problem-solving abilities. It’s important to cultivate emotional intelligence and manage emotions effectively to maintain a clear and objective mindset.

One way to address emotional barriers is through mindfulness and self-reflection. By developing awareness of one’s emotions and their impact on decision-making, individuals can better regulate their emotional responses and prevent them from interfering with problem-solving processes.

Practicing stress management techniques, such as deep breathing exercises or engaging in physical activity, can also help reduce the impact of negative emotions on problem-solving abilities. Taking breaks and allowing time for relaxation and self-care can contribute to a clearer and more focused mindset.

Furthermore, fostering a supportive and collaborative environment can help individuals feel more comfortable expressing their emotions and seeking assistance when needed. By creating a safe space for open communication, emotional barriers can be minimized, allowing for more effective problem-solving.

By understanding and addressing these barriers, individuals can enhance their problem-solving skills and overcome challenges more effectively. Problem solving is a valuable skill that can be developed and improved with practice, and by recognizing and addressing these barriers, individuals can become more adept at finding innovative and effective solutions.

Enhancing Your Problem Solving Skills

While some individuals may possess natural problem-solving abilities, it is a skill that can be developed and honed over time. Here are a few ways to enhance your problem-solving skills:

Critical Thinking

Critical thinking involves analyzing information objectively, questioning assumptions, and considering alternative perspectives. Practicing critical thinking can help improve problem-solving abilities by fostering a logical and rational approach.

One way to develop critical thinking skills is through engaging in thought-provoking discussions and debates. By actively participating in conversations that challenge your beliefs and encourage you to consider different viewpoints, you can expand your thinking and develop a more comprehensive understanding of complex problems.

Additionally, reading books and articles that present diverse perspectives on various subjects can also contribute to the development of critical thinking skills. By exposing yourself to different ideas and arguments, you can learn to evaluate information critically and make informed decisions.

Creativity and Innovation

Embracing creativity and innovation can encourage thinking outside the box and finding unique solutions. Engaging in activities such as brainstorming or exploring new ideas and perspectives can stimulate creativity and foster innovative problem-solving approaches.

One effective way to foster creativity is through the practice of divergent thinking. This involves generating multiple ideas and possibilities without judgment or evaluation. By allowing yourself to think freely and without constraints, you can uncover new and unconventional solutions to problems.

Furthermore, seeking inspiration from different sources can also enhance your creativity. Exploring different art forms, such as painting, music, or literature, can expose you to different ways of thinking and spark new ideas. Additionally, immersing yourself in nature or taking part in outdoor activities can provide a fresh perspective and stimulate creative thinking.

Persistence and Patience

Problem-solving can be challenging and may require multiple attempts to find the most effective solution. It’s important to remain persistent and patient, understanding that setbacks and failures are part of the learning process.

Developing a growth mindset can greatly contribute to persistence and patience. Embracing the belief that abilities and intelligence can be developed through dedication and hard work can help you stay motivated and resilient in the face of obstacles. Instead of viewing failures as permanent setbacks, see them as opportunities for growth and learning.

Moreover, seeking support from others can also help you maintain persistence and patience. Surrounding yourself with individuals who share your goals and values can provide encouragement and motivation during challenging times. Collaborating with others can also bring fresh perspectives and ideas to the problem-solving process.

Remember, enhancing problem-solving skills is an ongoing journey. By continuously practicing critical thinking, embracing creativity, and cultivating persistence and patience, you can become a more effective problem solver in various aspects of your life.

The Role of Problem Solving in Everyday Life

Problem-solving skills play a vital role in our everyday lives, both personally and professionally. Let’s explore how problem solving impacts different areas:

Problem Solving in Personal Life

In our personal lives, problem solving helps us navigate challenges, make decisions, and overcome obstacles. Whether it’s managing personal relationships, resolving conflicts, or finding creative solutions to household problems, effective problem solving enhances our daily lives.

For example, imagine you are planning a surprise birthday party for a loved one. You encounter various challenges along the way, such as finding the perfect venue, coordinating with guests, and organizing the event. By employing problem-solving skills, you can brainstorm ideas, create a timeline, and address any unexpected issues that may arise. This not only ensures a successful surprise party but also showcases your ability to think critically and find solutions.

Problem Solving in Professional Life

In the professional realm, problem-solving skills are highly valued by employers. Being able to identify and resolve work-related issues can lead to increased productivity, improved teamwork, and career advancement. Effective problem solving is a key competency for success in various professions.

Consider a scenario where you work in a customer service role. You encounter a dissatisfied customer who has a complex issue that needs to be resolved promptly. By utilizing problem-solving skills, you can actively listen to the customer’s concerns, analyze the situation, and propose appropriate solutions. This not only resolves the issue but also showcases your ability to handle challenging situations professionally, leaving a positive impression on both the customer and your employer.

Problem Solving in Society

At a broader level, problem solving contributes to societal progress. Many global challenges require collective problem-solving efforts, such as finding sustainable solutions to environmental issues, addressing social inequalities, or improving public services. Effective problem solving can lead to positive societal change.

For instance, let’s consider the issue of climate change. Solving this complex problem requires the collaboration of scientists, policymakers, and individuals from various fields. By employing problem-solving skills, experts can analyze data, propose innovative solutions, and implement strategies to mitigate the effects of climate change. This collective problem-solving effort can lead to a more sustainable future for generations to come.

In conclusion, problem solving is a fundamental skill that plays a significant role in our lives. By understanding the concept, mastering problem-solving stages, and employing various techniques, we can enhance our ability to overcome challenges and achieve desired outcomes. Developing strong problem-solving skills not only benefits us personally and professionally but also contributes to broader societal progress. So, let’s embrace problem solving and harness its power to shape a better future.

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By the Mind Tools Content Team

We all spend a lot of our time solving problems, both at work and in our personal lives.

Some problems are small, and we can quickly sort them out ourselves. But others are complex challenges that take collaboration, creativity, and a considerable amount of effort to solve.

At work, the types of problems we face depend largely on the organizations we're in and the jobs we do. A manager in a cleaning company, for example, might spend their day untangling staffing issues, resolving client complaints, and sorting out problems with equipment and supplies. An aircraft designer, on the other hand, might be grappling with a problem about aerodynamics, or trying to work out why a new safety feature isn't working. Meanwhile, a politician might be exploring solutions to racial injustice or climate change.

But whatever issues we face, there are some common ways to tackle them effectively. And we can all boost our confidence and ability to succeed by building a strong set of problem-solving skills.

Mind Tools offers a large collection of resources to help you do just that!

How Well Do You Solve Problems?

Start by taking an honest look at your existing skills. What's your current approach to solving problems, and how well is it working? Our quiz, How Good Is Your Problem Solving? lets you analyze your abilities, and signposts ways to address any areas of weakness.

Define Every Problem

The first step in solving a problem is understanding what that problem actually is. You need to be sure that you're dealing with the real problem – not its symptoms. For example, if performance in your department is substandard, you might think that the problem lies with the individuals submitting work. However, if you look a bit deeper, the real issue might be a general lack of training, or an unreasonable workload across the team.

Tools like 5 Whys , Appreciation and Root Cause Analysis get you asking the right questions, and help you to work through the layers of a problem to uncover what's really going on.

However, defining a problem doesn't mean deciding how to solve it straightaway. It's important to look at the issue from a variety of perspectives. If you commit yourself too early, you can end up with a short-sighted solution. The CATWOE checklist provides a powerful reminder to look at many elements that may contribute to the problem, keeping you open to a variety of possible solutions.

Understanding Complexity

As you define your problem, you'll often discover just how complicated it is. There are likely several interrelated issues involved. That's why it's important to have ways to visualize, simplify and make sense of this tangled mess!

Affinity Diagrams are great for organizing many different pieces of information into common themes, and for understanding the relationships between them.

Another popular tool is the Cause-and-Effect Diagram . To generate viable solutions, you need a solid understanding of what's causing the problem.

When your problem occurs within a business process, creating a Flow Chart , Swim Lane Diagram or a Systems Diagram will help you to see how various activities and inputs fit together. This may well highlight a missing element or bottleneck that's causing your problem.

Quite often, what seems to be a single problem turns out to be a whole series of problems. The Drill Down technique prompts you to split your problem into smaller, more manageable parts.

General Problem-Solving Tools

When you understand the problem in front of you, you’re ready to start solving it. With your definition to guide you, you can generate several possible solutions, choose the best one, then put it into action. That's the four-step approach at the heart of good problem solving.

There are various problem-solving styles to use. For example:

• Constructive Controversy is a way of widening perspectives and energizing discussions.
• Inductive Reasoning makes the most of people’s experiences and know-how, and can speed up solution finding.
• Means-End Analysis can bring extra clarity to your thinking, and kick-start the process of implementing solutions.

Specific Problem-Solving Systems

Some particularly complicated or important problems call for a more comprehensive process. Again, Mind Tools has a range of approaches to try, including:

• Simplex , which involves an eight-stage process: problem finding, fact finding, defining the problem, idea finding, selecting and evaluating, planning, selling the idea, and acting. These steps build upon the basic, four-step process described above, and they create a cycle of problem finding and solving that will continually improve your organization.
• Appreciative Inquiry , which is a uniquely positive way of solving problems by examining what's working well in the areas surrounding them.
• Soft Systems Methodology , which takes you through four stages to uncover more details about what's creating your problem, and then define actions that will improve the situation.

Further Problem-Solving Strategies

Good problem solving requires a number of other skills – all of which are covered by Mind Tools.

For example, we have a large section of resources to improve your Creativity , so that you come up with a range of possible solutions.

By strengthening your Decision Making , you'll be better at evaluating the options, selecting the best ones, then choosing how to implement them.

And our Project Management collection has valuable advice for strengthening the whole problem-solving process. The resources there will help you to make effective changes – and then keep them working long term.

Problems are an inescapable part of life, both in and out of work. So we can all benefit from having strong problem-solving skills.

It's important to understand your current approach to problem solving, and to know where and how to improve.

Define every problem you encounter – and understand its complexity, rather than trying to solve it too soon.

There's a range of general problem-solving approaches, helping you to generate possible answers, choose the best ones, and then implement your solution.

Some complicated or serious problems require more specific problem-solving systems, especially when they relate to business processes.

By boosting your creativity, decision-making and project-management skills, you’ll become even better at solving all the problems you face.

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Creative Problem Solving

Finding Innovative Solutions to Challenges

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Problem-Solving Strategies and Obstacles

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Sean is a fact-checker and researcher with experience in sociology, field research, and data analytics.

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From deciding what to eat for dinner to considering whether it's the right time to buy a house, problem-solving is a large part of our daily lives. Learn some of the problem-solving strategies that exist and how to use them in real life, along with ways to overcome obstacles that are making it harder to resolve the issues you face.

What Is Problem-Solving?

In cognitive psychology , the term 'problem-solving' refers to the mental process that people go through to discover, analyze, and solve problems.

A problem exists when there is a goal that we want to achieve but the process by which we will achieve it is not obvious to us. Put another way, there is something that we want to occur in our life, yet we are not immediately certain how to make it happen.

Maybe you want a better relationship with your spouse or another family member but you're not sure how to improve it. Or you want to start a business but are unsure what steps to take. Problem-solving helps you figure out how to achieve these desires.

The problem-solving process involves:

• Discovery of the problem
• Deciding to tackle the issue
• Seeking to understand the problem more fully
• Researching available options or solutions
• Taking action to resolve the issue

Before problem-solving can occur, it is important to first understand the exact nature of the problem itself. If your understanding of the issue is faulty, your attempts to resolve it will also be incorrect or flawed.

Problem-Solving Mental Processes

Several mental processes are at work during problem-solving. Among them are:

• Perceptually recognizing the problem
• Representing the problem in memory
• Considering relevant information that applies to the problem
• Identifying different aspects of the problem
• Labeling and describing the problem

Problem-Solving Strategies

There are many ways to go about solving a problem. Some of these strategies might be used on their own, or you may decide to employ multiple approaches when working to figure out and fix a problem.

An algorithm is a step-by-step procedure that, by following certain "rules" produces a solution. Algorithms are commonly used in mathematics to solve division or multiplication problems. But they can be used in other fields as well.

In psychology, algorithms can be used to help identify individuals with a greater risk of mental health issues. For instance, research suggests that certain algorithms might help us recognize children with an elevated risk of suicide or self-harm.

One benefit of algorithms is that they guarantee an accurate answer. However, they aren't always the best approach to problem-solving, in part because detecting patterns can be incredibly time-consuming.

There are also concerns when machine learning is involved—also known as artificial intelligence (AI)—such as whether they can accurately predict human behaviors.

Heuristics are shortcut strategies that people can use to solve a problem at hand. These "rule of thumb" approaches allow you to simplify complex problems, reducing the total number of possible solutions to a more manageable set.

If you find yourself sitting in a traffic jam, for example, you may quickly consider other routes, taking one to get moving once again. When shopping for a new car, you might think back to a prior experience when negotiating got you a lower price, then employ the same tactics.

While heuristics may be helpful when facing smaller issues, major decisions shouldn't necessarily be made using a shortcut approach. Heuristics also don't guarantee an effective solution, such as when trying to drive around a traffic jam only to find yourself on an equally crowded route.

Trial and Error

A trial-and-error approach to problem-solving involves trying a number of potential solutions to a particular issue, then ruling out those that do not work. If you're not sure whether to buy a shirt in blue or green, for instance, you may try on each before deciding which one to purchase.

This can be a good strategy to use if you have a limited number of solutions available. But if there are many different choices available, narrowing down the possible options using another problem-solving technique can be helpful before attempting trial and error.

In some cases, the solution to a problem can appear as a sudden insight. You are facing an issue in a relationship or your career when, out of nowhere, the solution appears in your mind and you know exactly what to do.

Insight can occur when the problem in front of you is similar to an issue that you've dealt with in the past. Although, you may not recognize what is occurring since the underlying mental processes that lead to insight often happen outside of conscious awareness .

Research indicates that insight is most likely to occur during times when you are alone—such as when going on a walk by yourself, when you're in the shower, or when lying in bed after waking up.

How to Apply Problem-Solving Strategies in Real Life

If you're facing a problem, you can implement one or more of these strategies to find a potential solution. Here's how to use them in real life:

• Create a flow chart . If you have time, you can take advantage of the algorithm approach to problem-solving by sitting down and making a flow chart of each potential solution, its consequences, and what happens next.
• Recall your past experiences . When a problem needs to be solved fairly quickly, heuristics may be a better approach. Think back to when you faced a similar issue, then use your knowledge and experience to choose the best option possible.
• Start trying potential solutions . If your options are limited, start trying them one by one to see which solution is best for achieving your desired goal. If a particular solution doesn't work, move on to the next.
• Take some time alone . Since insight is often achieved when you're alone, carve out time to be by yourself for a while. The answer to your problem may come to you, seemingly out of the blue, if you spend some time away from others.

Obstacles to Problem-Solving

Problem-solving is not a flawless process as there are a number of obstacles that can interfere with our ability to solve a problem quickly and efficiently. These obstacles include:

• Assumptions: When dealing with a problem, people can make assumptions about the constraints and obstacles that prevent certain solutions. Thus, they may not even try some potential options.
• Functional fixedness : This term refers to the tendency to view problems only in their customary manner. Functional fixedness prevents people from fully seeing all of the different options that might be available to find a solution.
• Irrelevant or misleading information: When trying to solve a problem, it's important to distinguish between information that is relevant to the issue and irrelevant data that can lead to faulty solutions. The more complex the problem, the easier it is to focus on misleading or irrelevant information.
• Mental set: A mental set is a tendency to only use solutions that have worked in the past rather than looking for alternative ideas. A mental set can work as a heuristic, making it a useful problem-solving tool. However, mental sets can also lead to inflexibility, making it more difficult to find effective solutions.

How to Improve Your Problem-Solving Skills

In the end, if your goal is to become a better problem-solver, it's helpful to remember that this is a process. Thus, if you want to improve your problem-solving skills, following these steps can help lead you to your solution:

• Recognize that a problem exists . If you are facing a problem, there are generally signs. For instance, if you have a mental illness , you may experience excessive fear or sadness, mood changes, and changes in sleeping or eating habits. Recognizing these signs can help you realize that an issue exists.
• Decide to solve the problem . Make a conscious decision to solve the issue at hand. Commit to yourself that you will go through the steps necessary to find a solution.
• Seek to fully understand the issue . Analyze the problem you face, looking at it from all sides. If your problem is relationship-related, for instance, ask yourself how the other person may be interpreting the issue. You might also consider how your actions might be contributing to the situation.
• Research potential options . Using the problem-solving strategies mentioned, research potential solutions. Make a list of options, then consider each one individually. What are some pros and cons of taking the available routes? What would you need to do to make them happen?
• Take action . Select the best solution possible and take action. Action is one of the steps required for change . So, go through the motions needed to resolve the issue.
• Try another option, if needed . If the solution you chose didn't work, don't give up. Either go through the problem-solving process again or simply try another option.

You can find a way to solve your problems as long as you keep working toward this goal—even if the best solution is simply to let go because no other good solution exists.

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Stewart SL, Celebre A, Hirdes JP, Poss JW. Risk of suicide and self-harm in kids: The development of an algorithm to identify high-risk individuals within the children's mental health system . Child Psychiat Human Develop . 2020;51:913-924. doi:10.1007/s10578-020-00968-9

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By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Learn Creative Problem Solving Techniques to Stimulate Innovation in Your Organization

By Kate Eby | October 20, 2017 (updated August 27, 2021)

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In today’s competitive business landscape, organizations need processes in place to make strong, well-informed, and innovative decisions. Problem solving - in particular creative problem solving (CPS) - is a key skill in learning how to accurately identify problems and their causes, generate potential solutions, and evaluate all the possibilities to arrive at a strong corrective course of action. Every team in any organization, regardless of department or industry, needs to be effective, creative, and quick when solving problems. 

In this article, we’ll discuss traditional and creative problem solving, and define the steps, best practices, and common barriers associated. After that, we’ll provide helpful methods and tools to identify the cause(s) of problematic situations, so you can get to the root of the issue and start to generate solutions. Then, we offer nearly 20 creative problem solving techniques to implement at your organization, or even in your personal life. Along the way, experts weigh in on the importance of problem solving, and offer tips and tricks. 

What Is Problem Solving and Decision Making?

Problem solving is the process of working through every aspect of an issue or challenge to reach a solution. Decision making is choosing one of multiple proposed solutions  — therefore, this process also includes defining and evaluating all potential options. Decision making is often one step of the problem solving process, but the two concepts are distinct. 

Collective problem solving is problem solving that includes many different parties and bridges the knowledge of different groups. Collective problem solving is common in business problem solving because workplace decisions typically affect more than one person. 

Problem solving, especially in business, is a complicated science. Not only are business conflicts multifaceted, but they often involve different personalities, levels of authority, and group dynamics. In recent years, however, there has been a rise in psychology-driven problem solving techniques, especially for the workplace. In fact, the psychology of how people solve problems is now studied formally in academic disciplines such as psychology and cognitive science.

Joe Carella is the Assistant Dean for Executive Education at the University of Arizona . Joe has over 20 years of experience in helping executives and corporations in managing change and developing successful business strategies. His doctoral research and executive education engagements have seen him focus on corporate strategy, decision making and business performance with a variety of corporate clients including Hershey’s, Chevron, Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, Intel, DP World, Essilor, BBVA Compass Bank.

He explains some of the basic psychology behind problem solving: “When our brain is engaged in the process of solving problems, it is engaged in a series of steps where it processes and organizes the information it receives while developing new knowledge it uses in future steps. Creativity is embedded in this process by incorporating diverse inputs and/or new ways of organizing the information received.”

Laura MacLeod is a Professor of Social Group Work at City University of New York, and the creator of From The Inside Out Project® , a program that coaches managers in team leadership for a variety of workplaces. She has a background in social work and over two decades of experience as a union worker, and currently leads talks on conflict resolution, problem solving, and listening skills at conferences across the country. 

MacLeod thinks of problem solving as an integral practice of successful organizations. “Problem solving is a collaborative process — all voices are heard and connected, and resolution is reached by the group,” she says. “Problems and conflicts occur in all groups and teams in the workplace, but if leaders involve everyone in working through, they will foster cohesion, engagement, and buy in. Everybody wins.”

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What Is the First Step in Solving a Problem?

Although problem solving techniques vary procedurally, experts agree that the first step in solving a problem is defining the problem. Without a clear articulation of the problem at stake, it is impossible to analyze all the key factors and actors, generate possible solutions, and then evaluate them to pick the best option. 

Dr. Elliott Jaffa is a behavioral and management psychologist with over 25 years of problem solving training and management experience. “Start with defining the problem you want to solve,” he says, “And then define where you want to be, what you want to come away with.” He emphasizes these are the first steps in creating an actionable, clear solution. 

Bryan Mattimore is Co-Founder of Growth Engine, an 18-year old innovation agency based in Norwalk, CT. Bryan has facilitated over 1,000 ideation sessions and managed over 200 successful innovation projects leading to over $3 billion in new sales. His newest book is 21 Days to a Big Idea . When asked about the first critical component to successful problem solving, Mattimore says, “Defining the challenge correctly, or ‘solving the right problem’ … The three creative techniques we use to help our clients ‘identify the right problem to be solved’ are questioning assumptions, 20 questions, and problem redefinition. A good example of this was a new product challenge from a client to help them ‘invent a new iron. We got them to redefine the challenge as first: a) inventing new anti-wrinkle devices, and then b) inventing new garment care devices.”

What Are Problem Solving Skills?

To understand the necessary skills in problem solving, you should first understand the types of thinking often associated with strong decision making. Most problem solving techniques look for a balance between the following binaries:

• Convergent vs. Divergent Thinking: Convergent thinking is bringing together disparate information or ideas to determine a single best answer or solution. This thinking style values logic, speed, and accuracy, and leaves no chance for ambiguity. Divergent thinking is focused on generating new ideas to identify and evaluate multiple possible solutions, often uniting ideas in unexpected combinations. Divergent thinking is characterized by creativity, complexity, curiosity, flexibility, originality, and risk-taking.
• Pragmatics vs. Semantics: Pragmatics refer to the logic of the problem at hand, and semantics is how you interpret the problem to solve it. Both are important to yield the best possible solution.
• Mathematical vs. Personal Problem Solving: Mathematical problem solving involves logic (usually leading to a single correct answer), and is useful for problems that involve numbers or require an objective, clear-cut solution. However, many workplace problems also require personal problem solving, which includes interpersonal, collaborative, and emotional intuition and skills. 

The following basic methods are fundamental problem solving concepts. Implement them to help balance the above thinking models.

• Reproductive Thinking: Reproductive thinking uses past experience to solve a problem. However, be careful not to rely too heavily on past solutions, and to evaluate current problems individually, with their own factors and parameters. 
• Idea Generation: The process of generating many possible courses of action to identify a solution. This is most commonly a team exercise because putting everyone’s ideas on the table will yield the greatest number of potential solutions. 

However, many of the most critical problem solving skills are “soft” skills: personal and interpersonal understanding, intuitiveness, and strong listening. 

Mattimore expands on this idea: “The seven key skills to be an effective creative problem solver that I detail in my book Idea Stormers: How to Lead and Inspire Creative Breakthroughs are: 1) curiosity 2) openness 3) a willingness to embrace ambiguity 4) the ability to identify and transfer principles across categories and disciplines 5) the desire to search for integrity in ideas, 6) the ability to trust and exercise “knowingness” and 7) the ability to envision new worlds (think Dr. Seuss, Star Wars, Hunger Games, Harry Potter, etc.).”

“As an individual contributor to problem solving it is important to exercise our curiosity, questioning, and visioning abilities,” advises Carella. “As a facilitator it is essential to allow for diverse ideas to emerge, be able to synthesize and ‘translate’ other people’s thinking, and build an extensive network of available resources.”

MacLeod says the following interpersonal skills are necessary to effectively facilitate group problem solving: “The abilities to invite participation (hear all voices, encourage silent members), not take sides, manage dynamics between the monopolizer, the scapegoat, and the bully, and deal with conflict (not avoiding it or shutting down).” 

Furthermore, Jaffa explains that the skills of a strong problem solver aren’t measurable. The best way to become a creative problem solver, he says, is to do regular creative exercises that keep you sharp and force you to think outside the box. Carella echoes this sentiment: “Neuroscience tells us that creativity comes from creating novel neural paths. Allow a few minutes each day to exercise your brain with novel techniques and brain ‘tricks’ – read something new, drive to work via a different route, count backwards, smell a new fragrance, etc.”

What Is Creative Problem Solving? History, Evolution, and Core Principles

Creative problem solving (CPS) is a method of problem solving in which you approach a problem or challenge in an imaginative, innovative way. The goal of CPS is to come up with innovative solutions, make a decision, and take action quickly. Sidney Parnes and Alex Osborn are credited with developing the creative problem solving process in the 1950s. The concept was further studied and developed at SUNY Buffalo State and the Creative Education Foundation. 

The core principles of CPS include the following:

• Balance divergent and convergent thinking
• Ask problems as questions
• Defer or suspend judgement
• Focus on “Yes, and…” rather than “No, but…”

According to Carella, “Creative problem solving is the mental process used for generating innovative and imaginative ideas as a solution to a problem or a challenge. Creative problem solving techniques can be pursued by individuals or groups.”

When asked to define CPS, Jaffa explains that it is, by nature, difficult to create boundaries for. “Creative problem solving is not cut and dry,” he says, “If you ask 100 different people the definition of creative problem solving, you’ll get 100 different responses - it’s a non-entity.”

Business presents a unique need for creative problem solving. Especially in today’s competitive landscape, organizations need to iterate quickly, innovate with intention, and constantly be at the cutting-edge of creativity and new ideas to succeed. Developing CPS skills among your workforce not only enables you to make faster, stronger in-the-moment decisions, but also inspires a culture of collaborative work and knowledge sharing. When people work together to generate multiple novel ideas and evaluate solutions, they are also more likely to arrive at an effective decision, which will improve business processes and reduce waste over time. In fact, CPS is so important that some companies now list creative problem solving skills as a job criteria.

MacLeod reiterates the vitality of creative problem solving in the workplace. “Problem solving is crucial for all groups and teams,” she says. “Leaders need to know how to guide the process, hear all voices and involve all members - it’s not easy.”

“This mental process [of CPS] is especially helpful in work environments where individuals and teams continuously struggle with new problems and challenges posed by their continuously changing environment,” adds Carella. 

Problem Solving Best Practices

By nature, creative problem solving does not have a clear-cut set of do’s and don’ts. Rather, creating a culture of strong creative problem solvers requires flexibility, adaptation, and interpersonal skills. However, there are a several best practices that you should incorporate:

• Use a Systematic Approach: Regardless of the technique you use, choose a systematic method that satisfies your workplace conditions and constraints (time, resources, budget, etc.). Although you want to preserve creativity and openness to new ideas, maintaining a structured approach to the process will help you stay organized and focused. 
• View Problems as Opportunities: Rather than focusing on the negatives or giving up when you encounter barriers, treat problems as opportunities to enact positive change on the situation. In fact, some experts even recommend defining problems as opportunities, to remain proactive and positive.
• Change Perspective: Remember that there are multiple ways to solve any problem. If you feel stuck, changing perspective can help generate fresh ideas. A perspective change might entail seeking advice of a mentor or expert, understanding the context of a situation, or taking a break and returning to the problem later. “A sterile or familiar environment can stifle new thinking and new perspectives,” says Carella. “Make sure you get out to draw inspiration from spaces and people out of your usual reach.”
• Break Down Silos: To invite the greatest possible number of perspectives to any problem, encourage teams to work cross-departmentally. This not only combines diverse expertise, but also creates a more trusting and collaborative environment, which is essential to effective CPS. According to Carella, “Big challenges are always best tackled by a group of people rather than left to a single individual. Make sure you create a space where the team can concentrate and convene.”
• Employ Strong Leadership or a Facilitator: Some companies choose to hire an external facilitator that teaches problem solving techniques, best practices, and practicums to stimulate creative problem solving. But, internal managers and staff can also oversee these activities. Regardless of whether the facilitator is internal or external, choose a strong leader who will value others’ ideas and make space for creative solutions.  Mattimore has specific advice regarding the role of a facilitator: “When facilitating, get the group to name a promising idea (it will crystalize the idea and make it more memorable), and facilitate deeper rather than broader. Push for not only ideas, but how an idea might specifically work, some of its possible benefits, who and when would be interested in an idea, etc. This fleshing-out process with a group will generate fewer ideas, but at the end of the day will yield more useful concepts that might be profitably pursued.” Additionally, Carella says that “Executives and managers don’t necessarily have to be creative problem solvers, but need to make sure that their teams are equipped with the right tools and resources to make this happen. Also they need to be able to foster an environment where failing fast is accepted and celebrated.”
• Evaluate Your Current Processes: This practice can help you unlock bottlenecks, and also identify gaps in your data and information management, both of which are common roots of business problems.

MacLeod offers the following additional advice, “Always get the facts. Don’t jump too quickly to a solution – working through [problems] takes time and patience.”

Mattimore also stresses that how you introduce creative problem solving is important. “Do not start by introducing a new company-wide innovation process,” he says. “Instead, encourage smaller teams to pursue specific creative projects, and then build a process from the ground up by emulating these smaller teams’ successful approaches. We say: ‘You don’t innovate by changing the culture, you change the culture by innovating.’”

Learning how to effectively solve problems is difficult and takes time and continual adaptation. There are several common barriers to successful CPS, including:

• Confirmation Bias: The tendency to only search for or interpret information that confirms a person’s existing ideas. People misinterpret or disregard data that doesn’t align with their beliefs.
• Mental Set: People’s inclination to solve problems using the same tactics they have used to solve problems in the past. While this can sometimes be a useful strategy (see Analogical Thinking in a later section), it often limits inventiveness and creativity.
• Functional Fixedness: This is another form of narrow thinking, where people become “stuck” thinking in a certain way and are unable to be flexible or change perspective.
• Unnecessary Constraints: When people are overwhelmed with a problem, they can invent and impose additional limits on solution avenues. To avoid doing this, maintain a structured, level-headed approach to evaluating causes, effects, and potential solutions.
• Groupthink: Be wary of the tendency for group members to agree with each other — this might be out of conflict avoidance, path of least resistance, or fear of speaking up. While this agreeableness might make meetings run smoothly, it can actually stunt creativity and idea generation, therefore limiting the success of your chosen solution.
• Irrelevant Information: The tendency to pile on multiple problems and factors that may not even be related to the challenge at hand. This can cloud the team’s ability to find direct, targeted solutions.
• Paradigm Blindness: This is found in people who are unwilling to adapt or change their worldview, outlook on a particular problem, or typical way of processing information. This can erode the effectiveness of problem solving techniques because they are not aware of the narrowness of their thinking, and therefore cannot think or act outside of their comfort zone.

According to Jaffa, the primary barrier of effective problem solving is rigidity. “The most common things people say are, ‘We’ve never done it before,’ or ‘We’ve always done it this way.’” While these feelings are natural, Jaffa explains that this rigid thinking actually precludes teams from identifying creative, inventive solutions that result in the greatest benefit.

“The biggest barrier to creative problem solving is a lack of awareness – and commitment to – training employees in state-of-the-art creative problem-solving techniques,” Mattimore explains. “We teach our clients how to use ideation techniques (as many as two-dozen different creative thinking techniques) to help them generate more and better ideas. Ideation techniques use specific and customized stimuli, or ‘thought triggers’ to inspire new thinking and new ideas.” 

MacLeod adds that ineffective or rushed leadership is another common culprit. “We're always in a rush to fix quickly,” she says. “Sometimes leaders just solve problems themselves, making unilateral decisions to save time. But the investment is well worth it — leaders will have less on their plates if they can teach and eventually trust the team to resolve. Teams feel empowered and engagement and investment increases.”

Strategies for Problem Cause Identification

As discussed, most experts agree that the first and most crucial step in problem solving is defining the problem. Once you’ve done this, however, it may not be appropriate to move straight to the solution phase. Rather, it is often helpful to identify the cause(s) of the problem: This will better inform your solution planning and execution, and help ensure that you don’t fall victim to the same challenges in the future. 

Below are some of the most common strategies for identifying the cause of a problem:

• Root Cause Analysis: This method helps identify the most critical cause of a problem. A factor is considered a root cause if removing it prevents the problem from recurring. Performing a root cause analysis is a 12 step process that includes: define the problem, gather data on the factors contributing to the problem, group the factors based on shared characteristics, and create a cause-and-effect timeline to determine the root cause. After that, you identify and evaluate corrective actions to eliminate the root cause.

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Problem Solving Techniques and Strategies

In this section, we’ll explain several traditional and creative problem solving methods that you can use to identify challenges, create actionable goals, and resolve problems as they arise. Although there is often procedural and objective crossover among techniques, they are grouped by theme so you can identify which method works best for your organization.

Divergent Creative Problem Solving Techniques

Brainstorming: One of the most common methods of divergent thinking, brainstorming works best in an open group setting where everyone is encouraged to share their creative ideas. The goal is to generate as many ideas as possible – you analyze, critique, and evaluate the ideas only after the brainstorming session is complete. To learn more specific brainstorming techniques, read this article . 

Mind Mapping: This is a visual thinking tool where you graphically depict concepts and their relation to one another. You can use mind mapping to structure the information you have, analyze and synthesize it, and generate solutions and new ideas from there. The goal of a mind map is to simplify complicated problems so you can more clearly identify solutions.

Appreciative Inquiry (AI): The basic assumption of AI is that “an organization is a mystery to be embraced.” Using this principle, AI takes a positive, inquisitive approach to identifying the problem, analyzing the causes, and presenting possible solutions. The five principles of AI emphasize dialogue, deliberate language and outlook, and social bonding. 

Lateral Thinking: This is an indirect problem solving approach centered on the momentum of idea generation. As opposed to critical thinking, where people value ideas based on their truth and the absence of errors, lateral thinking values the “movement value” of new ideas: This means that you reward team members for producing a large volume of new ideas rapidly. With this approach, you’ll generate many new ideas before approving or rejecting any.

Problem Solving Techniques to Change Perspective

Constructive Controversy: This is a structured approach to group decision making to preserve critical thinking and disagreement while maintaining order. After defining the problem and presenting multiple courses of action, the group divides into small advocacy teams who research, analyze, and refute a particular option. Once each advocacy team has presented its best-case scenario, the group has a discussion (advocacy teams still defend their presented idea). Arguing and playing devil’s advocate is encouraged to reach an understanding of the pros and cons of each option. Next, advocacy teams abandon their cause and evaluate the options openly until they reach a consensus. All team members formally commit to the decision, regardless of whether they advocated for it at the beginning. You can learn more about the goals and steps in constructive controversy here . 

Carella is a fan of this approach. “Create constructive controversy by having two teams argue the pros and cons of a certain idea,” he says. “It forces unconscious biases to surface and gives space for new ideas to formulate.”

Abstraction: In this method, you apply the problem to a fictional model of the current situation. Mapping an issue to an abstract situation can shed extraneous or irrelevant factors, and reveal places where you are overlooking obvious solutions or becoming bogged down by circumstances. 

Analogical Thinking: Also called analogical reasoning , this method relies on an analogy: using information from one problem to solve another problem (these separate problems are called domains). It can be difficult for teams to create analogies among unrelated problems, but it is a strong technique to help you identify repeated issues, zoom out and change perspective, and prevent the problems from occurring in the future. .

CATWOE: This framework ensures that you evaluate the perspectives of those whom your decision will impact. The factors and questions to consider include (which combine to make the acronym CATWOE):

• Customers: Who is on the receiving end of your decisions? What problem do they currently have, and how will they react to your proposed solution?
• Actors: Who is acting to bring your solution to fruition? How will they respond and be affected by your decision?
• Transformation Process: What processes will you employ to transform your current situation and meet your goals? What are the inputs and outputs?
• World View: What is the larger context of your proposed solution? What is the larger, big-picture problem you are addressing?
• Owner: Who actually owns the process? How might they influence your proposed solution (positively or negatively), and how can you influence them to help you?
• Environmental Constraints: What are the limits (environmental, resource- and budget-wise, ethical, legal, etc.) on your ideas? How will you revise or work around these constraints?

Complex Problem Solving

Soft Systems Methodology (SSM): For extremely complex problems, SSM can help you identify how factors interact, and determine the best course of action. SSM was borne out of organizational process modeling and general systems theory, which hold that everything is part of a greater, interconnected system: This idea works well for “hard” problems (where logic and a single correct answer are prioritized), and less so for “soft” problems (i.e., human problems where factors such as personality, emotions, and hierarchy come into play). Therefore, SSM defines a seven step process for problem solving: 

• Begin with the problem or problematic situation 
• Express the problem or situation and build a rich picture of the themes of the problem 
• Identify the root causes of the problem (most commonly with CATWOE)
• Build conceptual models of human activity surrounding the problem or situation
• Compare models with real-world happenings
• Identify changes to the situation that are both feasible and desirable
• Take action to implement changes and improve the problematic situation

SSM can be used for any complex soft problem, and is also a useful tool in change management . 

Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA): This method helps teams anticipate potential problems and take steps to mitigate them. Use FMEA when you are designing (redesigning) a complex function, process, product, or service. First, identify the failure modes, which are the possible ways that a project could fail. Then, perform an effects analysis to understand the consequences of each of the potential downfalls. This exercise is useful for internalizing the severity of each potential failure and its effects so you can make adjustments or safeties in your plan. 

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Problem Solving Based on Data or Logic (Heuristic Methods)

TRIZ: A Russian-developed problem solving technique that values logic, analysis, and forecasting over intuition or soft reasoning. TRIZ (translated to “theory of inventive problem solving” or TIPS in English) is a systematic approach to defining and identifying an inventive solution to difficult problems. The method offers several strategies for arriving at an inventive solution, including a contradictions matrix to assess trade-offs among solutions, a Su-Field analysis which uses formulas to describe a system by its structure, and ARIZ (algorithm of inventive problem solving) which uses algorithms to find inventive solutions. 

Inductive Reasoning: A logical method that uses evidence to conclude that a certain answer is probable (this is opposed to deductive reasoning, where the answer is assumed to be true). Inductive reasoning uses a limited number of observations to make useful, logical conclusions (for example, the Scientific Method is an extreme example of inductive reasoning). However, this method doesn’t always map well to human problems in the workplace — in these instances, managers should employ intuitive inductive reasoning , which allows for more automatic, implicit conclusions so that work can progress. This, of course, retains the principle that these intuitive conclusions are not necessarily the one and only correct answer. 

Process-Oriented Problem Solving Methods

Plan Do Check Act (PDCA): This is an iterative management technique used to ensure continual improvement of products or processes. First, teams plan (establish objectives to meet desired end results), then do (implement the plan, new processes, or produce the output), then check (compare expected with actual results), and finally act (define how the organization will act in the future, based on the performance and knowledge gained in the previous three steps). 

Means-End Analysis (MEA): The MEA strategy is to reduce the difference between the current (problematic) state and the goal state. To do so, teams compile information on the multiple factors that contribute to the disparity between the current and goal states. Then they try to change or eliminate the factors one by one, beginning with the factor responsible for the greatest difference in current and goal state. By systematically tackling the multiple factors that cause disparity between the problem and desired outcome, teams can better focus energy and control each step of the process. 

Hurson’s Productive Thinking Model: This technique was developed by Tim Hurson, and is detailed in his 2007 book Think Better: An Innovator’s Guide to Productive Thinking . The model outlines six steps that are meant to give structure while maintaining creativity and critical thinking: 1) Ask “What is going on?” 2) Ask “What is success?” 3) Ask “What is the question?” 4) Generate answers 5) Forge the solution 6) Align resources. 

Control Influence Accept (CIA): The basic premise of CIA is that how you respond to problems determines how successful you will be in overcoming them. Therefore, this model is both a problem solving technique and stress-management tool that ensures you aren’t responding to problems in a reactive and unproductive way. The steps in CIA include:

• Control: Identify the aspects of the problem that are within your control.
• Influence: Identify the aspects of the problem that you cannot control, but that you can influence.
• Accept: Identify the aspects of the problem that you can neither control nor influence, and react based on this composite information. 

GROW Model: This is a straightforward problem solving method for goal setting that clearly defines your goals and current situation, and then asks you to define the potential solutions and be realistic about your chosen course of action. The steps break down as follows:

• Goal: What do you want?
• Reality: Where are you now?
• Options: What could you do?
• Will: What will you do?

OODA Loop: This acronym stands for observe, orient, decide, and act. This approach is a decision-making cycle that values agility and flexibility over raw human force. It is framed as a loop because of the understanding that any team will continually encounter problems or opponents to success and have to overcome them.

There are also many un-named creative problem solving techniques that follow a sequenced series of steps. While the exact steps vary slightly, they all follow a similar trajectory and aim to accomplish similar goals of problem, cause, and goal identification, idea generation, and active solution implementation.

MacLeod offers her own problem solving procedure, which echoes the above steps:

“1. Recognize the Problem: State what you see. Sometimes the problem is covert. 2. Identify: Get the facts — What exactly happened? What is the issue? 3. and 4. Explore and Connect: Dig deeper and encourage group members to relate their similar experiences. Now you're getting more into the feelings and background [of the situation], not just the facts.  5. Possible Solutions: Consider and brainstorm ideas for resolution. 6. Implement: Choose a solution and try it out — this could be role play and/or a discussion of how the solution would be put in place.  7. Evaluate: Revisit to see if the solution was successful or not.”

Many of these problem solving techniques can be used in concert with one another, or multiple can be appropriate for any given problem. It’s less about facilitating a perfect CPS session, and more about encouraging team members to continually think outside the box and push beyond personal boundaries that inhibit their innovative thinking. So, try out several methods, find those that resonate best with your team, and continue adopting new techniques and adapting your processes along the way. 

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Everybody can benefit from having good problem solving skills as we all encounter problems on a daily basis. Some of these problems are obviously more severe or complex than others.

It would be wonderful to have the ability to solve all problems efficiently and in a timely fashion without difficulty, unfortunately though there is no one way in which all problems can be solved.

You will discover, as you read through our pages on problem solving, that the subject is complex.

However well prepared we are for problem solving, there is always an element of the unknown. Although planning and structuring will help make the problem solving process more likely to be successful, good judgement and an element of good luck will ultimately determine whether problem solving was a success.

Interpersonal relationships fail and businesses fail because of poor problem solving.

This is often due to either problems not being recognised or being recognised but not being dealt with appropriately.

Problem solving skills are highly sought after by employers as many companies rely on their employees to identify and solve problems.

A lot of the work in problem solving involves understanding what the underlying issues of the problem really are - not the symptoms. Dealing with a customer complaint may be seen as a problem that needs to be solved, and it's almost certainly a good idea to do so. The employee dealing with the complaint should be asking what has caused the customer to complain in the first place, if the cause of the complaint can be eliminated then the problem is solved.

In order to be effective at problem solving you are likely to need some other key skills, which include:

Creativity. Problems are usually solved either intuitively or systematically. Intuition is used when no new knowledge is needed - you know enough to be able to make a quick decision and solve the problem, or you use common sense or experience to solve the problem. More complex problems or problems that you have not experienced before will likely require a more systematic and logical approach to solve, and for these you will need to use creative thinking. See our page on Creative Thinking for more information.

Researching Skills. Defining and solving problems often requires you to do some research: this may be a simple Google search or a more rigorous research project. See our Research Methods section for ideas on how to conduct effective research.

Team Working. Many problems are best defined and solved with the input of other people. Team working may sound like a 'work thing' but it is just as important at home and school as well as in the workplace. See our Team-Working page for more.

Emotional Intelligence. It is worth considering the impact that a problem and/or its solution has on you and other people. Emotional intelligence, the ability to recognise the emotions of yourself and others, will help guide you to an appropriate solution. See our Emotional Intelligence pages for more.

Risk Management. Solving a problem involves a certain amount of risk - this risk needs to be weighed up against not solving the problem. You may find our Risk Management page useful.

Decision Making . Problem solving and decision making are closely related skills, and making a decision is an important part of the problem solving process as you will often be faced with various options and alternatives. See Decision Making for more.

The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it is the same problem you had last year.

John Foster Dulles, Former US Secretary of State.

What is a Problem?

The Concise Oxford Dictionary (1995) defines a problem as:

“ A doubtful or difficult matter requiring a solution ”

“ Something hard to understand or accomplish or deal with.”

It is worth also considering our own view of what a problem is.

We are constantly exposed to opportunities in life, at work, at school and at home. However many opportunities are missed or not taken full advantage of. Often we are unsure how to take advantage of an opportunity and create barriers - reasons why we can't take advantage. These barriers can turn a potentially positive situation into a negative one, a problem.

Are we missing the 'big problem'? It is human nature to notice and focus on small, easy to solve problems but much harder to work on the big problems that may be causing some of the smaller ones.

It's useful to consider the following questions when faced with a problem.

Is the problem real or perceived?

Is this problem really an opportunity?

Does the problem need solving?

All problems have two features in common: goals and barriers.

Problems involve setting out to achieve some objective or desired state of affairs and can include avoiding a situation or event.

Goals can be anything that you wish to achieve, or where you want to be. If you are hungry then your goal is probably to eat something. If you are the head of an organisation (CEO), then your main goal may be to maximise profits and this main goal may need to be split into numerous sub-goals in order to fulfil the ultimate aim of increasing profits.

If there were no barriers in the way of achieving a goal, then there would be no problem. Problem solving involves overcoming the barriers or obstacles that prevent the immediate achievement of goals.

Following our examples above, if you feel hungry then your goal is to eat. A barrier to this may be that you have no food available - so you take a trip to the supermarket and buy some food, removing the barrier and thus solving the problem. Of course for the CEO wanting to increase profits there may be many more barriers preventing the goal from being reached. The CEO needs to attempt to recognise these barriers and remove them or find other ways to achieve the goals of the organisation.

Our problem solving pages provide a simple and structured approach to problem solving.

The approach referred to is generally designed for problem solving in an organisation or group context, but can also be easily adapted to work at an individual level at home or in education.

Trying to solve a complex problem alone however can be a mistake. The old adage " A problem shared is a problem halved " is sound advice.

Talking to others about problems is not only therapeutic but can help you see things from a different point of view, opening up more potential solutions.

Stages of Problem Solving

Effective problem solving usually involves working through a number of steps or stages, such as those outlined below.

Problem Identification:

This stage involves: detecting and recognising that there is a problem; identifying the nature of the problem; defining the problem.

The first phase of problem solving may sound obvious but often requires more thought and analysis. Identifying a problem can be a difficult task in itself. Is there a problem at all? What is the nature of the problem, are there in fact numerous problems? How can the problem be best defined? By spending some time defining the problem you will not only understand it more clearly yourself but be able to communicate its nature to others, which leads to the second phase.

Structuring the Problem:

This stage involves: a period of observation, careful inspection, fact-finding and developing a clear picture of the problem.

Following on from problem identification, structuring the problem is all about gaining more information about the problem and increasing understanding. This phase is all about fact finding and analysis, building a more comprehensive picture of both the goal(s) and the barrier(s). This stage may not be necessary for very simple problems but is essential for problems of a more complex nature.

Looking for Possible Solutions:

During this stage you will generate a range of possible courses of action, but with little attempt to evaluate them at this stage.

From the information gathered in the first two phases of the problem solving framework it is now time to start thinking about possible solutions to the identified problem. In a group situation this stage is often carried out as a brain-storming session, letting each person in the group express their views on possible solutions (or part solutions). In organisations different people will have different expertise in different areas and it is useful, therefore, to hear the views of each concerned party.

Making a Decision:

This stage involves careful analysis of the different possible courses of action and then selecting the best solution for implementation.

This is perhaps the most complex part of the problem solving process. Following on from the previous step it is now time to look at each potential solution and carefully analyse it. Some solutions may not be possible, due to other problems like time constraints or budgets. It is important at this stage to also consider what might happen if nothing was done to solve the problem - sometimes trying to solve a problem that leads to many more problems requires some very creative thinking and innovative ideas.

Finally, make a decision on which course of action to take - decision making is an important skill in itself and we recommend that you see our pages on decision making .

Implementation:

This stage involves accepting and carrying out the chosen course of action.

Implementation means acting on the chosen solution. During implementation more problems may arise especially if identification or structuring of the original problem was not carried out fully.

Monitoring/Seeking Feedback:

The last stage is about reviewing the outcomes of problem solving over a period of time, including seeking feedback as to the success of the outcomes of the chosen solution.

The final stage of problem solving is concerned with checking that the process was successful. This can be achieved by monitoring and gaining feedback from people affected by any changes that occurred. It is good practice to keep a record of outcomes and any additional problems that occurred.

Continue to: Identifying and Structuring Problems Social Problem Solving

See also: Project Management Risk Management Effective Decision Making

How to improve your problem solving skills and build effective problem solving strategies

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Effective problem solving is all about using the right process and following a plan tailored to the issue at hand. Recognizing your team or organization has an issue isn’t enough to come up with effective problem solving strategies. 

To truly understand a problem and develop appropriate solutions, you will want to follow a solid process, follow the necessary problem solving steps, and bring all of your problem solving skills to the table.  

We’ll first guide you through the seven step problem solving process you and your team can use to effectively solve complex business challenges. We’ll also look at what problem solving strategies you can employ with your team when looking for a way to approach the process. We’ll then discuss the problem solving skills you need to be more effective at solving problems, complete with an activity from the SessionLab library you can use to develop that skill in your team.

Let’s get to it! 

What is a problem solving process?

• What are the problem solving steps I need to follow?

Problem solving strategies

What skills do i need to be an effective problem solver, how can i improve my problem solving skills.

Solving problems is like baking a cake. You can go straight into the kitchen without a recipe or the right ingredients and do your best, but the end result is unlikely to be very tasty!

Using a process to bake a cake allows you to use the best ingredients without waste, collect the right tools, account for allergies, decide whether it is a birthday or wedding cake, and then bake efficiently and on time. The result is a better cake that is fit for purpose, tastes better and has created less mess in the kitchen. Also, it should have chocolate sprinkles. Having a step by step process to solve organizational problems allows you to go through each stage methodically and ensure you are trying to solve the right problems and select the most appropriate, effective solutions.

What are the problem solving steps I need to follow? 

All problem solving processes go through a number of steps in order to move from identifying a problem to resolving it.

Depending on your problem solving model and who you ask, there can be anything between four and nine problem solving steps you should follow in order to find the right solution. Whatever framework you and your group use, there are some key items that should be addressed in order to have an effective process.

We’ve looked at problem solving processes from sources such as the American Society for Quality and their four step approach , and Mediate ‘s six step process. By reflecting on those and our own problem solving processes, we’ve come up with a sequence of seven problem solving steps we feel best covers everything you need in order to effectively solve problems.

1. Problem identification 

The first stage of any problem solving process is to identify the problem or problems you might want to solve. Effective problem solving strategies always begin by allowing a group scope to articulate what they believe the problem to be and then coming to some consensus over which problem they approach first. Problem solving activities used at this stage often have a focus on creating frank, open discussion so that potential problems can be brought to the surface.

2. Problem analysis 

Though this step is not a million miles from problem identification, problem analysis deserves to be considered separately. It can often be an overlooked part of the process and is instrumental when it comes to developing effective solutions.

The process of problem analysis means ensuring that the problem you are seeking to solve is the right problem . As part of this stage, you may look deeper and try to find the root cause of a specific problem at a team or organizational level.

Remember that problem solving strategies should not only be focused on putting out fires in the short term but developing long term solutions that deal with the root cause of organizational challenges. 

Whatever your approach, analyzing a problem is crucial in being able to select an appropriate solution and the problem solving skills deployed in this stage are beneficial for the rest of the process and ensuring the solutions you create are fit for purpose.

3. Solution generation

Once your group has nailed down the particulars of the problem you wish to solve, you want to encourage a free flow of ideas connecting to solving that problem. This can take the form of problem solving games that encourage creative thinking or problem solving activities designed to produce working prototypes of possible solutions. 

The key to ensuring the success of this stage of the problem solving process is to encourage quick, creative thinking and create an open space where all ideas are considered. The best solutions can come from unlikely places and by using problem solving techniques that celebrate invention, you might come up with solution gold. 

4. Solution development

No solution is likely to be perfect right out of the gate. It’s important to discuss and develop the solutions your group has come up with over the course of following the previous problem solving steps in order to arrive at the best possible solution. Problem solving games used in this stage involve lots of critical thinking, measuring potential effort and impact, and looking at possible solutions analytically. 

During this stage, you will often ask your team to iterate and improve upon your frontrunning solutions and develop them further. Remember that problem solving strategies always benefit from a multitude of voices and opinions, and not to let ego get involved when it comes to choosing which solutions to develop and take further.

Finding the best solution is the goal of all problem solving workshops and here is the place to ensure that your solution is well thought out, sufficiently robust and fit for purpose. 

5. Decision making 

Nearly there! Once your group has reached consensus and selected a solution that applies to the problem at hand you have some decisions to make. You will want to work on allocating ownership of the project, figure out who will do what, how the success of the solution will be measured and decide the next course of action.

The decision making stage is a part of the problem solving process that can get missed or taken as for granted. Fail to properly allocate roles and plan out how a solution will actually be implemented and it less likely to be successful in solving the problem.

Have clear accountabilities, actions, timeframes, and follow-ups. Make these decisions and set clear next-steps in the problem solving workshop so that everyone is aligned and you can move forward effectively as a group. 

Ensuring that you plan for the roll-out of a solution is one of the most important problem solving steps. Without adequate planning or oversight, it can prove impossible to measure success or iterate further if the problem was not solved. 

6. Solution implementation 

This is what we were waiting for! All problem solving strategies have the end goal of implementing a solution and solving a problem in mind. 

Remember that in order for any solution to be successful, you need to help your group through all of the previous problem solving steps thoughtfully. Only then can you ensure that you are solving the right problem but also that you have developed the correct solution and can then successfully implement and measure the impact of that solution.

Project management and communication skills are key here – your solution may need to adjust when out in the wild or you might discover new challenges along the way.

7. Solution evaluation 

So you and your team developed a great solution to a problem and have a gut feeling its been solved. Work done, right? Wrong. All problem solving strategies benefit from evaluation, consideration, and feedback. You might find that the solution does not work for everyone, might create new problems, or is potentially so successful that you will want to roll it out to larger teams or as part of other initiatives. 

None of that is possible without taking the time to evaluate the success of the solution you developed in your problem solving model and adjust if necessary.

Remember that the problem solving process is often iterative and it can be common to not solve complex issues on the first try. Even when this is the case, you and your team will have generated learning that will be important for future problem solving workshops or in other parts of the organization. 

It’s worth underlining how important record keeping is throughout the problem solving process. If a solution didn’t work, you need to have the data and records to see why that was the case. If you go back to the drawing board, notes from the previous workshop can help save time. Data and insight is invaluable at every stage of the problem solving process and this one is no different.

Problem solving workshops made easy

Problem solving strategies are methods of approaching and facilitating the process of problem-solving with a set of techniques , actions, and processes. Different strategies are more effective if you are trying to solve broad problems such as achieving higher growth versus more focused problems like, how do we improve our customer onboarding process?

Broadly, the problem solving steps outlined above should be included in any problem solving strategy though choosing where to focus your time and what approaches should be taken is where they begin to differ. You might find that some strategies ask for the problem identification to be done prior to the session or that everything happens in the course of a one day workshop.

The key similarity is that all good problem solving strategies are structured and designed. Four hours of open discussion is never going to be as productive as a four-hour workshop designed to lead a group through a problem solving process.

Good problem solving strategies are tailored to the team, organization and problem you will be attempting to solve. Here are some example problem solving strategies you can learn from or use to get started.

Use a workshop to lead a team through a group process

Often, the first step to solving problems or organizational challenges is bringing a group together effectively. Most teams have the tools, knowledge, and expertise necessary to solve their challenges – they just need some guidance in how to use leverage those skills and a structure and format that allows people to focus their energies.

Facilitated workshops are one of the most effective ways of solving problems of any scale. By designing and planning your workshop carefully, you can tailor the approach and scope to best fit the needs of your team and organization. 

Problem solving workshop

• Creating a bespoke, tailored process
• Tackling problems of any size
• Building in-house workshop ability and encouraging their use

Workshops are an effective strategy for solving problems. By using tried and test facilitation techniques and methods, you can design and deliver a workshop that is perfectly suited to the unique variables of your organization. You may only have the capacity for a half-day workshop and so need a problem solving process to match. 

By using our session planner tool and importing methods from our library of 700+ facilitation techniques, you can create the right problem solving workshop for your team. It might be that you want to encourage creative thinking or look at things from a new angle to unblock your groups approach to problem solving. By tailoring your workshop design to the purpose, you can help ensure great results.

One of the main benefits of a workshop is the structured approach to problem solving. Not only does this mean that the workshop itself will be successful, but many of the methods and techniques will help your team improve their working processes outside of the workshop. 

We believe that workshops are one of the best tools you can use to improve the way your team works together. Start with a problem solving workshop and then see what team building, culture or design workshops can do for your organization!

Run a design sprint

Great for: 

• aligning large, multi-discipline teams
• quickly designing and testing solutions
• tackling large, complex organizational challenges and breaking them down into smaller tasks

By using design thinking principles and methods, a design sprint is a great way of identifying, prioritizing and prototyping solutions to long term challenges that can help solve major organizational problems with quick action and measurable results.

Some familiarity with design thinking is useful, though not integral, and this strategy can really help a team align if there is some discussion around which problems should be approached first. 

The stage-based structure of the design sprint is also very useful for teams new to design thinking.  The inspiration phase, where you look to competitors that have solved your problem, and the rapid prototyping and testing phases are great for introducing new concepts that will benefit a team in all their future work. 

It can be common for teams to look inward for solutions and so looking to the market for solutions you can iterate on can be very productive. Instilling an agile prototyping and testing mindset can also be great when helping teams move forwards – generating and testing solutions quickly can help save time in the long run and is also pretty exciting!

Break problems down into smaller issues

Organizational challenges and problems are often complicated and large scale in nature. Sometimes, trying to resolve such an issue in one swoop is simply unachievable or overwhelming. Try breaking down such problems into smaller issues that you can work on step by step. You may not be able to solve the problem of churning customers off the bat, but you can work with your team to identify smaller effort but high impact elements and work on those first.

This problem solving strategy can help a team generate momentum, prioritize and get some easy wins. It’s also a great strategy to employ with teams who are just beginning to learn how to approach the problem solving process. If you want some insight into a way to employ this strategy, we recommend looking at our design sprint template below!

Use guiding frameworks or try new methodologies

Some problems are best solved by introducing a major shift in perspective or by using new methodologies that encourage your team to think differently.

Props and tools such as Methodkit , which uses a card-based toolkit for facilitation, or Lego Serious Play can be great ways to engage your team and find an inclusive, democratic problem solving strategy. Remember that play and creativity are great tools for achieving change and whatever the challenge, engaging your participants can be very effective where other strategies may have failed.

LEGO Serious Play

• Improving core problem solving skills
• Thinking outside of the box
• Encouraging creative solutions

LEGO Serious Play is a problem solving methodology designed to get participants thinking differently by using 3D models and kinesthetic learning styles. By physically building LEGO models based on questions and exercises, participants are encouraged to think outside of the box and create their own responses. 

Collaborate LEGO Serious Play exercises are also used to encourage communication and build problem solving skills in a group. By using this problem solving process, you can often help different kinds of learners and personality types contribute and unblock organizational problems with creative thinking. 

Problem solving strategies like LEGO Serious Play are super effective at helping a team solve more skills-based problems such as communication between teams or a lack of creative thinking. Some problems are not suited to LEGO Serious Play and require a different problem solving strategy.

Card Decks and Method Kits

• New facilitators or non-facilitators 
• Approaching difficult subjects with a simple, creative framework
• Engaging those with varied learning styles

Card decks and method kids are great tools for those new to facilitation or for whom facilitation is not the primary role. Card decks such as the emotional culture deck can be used for complete workshops and in many cases, can be used right out of the box. Methodkit has a variety of kits designed for scenarios ranging from personal development through to personas and global challenges so you can find the right deck for your particular needs.

Having an easy to use framework that encourages creativity or a new approach can take some of the friction or planning difficulties out of the workshop process and energize a team in any setting. Simplicity is the key with these methods. By ensuring everyone on your team can get involved and engage with the process as quickly as possible can really contribute to the success of your problem solving strategy.

Source external advice

Looking to peers, experts and external facilitators can be a great way of approaching the problem solving process. Your team may not have the necessary expertise, insights of experience to tackle some issues, or you might simply benefit from a fresh perspective. Some problems may require bringing together an entire team, and coaching managers or team members individually might be the right approach. Remember that not all problems are best resolved in the same manner.

If you’re a solo entrepreneur, peer groups, coaches and mentors can also be invaluable at not only solving specific business problems, but in providing a support network for resolving future challenges. One great approach is to join a Mastermind Group and link up with like-minded individuals and all grow together. Remember that however you approach the sourcing of external advice, do so thoughtfully, respectfully and honestly. Reciprocate where you can and prepare to be surprised by just how kind and helpful your peers can be!

Mastermind Group

• Solo entrepreneurs or small teams with low capacity
• Peer learning and gaining outside expertise
• Getting multiple external points of view quickly

Problem solving in large organizations with lots of skilled team members is one thing, but how about if you work for yourself or in a very small team without the capacity to get the most from a design sprint or LEGO Serious Play session? 

A mastermind group – sometimes known as a peer advisory board – is where a group of people come together to support one another in their own goals, challenges, and businesses. Each participant comes to the group with their own purpose and the other members of the group will help them create solutions, brainstorm ideas, and support one another. 

Mastermind groups are very effective in creating an energized, supportive atmosphere that can deliver meaningful results. Learning from peers from outside of your organization or industry can really help unlock new ways of thinking and drive growth. Access to the experience and skills of your peers can be invaluable in helping fill the gaps in your own ability, particularly in young companies.

A mastermind group is a great solution for solo entrepreneurs, small teams, or for organizations that feel that external expertise or fresh perspectives will be beneficial for them. It is worth noting that Mastermind groups are often only as good as the participants and what they can bring to the group. Participants need to be committed, engaged and understand how to work in this context. 

Coaching and mentoring

• Focused learning and development
• Filling skills gaps
• Working on a range of challenges over time

Receiving advice from a business coach or building a mentor/mentee relationship can be an effective way of resolving certain challenges. The one-to-one format of most coaching and mentor relationships can really help solve the challenges those individuals are having and benefit the organization as a result.

A great mentor can be invaluable when it comes to spotting potential problems before they arise and coming to understand a mentee very well has a host of other business benefits. You might run an internal mentorship program to help develop your team’s problem solving skills and strategies or as part of a large learning and development program. External coaches can also be an important part of your problem solving strategy, filling skills gaps for your management team or helping with specific business issues. 

Now we’ve explored the problem solving process and the steps you will want to go through in order to have an effective session, let’s look at the skills you and your team need to be more effective problem solvers.

Problem solving skills are highly sought after, whatever industry or team you work in. Organizations are keen to employ people who are able to approach problems thoughtfully and find strong, realistic solutions. Whether you are a facilitator , a team leader or a developer, being an effective problem solver is a skill you’ll want to develop.

Problem solving skills form a whole suite of techniques and approaches that an individual uses to not only identify problems but to discuss them productively before then developing appropriate solutions.

Here are some of the most important problem solving skills everyone from executives to junior staff members should learn. We’ve also included an activity or exercise from the SessionLab library that can help you and your team develop that skill. 

If you’re running a workshop or training session to try and improve problem solving skills in your team, try using these methods to supercharge your process!

Active listening

Active listening is one of the most important skills anyone who works with people can possess. In short, active listening is a technique used to not only better understand what is being said by an individual, but also to be more aware of the underlying message the speaker is trying to convey. When it comes to problem solving, active listening is integral for understanding the position of every participant and to clarify the challenges, ideas and solutions they bring to the table.

Some active listening skills include:

• Paying complete attention to the speaker.
• Removing distractions.
• Avoid interruption.
• Taking the time to fully understand before preparing a rebuttal.
• Responding respectfully and appropriately.
• Demonstrate attentiveness and positivity with an open posture, making eye contact with the speaker, smiling and nodding if appropriate. Show that you are listening and encourage them to continue.
• Be aware of and respectful of feelings. Judge the situation and respond appropriately. You can disagree without being disrespectful.   
• Observe body language. 
• Paraphrase what was said in your own words, either mentally or verbally.
• Remain neutral. 
• Reflect and take a moment before responding.
• Ask deeper questions based on what is said and clarify points where necessary.   

Active Listening   #hyperisland   #skills   #active listening   #remote-friendly   This activity supports participants to reflect on a question and generate their own solutions using simple principles of active listening and peer coaching. It’s an excellent introduction to active listening but can also be used with groups that are already familiar with it. Participants work in groups of three and take turns being: “the subject”, the listener, and the observer.

Analytical skills

All problem solving models require strong analytical skills, particularly during the beginning of the process and when it comes to analyzing how solutions have performed.

Analytical skills are primarily focused on performing an effective analysis by collecting, studying and parsing data related to a problem or opportunity. 

It often involves spotting patterns, being able to see things from different perspectives and using observable facts and data to make suggestions or produce insight. 

Analytical skills are also important at every stage of the problem solving process and by having these skills, you can ensure that any ideas or solutions you create or backed up analytically and have been sufficiently thought out.

Nine Whys   #innovation   #issue analysis   #liberating structures   With breathtaking simplicity, you can rapidly clarify for individuals and a group what is essentially important in their work. You can quickly reveal when a compelling purpose is missing in a gathering and avoid moving forward without clarity. When a group discovers an unambiguous shared purpose, more freedom and more responsibility are unleashed. You have laid the foundation for spreading and scaling innovations with fidelity.

Collaboration

Trying to solve problems on your own is difficult. Being able to collaborate effectively, with a free exchange of ideas, to delegate and be a productive member of a team is hugely important to all problem solving strategies.

Remember that whatever your role, collaboration is integral, and in a problem solving process, you are all working together to find the best solution for everyone. 

Marshmallow challenge with debriefing   #teamwork   #team   #leadership   #collaboration   In eighteen minutes, teams must build the tallest free-standing structure out of 20 sticks of spaghetti, one yard of tape, one yard of string, and one marshmallow. The marshmallow needs to be on top. The Marshmallow Challenge was developed by Tom Wujec, who has done the activity with hundreds of groups around the world. Visit the Marshmallow Challenge website for more information. This version has an extra debriefing question added with sample questions focusing on roles within the team.

Communication  

Being an effective communicator means being empathetic, clear and succinct, asking the right questions, and demonstrating active listening skills throughout any discussion or meeting. 

In a problem solving setting, you need to communicate well in order to progress through each stage of the process effectively. As a team leader, it may also fall to you to facilitate communication between parties who may not see eye to eye. Effective communication also means helping others to express themselves and be heard in a group.

Bus Trip   #feedback   #communication   #appreciation   #closing   #thiagi   #team   This is one of my favourite feedback games. I use Bus Trip at the end of a training session or a meeting, and I use it all the time. The game creates a massive amount of energy with lots of smiles, laughs, and sometimes even a teardrop or two.

Creative problem solving skills can be some of the best tools in your arsenal. Thinking creatively, being able to generate lots of ideas and come up with out of the box solutions is useful at every step of the process. 

The kinds of problems you will likely discuss in a problem solving workshop are often difficult to solve, and by approaching things in a fresh, creative manner, you can often create more innovative solutions.

Having practical creative skills is also a boon when it comes to problem solving. If you can help create quality design sketches and prototypes in record time, it can help bring a team to alignment more quickly or provide a base for further iteration.

The paper clip method   #sharing   #creativity   #warm up   #idea generation   #brainstorming   The power of brainstorming. A training for project leaders, creativity training, and to catalyse getting new solutions.

Critical thinking

Critical thinking is one of the fundamental problem solving skills you’ll want to develop when working on developing solutions. Critical thinking is the ability to analyze, rationalize and evaluate while being aware of personal bias, outlying factors and remaining open-minded.

Defining and analyzing problems without deploying critical thinking skills can mean you and your team go down the wrong path. Developing solutions to complex issues requires critical thinking too – ensuring your team considers all possibilities and rationally evaluating them. 

Agreement-Certainty Matrix   #issue analysis   #liberating structures   #problem solving   You can help individuals or groups avoid the frequent mistake of trying to solve a problem with methods that are not adapted to the nature of their challenge. The combination of two questions makes it possible to easily sort challenges into four categories: simple, complicated, complex , and chaotic .  A problem is simple when it can be solved reliably with practices that are easy to duplicate.  It is complicated when experts are required to devise a sophisticated solution that will yield the desired results predictably.  A problem is complex when there are several valid ways to proceed but outcomes are not predictable in detail.  Chaotic is when the context is too turbulent to identify a path forward.  A loose analogy may be used to describe these differences: simple is like following a recipe, complicated like sending a rocket to the moon, complex like raising a child, and chaotic is like the game “Pin the Tail on the Donkey.”  The Liberating Structures Matching Matrix in Chapter 5 can be used as the first step to clarify the nature of a challenge and avoid the mismatches between problems and solutions that are frequently at the root of chronic, recurring problems.

Data analysis 

Though it shares lots of space with general analytical skills, data analysis skills are something you want to cultivate in their own right in order to be an effective problem solver.

Being good at data analysis doesn’t just mean being able to find insights from data, but also selecting the appropriate data for a given issue, interpreting it effectively and knowing how to model and present that data. Depending on the problem at hand, it might also include a working knowledge of specific data analysis tools and procedures. 

Having a solid grasp of data analysis techniques is useful if you’re leading a problem solving workshop but if you’re not an expert, don’t worry. Bring people into the group who has this skill set and help your team be more effective as a result.

Decision making

All problems need a solution and all solutions require that someone make the decision to implement them. Without strong decision making skills, teams can become bogged down in discussion and less effective as a result. 

Making decisions is a key part of the problem solving process. It’s important to remember that decision making is not restricted to the leadership team. Every staff member makes decisions every day and developing these skills ensures that your team is able to solve problems at any scale. Remember that making decisions does not mean leaping to the first solution but weighing up the options and coming to an informed, well thought out solution to any given problem that works for the whole team.

Lightning Decision Jam (LDJ)   #action   #decision making   #problem solving   #issue analysis   #innovation   #design   #remote-friendly   The problem with anything that requires creative thinking is that it’s easy to get lost—lose focus and fall into the trap of having useless, open-ended, unstructured discussions. Here’s the most effective solution I’ve found: Replace all open, unstructured discussion with a clear process. What to use this exercise for: Anything which requires a group of people to make decisions, solve problems or discuss challenges. It’s always good to frame an LDJ session with a broad topic, here are some examples: The conversion flow of our checkout Our internal design process How we organise events Keeping up with our competition Improving sales flow

Dependability

Most complex organizational problems require multiple people to be involved in delivering the solution. Ensuring that the team and organization can depend on you to take the necessary actions and communicate where necessary is key to ensuring problems are solved effectively.

Being dependable also means working to deadlines and to brief. It is often a matter of creating trust in a team so that everyone can depend on one another to complete the agreed actions in the agreed time frame so that the team can move forward together. Being undependable can create problems of friction and can limit the effectiveness of your solutions so be sure to bear this in mind throughout a project. 

Team Purpose & Culture   #team   #hyperisland   #culture   #remote-friendly   This is an essential process designed to help teams define their purpose (why they exist) and their culture (how they work together to achieve that purpose). Defining these two things will help any team to be more focused and aligned. With support of tangible examples from other companies, the team members work as individuals and a group to codify the way they work together. The goal is a visual manifestation of both the purpose and culture that can be put up in the team’s work space.

Emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence is an important skill for any successful team member, whether communicating internally or with clients or users. In the problem solving process, emotional intelligence means being attuned to how people are feeling and thinking, communicating effectively and being self-aware of what you bring to a room. 

There are often differences of opinion when working through problem solving processes, and it can be easy to let things become impassioned or combative. Developing your emotional intelligence means being empathetic to your colleagues and managing your own emotions throughout the problem and solution process. Be kind, be thoughtful and put your points across care and attention. 

Being emotionally intelligent is a skill for life and by deploying it at work, you can not only work efficiently but empathetically. Check out the emotional culture workshop template for more!

Facilitation

As we’ve clarified in our facilitation skills post, facilitation is the art of leading people through processes towards agreed-upon objectives in a manner that encourages participation, ownership, and creativity by all those involved. While facilitation is a set of interrelated skills in itself, the broad definition of facilitation can be invaluable when it comes to problem solving. Leading a team through a problem solving process is made more effective if you improve and utilize facilitation skills – whether you’re a manager, team leader or external stakeholder.

The Six Thinking Hats   #creative thinking   #meeting facilitation   #problem solving   #issue resolution   #idea generation   #conflict resolution   The Six Thinking Hats are used by individuals and groups to separate out conflicting styles of thinking. They enable and encourage a group of people to think constructively together in exploring and implementing change, rather than using argument to fight over who is right and who is wrong.

Flexibility 

Being flexible is a vital skill when it comes to problem solving. This does not mean immediately bowing to pressure or changing your opinion quickly: instead, being flexible is all about seeing things from new perspectives, receiving new information and factoring it into your thought process.

Flexibility is also important when it comes to rolling out solutions. It might be that other organizational projects have greater priority or require the same resources as your chosen solution. Being flexible means understanding needs and challenges across the team and being open to shifting or arranging your own schedule as necessary. Again, this does not mean immediately making way for other projects. It’s about articulating your own needs, understanding the needs of others and being able to come to a meaningful compromise.

The Creativity Dice   #creativity   #problem solving   #thiagi   #issue analysis   Too much linear thinking is hazardous to creative problem solving. To be creative, you should approach the problem (or the opportunity) from different points of view. You should leave a thought hanging in mid-air and move to another. This skipping around prevents premature closure and lets your brain incubate one line of thought while you consciously pursue another.

Working in any group can lead to unconscious elements of groupthink or situations in which you may not wish to be entirely honest. Disagreeing with the opinions of the executive team or wishing to save the feelings of a coworker can be tricky to navigate, but being honest is absolutely vital when to comes to developing effective solutions and ensuring your voice is heard. 

Remember that being honest does not mean being brutally candid. You can deliver your honest feedback and opinions thoughtfully and without creating friction by using other skills such as emotional intelligence. 

Explore your Values   #hyperisland   #skills   #values   #remote-friendly   Your Values is an exercise for participants to explore what their most important values are. It’s done in an intuitive and rapid way to encourage participants to follow their intuitive feeling rather than over-thinking and finding the “correct” values. It is a good exercise to use to initiate reflection and dialogue around personal values.

Initiative 

The problem solving process is multi-faceted and requires different approaches at certain points of the process. Taking initiative to bring problems to the attention of the team, collect data or lead the solution creating process is always valuable. You might even roadtest your own small scale solutions or brainstorm before a session. Taking initiative is particularly effective if you have good deal of knowledge in that area or have ownership of a particular project and want to get things kickstarted.

That said, be sure to remember to honor the process and work in service of the team. If you are asked to own one part of the problem solving process and you don’t complete that task because your initiative leads you to work on something else, that’s not an effective method of solving business challenges.

15% Solutions   #action   #liberating structures   #remote-friendly   You can reveal the actions, however small, that everyone can do immediately. At a minimum, these will create momentum, and that may make a BIG difference.  15% Solutions show that there is no reason to wait around, feel powerless, or fearful. They help people pick it up a level. They get individuals and the group to focus on what is within their discretion instead of what they cannot change.  With a very simple question, you can flip the conversation to what can be done and find solutions to big problems that are often distributed widely in places not known in advance. Shifting a few grains of sand may trigger a landslide and change the whole landscape.

Impartiality

A particularly useful problem solving skill for product owners or managers is the ability to remain impartial throughout much of the process. In practice, this means treating all points of view and ideas brought forward in a meeting equally and ensuring that your own areas of interest or ownership are not favored over others. 

There may be a stage in the process where a decision maker has to weigh the cost and ROI of possible solutions against the company roadmap though even then, ensuring that the decision made is based on merit and not personal opinion. 

Empathy map   #frame insights   #create   #design   #issue analysis   An empathy map is a tool to help a design team to empathize with the people they are designing for. You can make an empathy map for a group of people or for a persona. To be used after doing personas when more insights are needed.

Being a good leader means getting a team aligned, energized and focused around a common goal. In the problem solving process, strong leadership helps ensure that the process is efficient, that any conflicts are resolved and that a team is managed in the direction of success.

It’s common for managers or executives to assume this role in a problem solving workshop, though it’s important that the leader maintains impartiality and does not bulldoze the group in a particular direction. Remember that good leadership means working in service of the purpose and team and ensuring the workshop is a safe space for employees of any level to contribute. Take a look at our leadership games and activities post for more exercises and methods to help improve leadership in your organization.

Leadership Pizza   #leadership   #team   #remote-friendly   This leadership development activity offers a self-assessment framework for people to first identify what skills, attributes and attitudes they find important for effective leadership, and then assess their own development and initiate goal setting.

In the context of problem solving, mediation is important in keeping a team engaged, happy and free of conflict. When leading or facilitating a problem solving workshop, you are likely to run into differences of opinion. Depending on the nature of the problem, certain issues may be brought up that are emotive in nature. 

Being an effective mediator means helping those people on either side of such a divide are heard, listen to one another and encouraged to find common ground and a resolution. Mediating skills are useful for leaders and managers in many situations and the problem solving process is no different.

Conflict Responses   #hyperisland   #team   #issue resolution   A workshop for a team to reflect on past conflicts, and use them to generate guidelines for effective conflict handling. The workshop uses the Thomas-Killman model of conflict responses to frame a reflective discussion. Use it to open up a discussion around conflict with a team.

Planning 

Solving organizational problems is much more effective when following a process or problem solving model. Planning skills are vital in order to structure, deliver and follow-through on a problem solving workshop and ensure your solutions are intelligently deployed.

Planning skills include the ability to organize tasks and a team, plan and design the process and take into account any potential challenges. Taking the time to plan carefully can save time and frustration later in the process and is valuable for ensuring a team is positioned for success.

3 Action Steps   #hyperisland   #action   #remote-friendly   This is a small-scale strategic planning session that helps groups and individuals to take action toward a desired change. It is often used at the end of a workshop or programme. The group discusses and agrees on a vision, then creates some action steps that will lead them towards that vision. The scope of the challenge is also defined, through discussion of the helpful and harmful factors influencing the group.

Prioritization

As organisations grow, the scale and variation of problems they face multiplies. Your team or is likely to face numerous challenges in different areas and so having the skills to analyze and prioritize becomes very important, particularly for those in leadership roles.

A thorough problem solving process is likely to deliver multiple solutions and you may have several different problems you wish to solve simultaneously. Prioritization is the ability to measure the importance, value, and effectiveness of those possible solutions and choose which to enact and in what order. The process of prioritization is integral in ensuring the biggest challenges are addressed with the most impactful solutions.

Impact and Effort Matrix   #gamestorming   #decision making   #action   #remote-friendly   In this decision-making exercise, possible actions are mapped based on two factors: effort required to implement and potential impact. Categorizing ideas along these lines is a useful technique in decision making, as it obliges contributors to balance and evaluate suggested actions before committing to them.

Project management

Some problem solving skills are utilized in a workshop or ideation phases, while others come in useful when it comes to decision making. Overseeing an entire problem solving process and ensuring its success requires strong project management skills. 

While project management incorporates many of the other skills listed here, it is important to note the distinction of considering all of the factors of a project and managing them successfully. Being able to negotiate with stakeholders, manage tasks, time and people, consider costs and ROI, and tie everything together is massively helpful when going through the problem solving process. 

Record keeping

Working out meaningful solutions to organizational challenges is only one part of the process.  Thoughtfully documenting and keeping records of each problem solving step for future consultation is important in ensuring efficiency and meaningful change. 

For example, some problems may be lower priority than others but can be revisited in the future. If the team has ideated on solutions and found some are not up to the task, record those so you can rule them out and avoiding repeating work. Keeping records of the process also helps you improve and refine your problem solving model next time around!

Personal Kanban   #gamestorming   #action   #agile   #project planning   Personal Kanban is a tool for organizing your work to be more efficient and productive. It is based on agile methods and principles.

Research skills

Conducting research to support both the identification of problems and the development of appropriate solutions is important for an effective process. Knowing where to go to collect research, how to conduct research efficiently, and identifying pieces of research are relevant are all things a good researcher can do well. 

In larger groups, not everyone has to demonstrate this ability in order for a problem solving workshop to be effective. That said, having people with research skills involved in the process, particularly if they have existing area knowledge, can help ensure the solutions that are developed with data that supports their intention. Remember that being able to deliver the results of research efficiently and in a way the team can easily understand is also important. The best data in the world is only as effective as how it is delivered and interpreted.

Customer experience map   #ideation   #concepts   #research   #design   #issue analysis   #remote-friendly   Customer experience mapping is a method of documenting and visualizing the experience a customer has as they use the product or service. It also maps out their responses to their experiences. To be used when there is a solution (even in a conceptual stage) that can be analyzed.

Risk management

Managing risk is an often overlooked part of the problem solving process. Solutions are often developed with the intention of reducing exposure to risk or solving issues that create risk but sometimes, great solutions are more experimental in nature and as such, deploying them needs to be carefully considered. 

Managing risk means acknowledging that there may be risks associated with more out of the box solutions or trying new things, but that this must be measured against the possible benefits and other organizational factors. 

Be informed, get the right data and stakeholders in the room and you can appropriately factor risk into your decision making process. 

Decisions, Decisions…   #communication   #decision making   #thiagi   #action   #issue analysis   When it comes to decision-making, why are some of us more prone to take risks while others are risk-averse? One explanation might be the way the decision and options were presented.  This exercise, based on Kahneman and Tversky’s classic study , illustrates how the framing effect influences our judgement and our ability to make decisions . The participants are divided into two groups. Both groups are presented with the same problem and two alternative programs for solving them. The two programs both have the same consequences but are presented differently. The debriefing discussion examines how the framing of the program impacted the participant’s decision.

Team-building 

No single person is as good at problem solving as a team. Building an effective team and helping them come together around a common purpose is one of the most important problem solving skills, doubly so for leaders. By bringing a team together and helping them work efficiently, you pave the way for team ownership of a problem and the development of effective solutions. 

In a problem solving workshop, it can be tempting to jump right into the deep end, though taking the time to break the ice, energize the team and align them with a game or exercise will pay off over the course of the day.

Remember that you will likely go through the problem solving process multiple times over an organization’s lifespan and building a strong team culture will make future problem solving more effective. It’s also great to work with people you know, trust and have fun with. Working on team building in and out of the problem solving process is a hallmark of successful teams that can work together to solve business problems.

9 Dimensions Team Building Activity   #ice breaker   #teambuilding   #team   #remote-friendly   9 Dimensions is a powerful activity designed to build relationships and trust among team members. There are 2 variations of this icebreaker. The first version is for teams who want to get to know each other better. The second version is for teams who want to explore how they are working together as a team.

Time management 

The problem solving process is designed to lead a team from identifying a problem through to delivering a solution and evaluating its effectiveness. Without effective time management skills or timeboxing of tasks, it can be easy for a team to get bogged down or be inefficient.

By using a problem solving model and carefully designing your workshop, you can allocate time efficiently and trust that the process will deliver the results you need in a good timeframe.

Time management also comes into play when it comes to rolling out solutions, particularly those that are experimental in nature. Having a clear timeframe for implementing and evaluating solutions is vital for ensuring their success and being able to pivot if necessary.

Improving your skills at problem solving is often a career-long pursuit though there are methods you can use to make the learning process more efficient and to supercharge your problem solving skillset.

Remember that the skills you need to be a great problem solver have a large overlap with those skills you need to be effective in any role. Investing time and effort to develop your active listening or critical thinking skills is valuable in any context. Here are 7 ways to improve your problem solving skills.

Share best practices

Remember that your team is an excellent source of skills, wisdom, and techniques and that you should all take advantage of one another where possible. Best practices that one team has for solving problems, conducting research or making decisions should be shared across the organization. If you have in-house staff that have done active listening training or are data analysis pros, have them lead a training session. 

Your team is one of your best resources. Create space and internal processes for the sharing of skills so that you can all grow together. 

Ask for help and attend training

Once you’ve figured out you have a skills gap, the next step is to take action to fill that skills gap. That might be by asking your superior for training or coaching, or liaising with team members with that skill set. You might even attend specialized training for certain skills – active listening or critical thinking, for example, are business-critical skills that are regularly offered as part of a training scheme.

Whatever method you choose, remember that taking action of some description is necessary for growth. Whether that means practicing, getting help, attending training or doing some background reading, taking active steps to improve your skills is the way to go.

Learn a process 

Problem solving can be complicated, particularly when attempting to solve large problems for the first time. Using a problem solving process helps give structure to your problem solving efforts and focus on creating outcomes, rather than worrying about the format. 

Tools such as the seven-step problem solving process above are effective because not only do they feature steps that will help a team solve problems, they also develop skills along the way. Each step asks for people to engage with the process using different skills and in doing so, helps the team learn and grow together. Group processes of varying complexity and purpose can also be found in the SessionLab library of facilitation techniques . Using a tried and tested process and really help ease the learning curve for both those leading such a process, as well as those undergoing the purpose.

Effective teams make decisions about where they should and shouldn’t expend additional effort. By using a problem solving process, you can focus on the things that matter, rather than stumbling towards a solution haphazardly. 

Create a feedback loop

Some skills gaps are more obvious than others. It’s possible that your perception of your active listening skills differs from those of your colleagues. 

It’s valuable to create a system where team members can provide feedback in an ordered and friendly manner so they can all learn from one another. Only by identifying areas of improvement can you then work to improve them. 

Remember that feedback systems require oversight and consideration so that they don’t turn into a place to complain about colleagues. Design the system intelligently so that you encourage the creation of learning opportunities, rather than encouraging people to list their pet peeves.

While practice might not make perfect, it does make the problem solving process easier. If you are having trouble with critical thinking, don’t shy away from doing it. Get involved where you can and stretch those muscles as regularly as possible. 

Problem solving skills come more naturally to some than to others and that’s okay. Take opportunities to get involved and see where you can practice your skills in situations outside of a workshop context. Try collaborating in other circumstances at work or conduct data analysis on your own projects. You can often develop those skills you need for problem solving simply by doing them. Get involved!

Use expert exercises and methods

Learn from the best. Our library of 700+ facilitation techniques is full of activities and methods that help develop the skills you need to be an effective problem solver. Check out our templates to see how to approach problem solving and other organizational challenges in a structured and intelligent manner.

There is no single approach to improving problem solving skills, but by using the techniques employed by others you can learn from their example and develop processes that have seen proven results. 

Try new ways of thinking and change your mindset

Using tried and tested exercises that you know well can help deliver results, but you do run the risk of missing out on the learning opportunities offered by new approaches. As with the problem solving process, changing your mindset can remove blockages and be used to develop your problem solving skills.

Most teams have members with mixed skill sets and specialties. Mix people from different teams and share skills and different points of view. Teach your customer support team how to use design thinking methods or help your developers with conflict resolution techniques. Try switching perspectives with facilitation techniques like Flip It! or by using new problem solving methodologies or models. Give design thinking, liberating structures or lego serious play a try if you want to try a new approach. You will find that framing problems in new ways and using existing skills in new contexts can be hugely useful for personal development and improving your skillset. It’s also a lot of fun to try new things. Give it a go!

Encountering business challenges and needing to find appropriate solutions is not unique to your organization. Lots of very smart people have developed methods, theories and approaches to help develop problem solving skills and create effective solutions. Learn from them!

Books like The Art of Thinking Clearly , Think Smarter, or Thinking Fast, Thinking Slow are great places to start, though it’s also worth looking at blogs related to organizations facing similar problems to yours, or browsing for success stories. Seeing how Dropbox massively increased growth and working backward can help you see the skills or approach you might be lacking to solve that same problem. Learning from others by reading their stories or approaches can be time-consuming but ultimately rewarding.

A tired, distracted mind is not in the best position to learn new skills. It can be tempted to burn the candle at both ends and develop problem solving skills outside of work. Absolutely use your time effectively and take opportunities for self-improvement, though remember that rest is hugely important and that without letting your brain rest, you cannot be at your most effective. 

Creating distance between yourself and the problem you might be facing can also be useful. By letting an idea sit, you can find that a better one presents itself or you can develop it further. Take regular breaks when working and create a space for downtime. Remember that working smarter is preferable to working harder and that self-care is important for any effective learning or improvement process.

Want to design better group processes?

Over to you

Now we’ve explored some of the key problem solving skills and the problem solving steps necessary for an effective process, you’re ready to begin developing more effective solutions and leading problem solving workshops.

Need more inspiration? Check out our post on problem solving activities you can use when guiding a group towards a great solution in your next workshop or meeting. Have questions? Did you have a great problem solving technique you use with your team? Get in touch in the comments below. We’d love to chat!

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Going from a mere idea to a workshop that delivers results for your clients can feel like a daunting task. In this piece, we will shine a light on all the work behind the scenes and help you learn how to plan a workshop from start to finish. On a good day, facilitation can feel like effortless magic, but that is mostly the result of backstage work, foresight, and a lot of careful planning. Read on to learn a step-by-step approach to breaking the process of planning a workshop into small, manageable chunks.  The flow starts with the first meeting with a client to define the purposes of a workshop.…

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Effective online tools are a necessity for smooth and engaging virtual workshops and meetings. But how do you choose the right ones? Do you sometimes feel that the good old pen and paper or MS Office toolkit and email leaves you struggling to stay on top of managing and delivering your workshop? Fortunately, there are plenty of online tools to make your life easier when you need to facilitate a meeting and lead workshops. In this post, we’ll share our favorite online tools you can use to make your job as a facilitator easier. In fact, there are plenty of free online workshop tools and meeting facilitation software you can…

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1.1: Introduction to Problem Solving

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The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics ( http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Practice ) identify eight “Mathematical Practices” — the kinds of expertise that all teachers should try to foster in their students, but they go far beyond any particular piece of mathematics content. They describe what mathematics is really about, and why it is so valuable for students to master. The very first Mathematical Practice is:

Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.

Mathematically proficient students start by explaining to themselves the meaning of a problem and looking for entry points to its solution. They analyze givens, constraints, relationships, and goals. They make conjectures about the form and meaning of the solution and plan a solution pathway rather than simply jumping into a solution attempt. They consider analogous problems, and try special cases and simpler forms of the original problem in order to gain insight into its solution. They monitor and evaluate their progress and change course if necessary.

This chapter will help you develop these very important mathematical skills, so that you will be better prepared to help your future students develop them. Let’s start with solving a problem!

Draw curves connecting A to A, B to B, and C to C. Your curves cannot cross or even touch each other,they cannot cross through any of the lettered boxes, and they cannot go outside the large box or even touch it’s sides.

Think / Pair / Share

After you have worked on the problem on your own for a while, talk through your ideas with a partner (even if you have not solved it).

• What did you try?
• What makes this problem difficult?
• Can you change the problem slightly so that it would be easier to solve?

Problem Solving Strategy 1 (Wishful Thinking).

Do you wish something in the problem was different? Would it then be easier to solve the problem?

For example, what if ABC problem had a picture like this:

Can you solve this case and use it to help you solve the original case? Think about moving the boxes around once the lines are already drawn.

Here is one possible solution.

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• Gerard J. Puccio 2 ,
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• Pamela A. Szalay 2  

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Life and work in the beginning of the twenty-first century has been described as volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. In this fast changing, innovation-driven environment, Creative Problem-Solving has been identified as a fundamental skill for success. In contrast to routine problem-solving, with straightforward and repeatable solution paths, today’s problems are described as being complex and wicked. To generate the possibilities that can effectively address complex problems, individuals need to draw on the highest level of human thought – creativity. Creative Problem-Solving explicitly draws on, and promotes, effective creative thinking. The purpose of this entry is to describe and distinguish Creative Problem-Solving from other forms of problems-solving. Moreover, as Creative Problem-Solving is a deliberate creativity methodology, this chapter also provides a description of the more specific thinking skills that are embodied by the higher-order skill of creative thinking and are explicitly called on in Creative Problem-Solving. Complex problems require complex thinking, and Creative Problem-Solving provides a structured process that allows individuals to more easily and efficiently deploy their creative thinking skills.

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Puccio, G.J., Klarman, B., Szalay, P.A. (2022). Creative Problem-Solving. In: Glăveanu, V.P. (eds) The Palgrave Encyclopedia of the Possible. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90913-0_41

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3 What is Problem Solving?

Chapter table of contents, what is problem solving.

Summary of strategies, problem solving:  an important job skill.

The ability to solve problems is a basic life skill and is essential to our day-to-day lives, at home, at school, and at work. We solve problems every day without really thinking about how we solve them. For example: it’s raining and you need to go to the store. What do you do? There are lots of possible solutions. Take your umbrella and walk. If you don’t want to get wet, you can drive, or take the bus. You might decide to call a friend for a ride, or you might decide to go to the store another day. There is no right way to solve this problem and different people will solve it differently.

what does problem solving look like?

The ability to solve problems is a skill at which you can improve.  So how exactly do you practice problem solving? Learning about different problem solving strategies and when to use them will give you a good start. Problem solving is a process. Most strategies provide steps that help you identify the problem and choose the best solution. There are two basic types of strategies: algorithmic and heuristic.

But what do you do when there is no single solution for your problem? Heuristic methods are general guides used to identify possible solutions. A popular one that is easy to remember is IDEAL [Bransford & Stein [1] ] :

What is the best way to get a peanut out of a tube that cannot be moved? Watch a chimpanzee solve this problem in the video below [Geert Stienissen [2] ].

One tool that can be useful for generating possible solutions is brainstorming . Brainstorming is a technique designed to generate a large number of ideas for the solution to a problem. The goal is to come up with as many ideas as you can, in a fixed amount of time. Although brainstorming is best done in a group, it can be done individually.

In any workplace, communication of problems and issues (especially those that involve safety) is always important. This is especially crucial in manufacturing where people are constantly working with heavy, costly, and sometimes dangerous equipment. When issues and problems arise, it is important that they be addressed in an efficient and timely manner.  Because it can prevent problems from recurring, avoid injury to personnel, reduce rework and scrap, and ultimately, reduce cost and save money; effective communication is an important tool..

One strategy for improving communication is the huddle . Just like football players on the field, a huddle is a short meeting with everyone standing in a circle.   It's always important that team members are aware of how their work impacts one another.  A daily team huddle is a great way to ensure that as well as making team members aware of changes to the schedule or any problems or safety issues that have been identified. When done right, huddles create collaboration, communication, and accountability to results. Impromptu huddles can be used to gather information on a specific issue and get each team member's input.

Problem solving improves efficiency and communication on the shop floor. It increases a company's efficiency and profitability, so it's one of the top skills employers look for when hiring new employees.  Employers consider professional skills, such as problem solving, as critical to their business’s success.

The 2011 survey, "Boiling Point? The skills gap in U.S. manufacturing [3] ," polled over a thousand manufacturing executives who reported that the number one skill deficiency among their current employees is problem solving, which makes it difficult for their companies to adapt to the changing needs of the industry.

• Bransford, J. & Stein, B.S. (). The Ideal Problem Solver: A Guide For Improving Thinking, Learning, And Creativity . New York, NY: W.H. Freeman. ↵
• National Geographic. [Geert Stienissen]. (2010, August 19). Insight learning: Chimpanzee Problem Solving [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPz6uvIbWZE ↵
• Report: Boiling Point: The Skills Gap in U.S. Manufacturing Deloitte / The Manufacturing Institute, October 2011. Retrieved from http://www.themanufacturinginstitute.org/Hidden/2011-Skills-Gap-Report/2011-Skills-Gap-Report.aspx ↵

Introduction to Industrial Engineering Copyright © 2020 by Bonnie Boardman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Today's employers look for the following skills in new employees: to analyze a problem logically, formulate a solution, and effectively communicate with others. In this video, industry professionals share their own problem solving processes, the problem solving expectations of their employees, and an example of how a problem was solved.

1. Define the problem. Diagnose the situation so that your focus is on the problem, not just its symptoms. Helpful problem-solving techniques include using flowcharts to identify the expected steps of a process and cause-and-effect diagrams to define and analyze root causes.. The sections below help explain key problem-solving steps.

As you can see, problem solving plays a pivotal role in software engineering. Far from being an occasional requirement, it is the lifeblood that drives development forward, catalyzes innovation, and delivers of quality software. By leveraging problem-solving techniques, software engineers employ a powerful suite of strategies to overcome ...

An Introduction to Problem Solving: Understanding the Basics. January 24, 2024. In today's fast-paced and complex world, the ability to solve problems is an essential skill that can greatly impact our personal and professional lives. Whether it's finding a solution to a technical issue or resolving a conflict with a colleague, problem ...

The first step in solving a problem is understanding what that problem actually is. You need to be sure that you're dealing with the real problem - not its symptoms. For example, if performance in your department is substandard, you might think that the problem lies with the individuals submitting work. However, if you look a bit deeper, the ...

6. Discovery & Action Dialogue (DAD) One of the best approaches is to create a safe space for a group to share and discover practices and behaviors that can help them find their own solutions. With DAD, you can help a group choose which problems they wish to solve and which approaches they will take to do so.

Problem-solving is a mental process that involves discovering, analyzing, and solving problems. The ultimate goal of problem-solving is to overcome obstacles and find a solution that best resolves the issue. The best strategy for solving a problem depends largely on the unique situation. In some cases, people are better off learning everything ...

How to Improve Your Problem-Solving Skills . In the end, if your goal is to become a better problem-solver, it's helpful to remember that this is a process. ... Evans AM, Zeelenberg M. Supervised machine learning methods in psychology: A practical introduction with annotated R code. Soc Personal Psychol Compass. 2021;15(2):e12579. doi:10.1111 ...

Defer or suspend judgement. Focus on "Yes, and…" rather than "No, but…". According to Carella, "Creative problem solving is the mental process used for generating innovative and imaginative ideas as a solution to a problem or a challenge. Creative problem solving techniques can be pursued by individuals or groups.".

There are 4 modules in this course. Problem-solving and effective decision-making are essential skills in today's fast-paced and ever-changing workplace. Both require a systematic yet creative approach to address today's business concerns. This course will teach an overarching process of how to identify problems to generate potential ...

Decision Making. Problem solving and decision making are closely related skills, and making a decision is an important part of the problem solving process as you will often be faced with various options and alternatives. See Decision Making for more. The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it is ...

Recognise and apply creative problem solving techniques 5. Identify the use of creativity within and types of problems most common to your field 6. Apply learnt problem solving and creative ideation skills to a real-life context and reflect on personal learning processes ... Introduction to Problem-Solving Skills for University Success.

6. Solution implementation. This is what we were waiting for! All problem solving strategies have the end goal of implementing a solution and solving a problem in mind. Remember that in order for any solution to be successful, you need to help your group through all of the previous problem solving steps thoughtfully.

To discuss the art of problem solving, I sat down in California with McKinsey senior partner Hugo Sarrazin and also with Charles Conn. Charles is a former McKinsey partner, entrepreneur, executive, and coauthor of the book Bulletproof Problem Solving: The One Skill That Changes Everything [John Wiley & Sons, 2018].

The McKinsey guide to problem solving. Become a better problem solver with insights and advice from leaders around the world on topics including developing a problem-solving mindset, solving problems in uncertain times, problem solving with AI, and much more.

can use problem solving to teach the skills of mathematics, and how prob-lem solving should be presented to their students. They must understand that problem solving can be thought of in three different ways: 1. Problem solving is a subject for study in and of itself. 2. Problem solving is an approach to a particular problem. 3.

The very first Mathematical Practice is: Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them. Mathematically proficient students start by explaining to themselves the meaning of a problem and looking for entry points to its solution. They analyze givens, constraints, relationships, and goals. They make conjectures about the form and meaning of ...

The following four phases can be identified in the process of solving problems: (1) Understanding the problem (see below) (2) Making a plan of solution (see below) (3) Carrying out the plan. (4) Looking back i.e. verifying. Each of the first two phases is going to be explained below a little more in detail.

Problem-solving processes incorporate stages, strategies, tactics, methods, and techniques to navigate a problem space. The solution path is the series of steps that move the problem-solver from the "the initial state (the given situation/the given problem) to the goal state (the desired situation/the solution)" (Stokes 2013 , p. 247).

solving problems. This chapter provides an introduction to the process of problem solving. The techniques that you learn in this chapter should help you to become a better problem solver and should show you how to help others develop their problem-solving skills. A famous mathematician, George Pólya, devoted much of his teaching to helping

one simple model of problem-solving. starting from concepts. continuing with tools and techniques. discussing barriers to efficient problem-solving and. ending with problem-solving skills and competencies development. Introduction to Problem Solving is included in a larger course on problem-solving and decision-making strategy as an ...

Although problem-solving is a skill in its own right, a subset of seven skills can help make the process of problem-solving easier. These include analysis, communication, emotional intelligence, resilience, creativity, adaptability, and teamwork. 1. Analysis. As a manager, you'll solve each problem by assessing the situation first.

Problem solving improves efficiency and communication on the shop floor. It increases a company's efficiency and profitability, so it's one of the top skills employers look for when hiring new employees. Employers consider professional skills, such as problem solving, as critical to their business's success.

• business plan
• course work
• research paper

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Esse qanday yoziladi? Esse yozish qoidalari

Esse qanday yoziladi, esse yozish qoidalari bilan batafsil tanishing.

To'g'ri insho mavzusini tanlash bo'yicha qo'llanma

To'g'ri insho mavzusini tanlash juda muhim, u sizning maqolangizning diqqat markazini va maqsadini boshqaradigan qo'llanma bo'lib xizmat qiladi. Inshoning sifati ko'pincha uning mavzusidan kelib chiqadi; Mavzu noto'g'ri tushunilsa yoki yozuvchiga mos kelmasa, mazmuni unchalik kuchli bo'lmasligi mumkin. Xo'sh, insho mavzusini haqiqatan ham nima ishonchli qiladi? Ushbu qo'llanmada biz boy mavzuni aniqlash, muhokama qilish usullari va turli insho turlaridan misollar, masalan, ishontirish, diskursiv va argumentativ insholar kabi nuanslarni ko'rib chiqamiz.

Insho mavzusining ahamiyatini tushunish

Insho mavzusi sizning maqolangizning asosiy mavzusini belgilaydi. U o‘quvchiga mazmunni ko‘zdan kechirish imkonini beradi va keyingi muhokama uchun zamin yaratadi. Buni yaxshiroq tushunish uchun quyidagi jihatlar haqida o'ylang:

• Inshoning asosi . Mavzu inshoning asosidir. Agar siz noto'g'ri mavzuni tanlasangiz, hatto yaxshi yozish ham yordam bermaydi.
• Yo'naltiruvchi yorug'lik . U kompas vazifasini bajaradi, tarkibingizning tavsifi, argumentatsiyasi va yo'nalishini boshqaradi, uyg'unlik va birlikni kafolatlaydi.
• Ishtirok etish vositasi . Maftunkor mavzu boshidanoq o'quvchilarni qiziqtirishi va ilhomlantirishi mumkin, bu ularni keyingi o'qishga majbur qiladi.
• Chuqurlikning aks etishi . Mavzuingizning chuqurligi va nozikligi tadqiqot qobiliyatingizni, tanqidiy fikrlashni va mavzuni tushunishingizni namoyish qilishi mumkin.
• Ohangni sozlash . Mavzuga qarab, u butun insho uchun ohangni (rasmiy, tasodifiy, argumentativ yoki diskursiv) o'rnatishi va o'quvchilarning sizning tarkibingizni qanday qabul qilishi va tushunishiga ta'sir qilishi mumkin.

Uning asosiy rolini hisobga olgan holda, to'g'ri insho mavzusini tanlash nafaqat boshlang'ich nuqta, balki natijaga sezilarli ta'sir ko'rsatadigan hal qiluvchi qarordir. inshoning samaradorligi .

Ideal insho mavzusini tanlash

Inshoni boshlash to'g'ri mavzuni tanlashni anglatadi, bu sizning qog'ozingiz qanchalik yaxshi chiqishini aniqlay oladi. Nima yozish haqida o'ylayotganingizda, mavzuingiz siz aytmoqchi bo'lgan narsaga mos kelishi va o'quvchi e'tiborini jalb qilishi uchun bir nechta narsalar haqida o'ylash muhimdir. Ushbu savollarni yodda tuting:

• Menda bu mavzuga haqiqiy qiziqish bormi? Mavzuga bo'lgan ishtiyoq o'quvchining qiziqishini uyg'otadigan yanada qiziqarli inshoga olib kelishi mumkin.
• Men bu mavzudan xabardormanmi? Siz tanlagan mavzu bilan tanish bo'lsangiz, yozish jarayonini yumshoqroq qilish va sizning dalillaringizga ishonchni oshirish mumkin.
• Mavzu etarlicha kengmi yoki tormi? Juda keng mavzu chuqur o'rganishni qiyinlashtirishi mumkin, juda tor mavzu esa muhokama qilish uchun ko'p narsa yoki uni qo'llab-quvvatlash uchun etarli ma'lumotga ega bo'lmasligi mumkin.
• Ushbu mavzu keng ko'lamda o'rganilganmi? Muhim birlamchi tadqiqotlar bilan mavzuni tanlash sizga inshoni qo'llab-quvvatlash uchun mustahkam asos va asosli havolalar berishi mumkin.
• Bu tengdoshlar orasida keng tarqalgan tanlovmi? Mashhur mavzular umumiy qiziqish uyg'otsa-da, ular o'ziga xoslik va yangi tushunchalar bilan bog'liq qiyinchiliklarni keltirib chiqarishi mumkin. O'quvchini xursand qilish uchun ovoz balandligingiz noyob ekanligiga ishonch hosil qiling.

Insho mavzusini tanlash strategiyalari

To'g'ri insho mavzusini tanlash poyga uchun eng yaxshi boshlang'ich chiziqni tanlashga o'xshaydi. Bu sizning yozish sayohatingizning qolgan qismi qanchalik silliq va qiziqarli bo'lishini aniqlashga yordam beradi. Eng yaxshi mavzular siz yozishingiz so'ralgan narsaga mos keladi va sizga yoqadigan narsalarga mos keladi. Bu esa yozishni ish kabi emas, ko'proq qiziqarli qiladi. Bu mukammal insho mavzusini tanlashga yordam beradigan ba'zi maslahatlar:

• Miya bo'roni. Buni kichik aqliy hujum sifatida tasavvur qiling. Qog'ozni oling va xayolingizga kelgan g'oyalarni yozishni boshlang. Ulanishlarni chizing, ro'yxat tuzing yoki hatto doodle qiling. Hammasi o‘sha ijodiy shiralar oqimini olishda.
• Oldingi tadqiqotlar bilan tanishing. Boshqalar allaqachon o'rgangan narsalarni tezda ko'rib chiqish sizga g'oyalarning oltin konini berishi mumkin. Bu sizga qiziqarli maslahatlarni topishga yoki hali ko'p o'rganilmagan narsalarni ko'rishga yordam beradi.
• O'qituvchingiz bilan maslahatlashing. Ularni shaxsiy mavzu bo'yicha qo'llanma sifatida tasavvur qiling. Ular minglab insholarni ko'rgan va sizni to'g'ri yo'nalishga ko'rsatishga yordam beradi, g'oyalarni taklif qiladi yoki siz o'ylagan narsani siqib chiqarishga yordam beradi.
• O'tgan darslarga qarang. Sinfdagi sizga yoqqan yoki oson topilgan mavzuni eslaysizmi? Ehtimol, u erda insho g'oyasi yashiringandir. Sizning oldingi tadqiqotlaringiz insho mavzularining xazinasi bo'lishi mumkin.

Mavzu bo'yicha qaror qabul qilganingizdan va inshoni tuzganingizdan so'ng, yozishingiz aniq, ixcham va xatolarsiz bo'lishiga ishonch hosil qilishingiz kerak. Bu joy bizning platformamiz keladi. Bizning professionalimiz bilan tuzatish xizmati , siz akademik yozishning eng yuqori standartlariga javob berish uchun inshoingizni takomillashtirishingiz mumkin. Bizning professionallar jamoasi g'oyalaringiz samarali tarzda yetkazilishini ta'minlab, ishingizning ravshanligi va o'qilishini yaxshilashga yordam beradi. Sizdan va insho yozish jarayonini oshirishga qanday yordam berishimizni bilish uchun bugun bizning xizmatlarimizni sinab ko'ring.

Insho uchun turli mavzularni ko'rib chiqayotganda, g'oyalarni taqdim etish va o'rganishga o'ziga xos yondashuvni taklif qiluvchi diskursiv insholar sohasini o'rganishga arziydi.

Diskursiv insho mavzulari

Diskursiv insho mavzu bo'yicha ochiq suhbatga o'xshaydi. O'quvchini bir narsaga ishontirish o'rniga, siz turli xil fikrlarni bayon etasiz va ularga butun rasmni ko'rishga imkon berasiz.

Mana, bunday inshoning ajoyib tomoni:

• Turli fikrlar. Turli tomonlarni o'rganayotganingiz uchun siz turli xil fikrlarga sho'ng'ishingiz mumkin, hatto siz rozi bo'lmasligingiz mumkin. Bu muammoni chinakam tushunishning ajoyib usuli.
• Issiq insho mavzulari . Ko'pincha, diskursiv insholar odamlarni gapirishga va bahslashishga majbur qiladigan mavzularga bag'ishlanadi. "Maktablarda forma bo'lishi kerakmi?" kabi insho mavzularini o'ylab ko'ring. yoki "Ijtimoiy tarmoqlar yaxshimi yoki yomonmi?". Ammo esda tutingki, barcha diskursiv mavzular o'ta munozarali bo'lishi shart emas.
• Tadbirkorlik . Bu mavzular keng bo'lishi mumkin, bu sizga ko'p jihatlarni o'rganish imkonini beradi. Misol uchun, vegetarian parhezning sog'liq uchun foydasini ko'rib chiqish o'rniga, siz madaniy, ekologik va iqtisodiy burchaklarni ham ko'rib chiqishingiz mumkin.
• Ko'ndirish uchun bosim yo'q . O'quvchini ishontirmoqchi bo'lgan boshqa insholardan farqli o'laroq, bu erda siz shunchaki faktlar va fikrlarni keltirasiz. Bu bahsda g'alaba qozonish haqida emas, balki to'liq, muvozanatli nuqtai nazarni berish haqida.

Shunday qilib, siz diskursiv insho mavzusini tanlayotganda, sizni qiziqtirgan va har tomondan o'rganishni yoqtiradigan narsa haqida o'ylang!

• Insho mavzusini oling: "Texnologiya odamlarni ko'proq izolyatsiya qiladimi?"

Bu haqda diskursiv inshoda siz ikkala tomonning muvozanatli nuqtai nazarini taqdim etishni maqsad qilgan bo'lar edingiz. Siz texnologiya qanday qilib butun dunyo bo'ylab odamlar bilan yanada ko'proq aloqa o'rnatishga olib kelishi mumkinligini muhokama qilishingiz mumkin, bu esa ilgari mumkin bo'lmagan do'stlik va aloqalarni rag'batlantiradi.

Boshqa tomondan, siz texnologiyadan haddan tashqari foydalanish odamlarning yuzma-yuz muloqotda kamroq vaqt sarflashiga olib kelishi va yolg'izlik tuyg'usini kuchaytirishi mumkinligi haqidagi xavotirlarni ham hal qilishingiz mumkin.

Inshoda siz o'quvchini tanlashga majbur qilmasdan, voqeaning turli tomonlarini ko'rsatishni xohlaysiz. Sizning asosiy vazifangiz mavzuning to'liq tasvirini berishdir.

Ishonchli insho mavzulari

Ishonchli insho o'quvchini o'z tomoniga tortishga harakat qilayotgan qizg'in bahsga o'xshaydi. Siz ularni sizning fikringiz to'g'riligiga ishontirish uchun kuchli dalillar keltirasiz.

Ushbu turdagi insho haqida ma'lumot:

• Stend qilish . Ishonchli inshoda siz muammo bo'yicha aniq pozitsiyani egallaysiz. Sizning mavqeingiz biror narsaga qarshi yoki qarshi bo'lishingizdan qat'i nazar, yorqin bo'lishi kerak.
• Shaxsiy teginish . Ushbu insholar ko'pincha yozuvchi uchun chuqur ahamiyatga ega bo'lgan mavzularga to'g'ri keladi. Ehtimol, nima uchun qayta ishlash juda muhim yoki nima uchun ma'lum bir qonun o'zgarishi kerakligini muhokama qilyapsiz. Sizning shaxsiy aloqangiz va ishtiyoqingiz inshoni yanada jozibali qiladi.
• Qattiq dalillar . Biror kishini ishontirish uchun sizga kuchli sabablar kerak. Bu insho mavzusiga chuqur kirib borish, ishonchli dalillarni topish va uni ishonchli tarzda taqdim etishni anglatadi.
• Aniq maqsad . Bir nechta qarashlarni o'rganishingiz mumkin bo'lgan boshqa insholardan farqli o'laroq, bu erda sizning maqsadingiz yagona: ta'sir qilish. Boshidan oxirigacha sizning maqsadingiz o'quvchiga narsalarni o'zingiz kabi ko'rishga majbur qilishdir.

Shunday qilib, siz ishonarli insho mavzusini tanlayotganda, o'zingizni kuchli his qiladigan va faktlar va ishtiyoq bilan himoya qilishga tayyor bo'lgan narsani tanlang!

• Ushbu mavzuni ko'rib chiqing: 'Onlayn ta'lim samaralimi?'

Bu haqda ishonchli inshoda siz o'z qarashlaringizga chuqur kirib borasiz. Aytaylik, siz onlayn ta'lim an'anaviy sinfda o'rganish kabi samarali emas deb o'ylaysiz. Sizning inshoingiz o'quvchini ushbu nuqtai nazarga ishontirishga harakat qiladi. Sizning asosiy e'tiboringiz qarama-qarshi nuqtai nazarga katta ahamiyat bermasdan, e'tiqodingizga qaratiladi.

Argumentativ insho mavzulari

Munozarali insho munozaralar klubida bo'lishga o'xshaydi. Siz muammoning har ikki tomonini ko'rsatasiz, so'ngra bittasini tanlang va buning uchun jiddiy dalillar keltiring. Bu masalani sinchkovlik bilan ko'rib chiqqaningizni va nuqtai nazaringiz uchun asosli sabablarga ega ekanligingizni ko'rsatishdir.

Bu nimani o'z ichiga olishi haqida tushuntirish:

• Har bir hikoyaning ikki tomoni . Munozarali insholar muammoning har ikki tomonini o'rganadi. Agar siz bir tomon uchun bahslashayotgan bo'lsangiz ham, boshqa tomonning dalillarini tushunganingizni ko'rsatishingiz kerak.
• Sizning stendingiz . Ikkala nuqtai nazarni ham qamrab olgan bo'lsangiz ham, oxir-oqibat sizning pozitsiyangiz aniq bo'lishi kerak. Siz insho mavzusini yoqlaysizmi yoki unga qarshimisiz, sizning nuqtai nazaringiz diqqat markazida bo'lishi kerak.
• Dalil va tahlil . Siz shunchaki fikr bildira olmaysiz. Fikrlaringizni faktlar, tadqiqotlar yoki ekspert xulosalari bilan zaxiralashingiz kerak. Insho mavzusiga sho'ng'ing, dalillaringizni to'plang va uni sizning nuqtai nazaringizni tasdiqlaydigan tarzda taqdim eting.
• Munozara fikrlash . Inshoingizni rasmiy munozara sifatida tasavvur qiling. Siz argument keltiryapsiz, potentsial qarama-qarshi dalillarni ko'rib chiqyapsiz va o'z nuqtai nazaringizni tasdiqlovchi dalillar keltirasiz.

Shunday qilib, bahsli insho mavzusini tanlayotganda, odamlar turli xil fikrlarga ega bo'lgan muammolarni qidiring. Sizning vazifangiz ikkala tomonni tushunish va keyin ishonchli tarzda biri uchun bahslashishdir.

• Insho mavzusini oling: 'Emojilardan foydalanish muloqotimizni kuchaytiradimi?'

Agar siz bu haqda argumentativ insho yozsangiz, bahsning ikkala tomonini taqdim etasiz va har bir tomonni dalillar bilan qo'llab-quvvatlaysiz.

Misol uchun, siz emojilar bizning muloqotimizni qanday yaxshilashi, uni yanada ifodali va o'zaro bog'liq qilishini tushuntiruvchi bir nechta paragraflardan boshlashingiz mumkin. Ushbu fikrni baham ko'rganingizdan so'ng, siz boshqa tomonni ko'rsatib, juda ko'p kulgichlardan foydalanish suhbatlarimizni batafsilroq qilishi yoki chalkashliklarga olib kelishi mumkinligini ko'rsatishingiz mumkin.

Insho mavzularini o'rganish

Ingliz tiliga oid insho mavzusini ko'rib chiqayotganda, o'rganish uchun mavzular va mavzularning keng doirasi mavjud. Har bir mavzu til, madaniyat, texnologiya va jamiyat o'rtasidagi murakkab bog'liqlik haqida noyob tushunchalarni taqdim etadi. Quyidagi jadval turli mavzularni qamrab oluvchi potentsial mavzularning saralangan ro'yxatini ko'rsatadi:

Bu lavozim qanchalik foydali bo'ldi?

Baholash uchun yulduzni bosing!

O'rtacha reyting / 5. Ovoz soni:

Hozircha ovoz yo'q! Ushbu xabarni birinchi bo'lib baholang.

Ushbu post siz uchun foydali emasligi uchun uzr so'raymiz!

Ushbu lavozimni yaxshilaylik!

Bu lavozimni qanday qilib yaxshilashimiz mumkinligini bizga ayting.

Evropa Ittifoqining AI qonunini tushunish: Etika va innovatsiyalar

Akademik yozuvda noto'g'ri ishlatilgan so'zlar, plagiat tekshiruvi qanday qilib parafrazni aniqlaydi.

fayllar.org ma'muriyatiga murojaat qiling

Esse qanday yoziladi?

Kirish – mavzuni mantiqiy va uslubiy jihatdan bog‘lab oydinlashtirish. Bu bosqichda qalamga olingan mavzuni yoritish uchun savolni to‘g‘ri qo‘yish muhim. Chunonchi, bu o‘rinda esse yozuvchi  “Kirish qismida ushbu mavzuga ma’lumot berish kerakmi?”, “Men tanlagan mavzuning dolzarbligi  qay darajada?”, “Men esse yozish davomida o‘z fikrimni dalillash uchun qanday manbalarga tayanaman?”, “Men kalit so‘zdan kelib chiqqan holda tezis qo‘ya olamanmi?” kabi savollarni o‘z oldiga qo‘yishi va shuning tevaragida fikr yuritgani ma’qul. Essening kirish qismi kamida, ikki xatboshidan iborat bo‘lishi va har bir xatboshida ikki-uch gap ifodalanishi mumkin. O‘quvchini qiziqtirish, uning e’tiborini jalb etish maqsadida essening kirish qismi jonli va aniq yozilishi kerak. Bunda xitob, undov, shaxsiy tajribaga ishora, ritorik so‘roq kabilardan  foydalanish o‘rinlidir. Kirish qismida o‘quvchi esse mavzusiga tushuncha beradi, shu orqali uning esse mavzusini qanday tushunganligi aniqlanadi va bu mavzu nima uchun dolzarb ekanligi yoritiladi. Mavzu va uning dolzarbligi yoritilgandan  keyin tezis qo‘yiladi. Tezisdan keyin asosiy qismga bog‘lovchi gap yoziladi. Agar tezis aniq va yaqqol berilsa, gap yozilmasligi ham mumkin.

Tezis qo‘yish essening eng muhim shartlaridan biridir. Tezis – essening kaliti. Kaliti topilmasa, essening asosiy maqsadiga yetish qiyin. Tezis – muallifning shaxsiy nuqtayi nazarini bildirib, u asosiy qismda isbotlanadigan fikrni yo‘naltiruvchi g‘oya hisoblanadi. Tezis essening kirish qismida yoziladi.

Asosiy qism

Asosiy bo‘lim – mavzuning nazariy asosi va savolning mazmunini bayon etuvchi bo‘lim. Bunda mavzuga mos barcha bilimlar, asosiy fikr va muammoga bog‘liq dalil va faktlar jamlangan bo‘lib, unda dalillar, xabarlar, turli statistik ma’lumotlardan foydalanib, mavzu yoritiladi, ko‘tarilgan muammoning kelib chiqish sabablari oydinlashtiriladi. Bu jarayon birmuncha murakkabroq kechadi. Shu sababli, asosiy bo‘limni bir necha kichik qismlarga bo‘lish mumkin. Har bir qismni dalillar asosida yoritish asosiy savolga javob topishga ko‘maklashadi. O‘quvchining keltirilgan fakt va dalillarni taqqoslab, o‘z qarashlarini tahlil orqali ko‘rsatib borishi asosiy bo‘limning to‘liq yoritilishiga imkon beradi. Qismlarga to‘g‘ri ajratish va izchillik bilan bayon etish mavzuning yoritilishidagi mantiqiylikni ta’minlaydi. Dalillar – o‘quvchi tomonidan aytilgan fikrni isbotlash uchun keltiriladigan ko‘chirma (maqol, tsitata, hikmatli so‘z, rivoyat, she’riy parchalar va h.k.). Qo‘yilgan tezisga kamida ikkitadan dalillar keltirilishi kerak. Asosiy qismni yoritish uchun kerakli ma’lumotlarni keltirish jarayonida qo‘yilayotgan masalaga o‘quvchining shaxsiy munosabatini bildiruvchi, shuning bilan birga, menimcha, mening fikrimcha, birinchidan, ikkinchidan, shu kabi, demak, biroq, unday  bo‘lsa kabi kirish so‘zlardan foydalanish o‘rinli bo‘ladi.

Xulosa – mavzu bo‘yicha chiqariladigan yakuniy jumlalar bo‘lib, unda yangi fikr-mulohazalar bildirilmaydi, balki dalillarga suyangan holda yakun chiqarilib, uni yechish yo‘llari ko‘rsatiladi. Essening yakuniy qismida asosiy qismda berilgan muammoning yechimi tasdiqlanadi va mazmunning mohiyati ochiladi, ya’ni «Esse boshida ko‘tarilgan masala bo‘yicha nima deyish mumkin?» degan savolga aniq va tushunarli javob tarzida yozilishi kerak. Xulosa qismida quyidagi kirish so‘zlardan foydalaniladi: men shunday xulosaga keldimki.., qisqasi, asosiy fikrim shuki.., xulosa qilib aytganda… va boshqalar.

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Ilmiy maqola nima uchun va qanday yoziladi? - xorijiy universitetda ishlayotgan o‘zbek olimidan maslahatlar

Xorijiy nufuzli ilmiy jurnallarda maqolalar chop etish muallifga, u ishlaydigan universitetga va umuman, insoniyatga nima foyda keltiradi? Muhimrog‘i, ingliz tilida maqola qanday yoziladi? Nashr qilish jarayoni qanday kechadi?

Shu paytgacha bir nechta ilmiy maqola chop qilgan, so‘nggi bir yildan oshiq davr ichida o‘z sohasida yetakchi bir ilmiy jurnal tahririyati a’zosi hisoblanuvchi Sherzod Mo‘minov Twitter’da o‘z tavsiyalari bilan o‘rtoqlashdi .

Garchi, sohalar orasida farqlar bo‘lsa-da, u humanitar fanlar, xususan, yangi tarix/sharqshunoslik borasida ilmiy maqola qanday yozilishi va chop etilishi haqida o‘z tavsiyalarini berdi. Bu ilmiy ishlar bilan shug‘ullanayotgan yoki kelajakda shug‘ullanishni niyat qilgan o‘quvchilarimizga qiziq bo‘ladi.

«Albatta, mening bilganlarim va tajribam chegarali. Keyin, bu yozganlarim barchaga birdek tegishli yo qiziq bo‘lmaydi. Tredim so‘ngida chop qilingan maqolalarimga havola beraman, o‘qib ko‘rish imkoningiz bo‘ladi», deydi Sh.Mo‘minov .

Sodda qilib aytganda, maqola sohangizda yaratayotgan yangiligingizni hamkasblaringiz, ma’lum doiradagi mutaxassislar bilan ilk bo‘lishishning eng maqbul yo‘lidir.

Buning boshqa yo‘llari ham bor, masalan, konferensiyada ma’ruza qilish. Ya’ni, maqola — tadqiqot natijalari bilan rasman bo‘lishish vositasi. Asl mohiyati ham aynan shunda. Ilm sohasi natijalarga asoslangan, nashr qilingan ishlar «mahsulot» sanaladigan, rejalar belgilanadigan bo‘lgani sari, maqolalar tadqiqotchining obro‘si yo mavqeyini belgilaydigan bo‘lgan.

Ko‘pincha qoralama shaklida bo‘ladigan konferensiya ma’ruzasidan farqli o‘laroq, maqola ozmi-ko‘pmi tugallangan, sayqal berilgan shaklda bo‘ladi. Buning uchun u bir necha «chig‘iriq»dan o‘tishi kerak. Bu bosqichlardan eng muhimi — «peer review» bo‘lib, uni o‘zbekchaga «mutaxassis bahosi» deb o‘girsa bo‘lar.

Nimadan boshlanadi?

Mutaxassis bahosigacha yo‘l uzoq, shuning uchun boshidan boshlaylik. Aytaylik, siz tarixchisiz va arxivlardan bir nechta yangi hujjat topdingiz. Bularni o‘zingizning oldingi izlanishlaringiz, boshqalarning yozgan maqola-yu kitobiga asoslab, yoki qiyoslab, yangi so‘z ayta olishingizni tushundingiz.

Bu yangi so‘zingiz, misol uchun, tarixning to‘liq tushunilmagan, yoki (sizningcha) noto‘g‘ri talqin qilingan sahifalariga oydinlik kiritishi, yoki yangi topilmalar yordamida oldin «A» deb o‘ylab kelingan narsa aslida «B» ekanini isbotlay olishi mumkin. Xo‘sh, bularni boshqalarga qanday bildirasiz?

Albatta, buning eng tez yo‘li — konferensiyada ma’ruza qilish. Lekin ma’ruzangiz u quloqdan kirib, bunisidan chiqib ketsa-chi? Agar u bosma shaklda, nomingiz ostida chiqmasa, jiddiy qabul qilinadimi? Uning ustiga, kimdir ma’ruzangizdan ilhomlanib, sizdan oldin shu mavzuda chop qilsa-chi?

Raqibingiz qancha urinmasin, hujjatlarni ilk ko‘rgan, ularni batafsil tahlil qilgan siz bo‘lasiz. Shu sabab, tahlilni kitob shaklida chiqarsangiz bo‘lmaydimi? Bo‘ladi, albatta. Lekin bitta muammo bor: kitobni chop qilishga yillar kerak bo‘ladi. Oraliq natijani esa tezda e’lon qilish kerak.

Shuning uchun, maqola siz uchun — eng ma’qul vosita. Odatda ilmiy maqola uzunligi so‘zda o‘lchanib, ingliz tilida 8 000–15 000 so‘z atrofida bo‘ladi. Ya’ni, hajmi u qadar katta bo‘lmaydi. Yangiligingizni shu hajm ichida ta’riflashingiz kerak bo‘ladi. Keyin, shunchaki yangiligingiz haqida yozganingiz bilan ish bitmaydi.

Eski nazariya yoki g‘oyani qisqacha eslashingiz, sizning yangi talqiningiz undan nimasi bilan farq qilishi, yoki ustun/yangi/muhimligini tushuntira olishingiz kerak bo‘ladi. Buning uchun gapni muammodan boshlab, sizdan oldin mavzu bo‘yicha yozilgan ishlar — «adabiyot»ni qisqacha talqin qilasiz.

Shundan so‘ng, «adabiyotda yaxshi ishlar bor, lekin ular sochgan nur mavzuning barcha burchaklarini yorita olmagan» qabilidagi gap bilan o‘zingiz uchun ana shunday «burchak» yaratasiz. Bu burchak — o‘z sohangizdagi sizning joyingiz. Unda ishingiz yangiligi, muhimligi, mohiyatini batafsil yoritasiz.

Bu qism maqolaning asosiy bo‘limi bo‘lib, kirishdagi «muammo»ning yechimi ham aynan shu bo‘limda yoritib beriladi. Ko‘p sohalarda muammodan so‘ng nazariya yoki uslub haqida bo‘limlar (tarixda shart emas), asosiy qismdan keyin esa misol yoki isbot bo‘limi bo‘ladi. Bo‘limlarni mantiqan bog‘lab borasiz.

Maqola yakuniy bo‘lim (Conclusion) bilan tugatiladi. Conclusion maqolada aytib o‘tilganlarni takrorlab, muallifning asosiy topilma yo yechimlarini qisqa sarhisob qiladi. Yakundan so‘ng foydalanilgan ishlar ro‘yxati (Bibliography) va havolalar (boshqa ishlarga yo‘nalmalar) keltiriladi.

Ikkinchi bosqich

Xo‘sh, maqolani qoraladingiz, yaqin hamkasblaringiz yoki ilmiy rahbaringiz fikrini oldingiz, o‘zgartishlar kiritdingiz. Qo‘lyozmani yozib tugatdingiz. Ammo, bu birinchi bosqich xolos. Ikkinchisi: o‘z sohangizga, yoki maqola mavzusiga eng yaqin bir nechta jurnalni aniqlaysiz. Qisqa ro‘yxat qilasiz.

Hozirgi kunda bu jurnallarning barchasida sayt bor. U yerdan qo‘lyozma topshirish tartibi va shartlari bilan tanishasiz. Oldinlari Word faylni elektron pochtadan muharrirga yuborardik. Hozirda ko‘pchilik jurnallar qo‘lyozmani kerakli shakl va formatga keltirib, saytga yuklashingizni so‘raydi.

Qo‘lyozmani birinchi boshqaruvchi muharrir (managing editor) ko‘radi va mavzu bilan eng tanish muharrirga yuboradi. U maqolani o‘qib chiqib, «ko‘rib chiqish»ga tayyor yo tayyor emasligiga baho beradi. Tayyor bo‘lsa, kamida ikkita «ko‘rib chiquvchi» — baho beruvchi mutaxassis (reviewer)ni tavsiya qiladi.

Boshqaruvchi muharrir muallifning kimligi butunlay o‘chirilgan (kim yozganligini umuman aniqlab bo‘lmaydigan) shakldagi qo‘lyozmani mutaxassislarga yuboradi. Ikkalasi ham rozi bo‘lsa, «ko‘rib chiqish» boshlanadi. Bittasi rad etsa (misol, bandligi sabab), o‘rniga yana boshqa reviewer topiladi.

Ko‘rib chiquvchi nima ish bajaradi?

Qisqacha, reviewer qo‘lyozmani chop qilish kerakmi, qanday kamchiliklari bor, nimani o‘zgartirish kerak, kabi savollarga javob beradi. Bu umumiy xulosalardan tashqari, ba’zi (vijdonli) reviewer’lar imloviy xatolargacha ko‘rsatadi, yaxshi maslahatlar beradi.

Eng muhimi, ko‘rib chiquvchiga bu ish uchun hech qanday haq to‘lanmaydi. Shunchaki bilim, fan va ta’lim uchun o‘z vaqtimizni va kuchimizni bag‘ishlaymiz. Muallif ham qo‘lyozma uchun haq olmaydi. Lekin jurnalga obunani nashr qiluvchilar minglab dollarga kutubxona va universitetlarga sotadi.

Universitet yo kutubxonaga a’zo bo‘lmaganlar esa bu maqolalarni ko‘chirib ololmaydi ham. Qisqa qilib aytganda, katta nashriyotlar olimlarning mehnatini yaxshi biznesga, tekin daromad manbaiga aylantirib olishgan. Karerasi va kelajagini o‘ylab, olim maqola yozadi, mazasini nashrchi ko‘radi

Olimlar nega tekin maqola yozadi?

Buning asosiy sababi: maqola — olim mehnatining oson va yaqqol ko‘zga tashlanadigan mahsuli, isbotiga aylangan. Yaxshi jurnalda maqola chiqarish — olimning nonini halollab yeyotganining isboti. Mansab pog‘onasidan ko‘tarilayotganda bular juda muhim.

Albatta, hamma narsa mansab yo obro‘ uchun qilinmaydi. Men tanigan aksariyat olimlar o‘z ishining jamiyatga nafi tegishiga chindan ishonadi. Biz tarixchilar indamay turaylik, lekin, masalan, kimyo yoki tibbiyot sohasida tadqiqotlar odamlar hayotini osonlashtiradi, og‘riq va dardlarni yengishga yordam beradi.

Yana masalan, Yevropa va Britaniya universitetlaridagi olimlar soliq to‘lovchi hisobidan oylik oladi. Shu sabab, olimlar soliq to‘lovchining bolalarini o‘qitish bilan bir qatorda, jamiyat va umuman insoniyat taraqqiyotiga hissa qo‘shish, jamiyat bilim darajasini ko‘tarishni o‘z vazifasi deb biladi.

Nashr jarayoni

Reviewer qo‘lyozma haqidagi xulosasi, talab va takliflarini rasmiy shaklda taqdim etadi. Odatda bular muallifga qaratilgan bo‘ladi, lekin boshqaruvchi muharrir ikkala reviewer xulosasini jamlab, muallifga yuboradi.

Xulosa 3 xil bo‘lishi mumkin:

1). Rad qilinsin;

2). O‘zgarishlarsiz qabul qilinsin;

3). Ma’lum o‘zgarishlar kiritilgach qabul qilinsin.

Tajribadan kelib chiqib aytish mumkinki, 80-90 foiz qo‘lyozma uchinchi xulosani oladi, lekin rad qilinganlar ham talaygina bo‘ladi. 2-variant juda kam uchraydi.

«Maqola rad qilindi», degani shuncha mehnat bekorga ketganini bildirmaydi, albatta. Uni juda nomdor jurnal rad qilgan bo‘lsa, maqolani sal nufuzi pastrog‘iga topshirish kerak. Nomdor jurnalning rad javobi ham ko‘pincha juda foydali bo‘ladi, chunki reviewerlar odatda qimmatli maslahatlar beradi.

Nomdor jurnal deganda, nomi ulug‘ universitet yo nashriyot tomonidan bosiladigan jurnal ma’nosida emas, ma’lum sohada eng yaxshi tadqiqotlar chop qilinadigan jurnal nazarda tutiladi. Maqolaning yaxshiligi nima bilan aniqlanadi? Boshqa maqola/kitoblar unga bergan havolalar soni bilan.

Eng yaxshi maqolani hali qo‘lyozmalik davrida qanday aniqlash mumkin?

Faqat va faqat anonim va nihoyatda qattiq «ko‘rib chiqish jarayoni», ya’ni peer review orqali. Iye, «Oka, maqola chiqarishim keregidi, yordamlashvorin» deb bo‘lmas ekan-da? Xuddi shunaqa! Haqiqiy fanda tanish-bilish ketmaydi.

Hozirda eng yetakchi jurnallar yillar, o‘n yilliklar davomida xolis jarayon va qattiq talab orqali o‘z mavqei va obro‘sini qozongan. Anonim ko‘rib chiqish «guruch»ning «kurmak»dan tezda ajratilishini ta’minlaydi. «Kurmak» qo‘lyozmalar ko‘rib chiqish jarayoniga ham yetib bormaydi.

Albatta, hamma jurnal ham yaxshi, ularning tanlovi xolis, degani emas. To‘lig‘icha sun’iy intellekt tomonidan yozilgan maqolalarni qabul qilgan jurnallar ham bor. Jurnalni sotib pul qilish uchun duch kelgan narsani bosadiganlari undan ham ko‘p. Lekin bunday jurnallarni kim ham o‘qirdi?

Xo‘jako‘rsinga yoziladigan, boshqalarning ishidan ko‘chiriladigan maqolalarni ana shunday jurnallardan boshqa joyda chop qilish imkonsiz. Nomiga, yoki boshqa maqsadda fan bilan shug‘ullanish bor ekan, bunday jurnallar ham bo‘lishi tabiiy. Ular nomiga bosilib, diqqatsiz qolaveradi.

Ingliz tilida maqola chop qilish uchun ayrim amaliy maslahatlar

Birinchi maslahatim: sohangizni, yoki tor mavzuni ipidan ignasigacha biling. Buning uchun, o‘z maqolangizni yozishdan oldin boshqalar bu haqda nima yozgan, puxta o‘rganib chiqing. O‘z burchagingizni toping.

Keyingi muhim maslahatim: ingliz tilida yozishni mashq qilavering. IELs Writingʼdan ballingiz baland bo‘lishi mumkin, lekin buning o‘zi maqola yozish uchun yetarli bo‘lmasligi mumkin. Yozgan narsangizni biladiganlarga ko‘rsating, maslahat va tanqidlarni tinglang va qo‘lyozmaga kiriting.

So‘nggi maslahat: bo‘sh kelmang. Maqolani yozish oson bo‘lmaydi, chop qilish undan ham qiyinroq bo‘ladi. Lekin yaxshi jurnalda maqola chiqarish akademik karerada nihoyatda foydali. Ba’zi jurnallarda bitta maqola chiqarish butun boshli kitob yozganga deyarli teng. Yaxshi maqola yozish — bir san’at.

Nokamtarlik bo‘lsa-da, o‘zimning chop qilgan ikkita maqolamga havola qoldiraman. Bularning ikkalasi ham open access, ya’ni kutubxona a’zoligi talab qilinmaydi. Birinchisini o‘zim, ikkinchisini hamkorlikda yozganman.

1. Sovet Ittifoqi va Xitoy Xalq Respublikasi o‘z qo‘li ostidagi yaponlarga nisbatan munosabatining qiyosiy tahlili .

2. Sovuq urush boshlanishida Sovet Ittifoqidan qaytib kelgan yapon asirlarining taqdiri haqida .

Muallif haqida: Sherzod Mo‘minov Buyuk Britaniyaning Sharqiy Angliya Universiteti (University of East Anglia) tarix fakultetida associate professor bo‘lib ishlaydi. Kembrij Universitetidan 2015 yilda Yaponiya va Sharqiy Osiyo tarixi ixtisosligi bo‘yicha PhD darajasini olgan.

1982 yilda Surxondaryo viloyatida tug‘ilgan. Toshkentdagi Jahon iqtisodiyoti va diplomatiya universitetidan «xalqaro munosabatlar» yo‘nalishi bo‘yicha bakalavr diplomini, Angliyaning Manchester universiteti va Yaponiyaning Tsukuba universitetining magistrlik darajalarini tamomlagan.

Uning Eleven Winters of Discontent kitobi 2022 yilning yanvar oyida Harvard Universiteti nashriyotida bosmadan chiqdi.

O‘xshash xabarlar

Endi internet tarmog‘ida tavakkalchilikka asoslangan o‘yinlarni tashkil etish faoliyatini va bukmekerlik faoliyatini amalga oshirishga ruxsat etiladi, time management – vaqt boshqaruvi nima va nega kerak, 2024-yil yanvar-mart oylarida ta’lim sohasida o‘rtacha ish haqi 3 mln 434,9 ming so‘mni tashkil qildi, maktablarda qiz va o‘g‘il bolalarga qaysi fanlar alohida o‘qitiladi, sirtqi ta’lim necha yil bo‘lishi kerak, o‘qishni ko‘chirish bo‘yicha o‘tish ballari, magistraturaga kimlar imtihonsiz qabul qilinadi, magistratura va oliy ta’limdan keyingi ta’limga kirishda xorijiy til bilish sertifikati talabi bekor qilinishi mumkin., atigi 3 yil o‘qib oliy ma’lumotli bo‘lish mumkin bo‘lgan yo‘nalishlar.

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Maqola yozish algoritmi. Qadamba-qadam qo’llanma

Salom hurmatli bo’lajak maqola yozuvchilar. Sizlarga, maqola yozish tartibi, asosiy prinsiplari va qonun qoidalarini qadamba-qadam gapirib bermoqchiman. Bu bilimlar sizlarga, yozgan maqolangizni o’qiyotgan o’quvchilar bilan aloqa o’rnatishga va o’zingizni mutaxasis sifatida ko’rsatishga yordam beradi.

Internet sahifalarida, gazeta va jurnallarda, qanchalik ko’p maqola chop qilsangiz, shunchalik sizning ismingiz taniqli bo’ladi, oqibatda sizning yozuvchilik reytingingiz oshadi va xizmatlaringizdan ko’p odamlar foydalana boshlaydi.

Keling, hozir maqola yozishning asoslaridan boshlaymiz.

Quyidagi aytilgan amallardan foydalanib, turli yo’nalishdagi maqolalarni osongina yozishni o’rganib olasiz:

Qadam №1. Mavzuni tanlash

Maqola janri:, qadam №2. maqolaga sarlavha tanlash, sarlavha namunalari:, qadam №3. moqola rejasini tuzish, qadam №4. kirish, qadam №5. asosiy qismda nimalar yoziladi, qadam №6. xulosa qilish, yakun yasash, qadam №7. maqolani qayta o’qish, qadam №8. matnning noyoblik darajasini tekshirish, qadam №9. matnni formatlash, dizaynini yaxshilash.

• Qadam№10. Matnni saqlab qo’yish

Mavzuni tanlashda, bitta maqolada bitta mavzu ochib berilishini unutmang. Va yana bir muhim jihat – mavzu qiziqarli va siz uchun tanish bo’lishi kerak. Bundan tashqari, maqola sizning maqsadli auditoriyangizga, ya’ni, shunday ma’lumotlar kerak bo’lgan va keyinchalik sizning xizmatingizdan foydalanadigan odamlarga  yo’naltirilgan bo’lishi kerak.

Shu o’rinda men yana bir muhim masalaga to’xtalmoqchiman – maqola yozishning formati . Mutaxassis maqomini saqlab qolish uchun quyidagi formatlar yoki sxemalar namunalari asosida yozishingiz kerak. Bularni xohlaganingizcha nomlashingiz mumkin:

• Shunday qilib, birinchi format: “Muammo + echim” – maqsadli auditoriyangizning muammosini ajratib oling va maqolada aytib bering. Eng muhimi, ushbu muammoni hal qilish uchun ba’zi amaliy tavsiyalar bering. Agar siz amaliy tavsiyalar va amaliyotlarni tavsiflasangiz, o’quvchilar sizning nazariy bilimga ega bo’lgan amaliyotchi ekaningizni va quruq gap gapirmayotganligingizni darhol anglashadi.
• Ikkinchi format: “Vosita, … (biror nima) uchun mo’ljallangan” – faqat sizning sohangizda ishlatiladigan, ammo kam odam to’g’ri foydalanishi mumkin bo’lgan texnikani yoki vositani tavsiflab bering. Shunday qilsangiz, siz nafaqat uni qanday ishlatishni bilishingizni, balki qolganlarga ham tushuntirishingiz mumkinligini aytasiz.
• Uchinchi format: “Mening mijozlarim tez-tez so’rashadi … (savol – javob)” – bitta mijoz yoki bir nechta mijozlar sizga murojaat qilgan muammoli vaziyatni tasvirlab bering, mijozingiz siz bilan ishlashdan keyin qanday qaror qilganligi va uning muammosi bilan boshqalarning ham muammosi nimalari bilan o’xshash bo’lgan narsalar to’g’risida gapirib bering. Ko’pchilikning muammosi va uni qanday hal qilish kerakligi to’g’risida amaliy tavsiyalar va ko’rsatmalar bering.
• To’rtinchi format: “Ekspert bahosi” – qandaydir hodisa (kitob, o’zingizning sohangizdagi yangilik, ma’lum fakt va boshqalar) haqida yozing va o’zingizning shu hodisa bo’yicha mutaxasislik bahoyingizni bering. Tahlil qiling, aks ettiring, foydali ma’lumotlar haqida gapiring yoki amaliy maslahat bering.
• Beshinchi format: “Amaliy tavsiyalar” – o’quvchilaringiz uchun dolzarb bo’lgan muammoli vaziyatda qanday harakat qilish kerakligini tasvirlab beruvchi, bir yoki bir nechta texnik amallarni tavsiflab, bosqichma-bosqich yozib chiqing. Siz o’qiyotgan manashu maqola ham aynan shu formatda yozilgan.

Siz birinchi navbatda yuqorida aytilgan formatlarda maqola yozishni o’rganishingiz kerak. Chunki, bu formatdagi maqolalar aynan ma’lum bir muammosini yechishni istagan odamlar uchun juda muhim. Bundan tashqari, amaliy ko’rsatma va tavsiyalar berilgan maqolalar gazeta va jurnallar muharrirlarini ham qiziqtiradi. Quruq gaplar hammaning jig’ga tegib bo’lgan.

Agar sizning maqsadingiz gazeta va jurnallar uchun maqola yozish bo’lsa, maqola yozishdan oldin osha gazeta yoki jurnalning mavzusi, unda yozilgan maqolalarning yozilish uslubi, shartlari, talablari, stili va jurnalning maqsadli auditoriyasi bilan tanishib, analiz qilib chiqishingiz kerak. Maqolangizni siz yozmoqchi bo’layotgan jurnal stilistikasiga moslab yozing. Agar jurnalning maqsadli auditoriyasi ichida sizning maqsadli auditoriyangiz bo’lmasa, unda vaqtingizni va kuchingizni zoye ketqizmang. Maqsadli auditoriyangiz bo’lgan, maqolalaringizni o’qiydigan va kelajakda sizning xizmatingizdan foydalanadigan, sizning mijozingizga aylanadigan gazeta va jurnallarni qidiring.

Maqola sarlavhasini yozishda, asosiysi, haddan ziyod ko’pirtirib yubormang, oltin o’rtaliqni topishga harakat qiling. Ya’ni, originallashtirish yoki haddan ziyod beadablik qilish kerak emas. Maqola sarlavhasi, o’quvchini qiziqtirishi, qiziquvchanlikni qo’zg’atishi, keyin nima bo’lishini bilish istagini uyg’otishi kerak.

Yaxshi sarlavhaning qoidalari mavjud:

• Sarlavha, o’quvchining e’tiborini o’ziga qaratishi juda muhimdir, “diqqatga sazovor” bo’lishi kerak.
• Qiziqishni uyg’otish va o’quvchini, maqolani o’qishga undashi juda muhimdir.

Diqqat: sarlavhasida ehtiyojni qondirish yoki muammoni hal qilishga ishora bo’lgan maqolalar ko’pincha e’tiborni tortadi. Agar sarlavha barcha “kartalarni” ochib beradigan bo’lsa, unda uni o’qish endi qiziqarli va zarur bo’lmay qoladi. Sizning vazifangiz – qiziqtirish, maqolani o’qishga ishora qilish. Sarlavha yalinmaydi va taklif qilmaydi u ishora qiladi va e’lon qiladi.

• Sarlavha, bir qarashda o’qilishi kerak. Uzun va qisqa nomlar orasida ikkinchisini tanlang ya’ni qisqasini.
• Maqolani yozishda, qanday maqsadli auditoriya uchun yozayotgan bo’lsangiz, o’sha auditoriya tomonidan tushunarli va ko’pincha ishlatiladigan so’zlardan foydalaning.
• Agar sayt uchun maqola yozayotgan bo’lsangiz, sarlavhada kalit so’zdan foydalaning, ya’ni sizning maqolangizda tasvirlangan mashhur mavzu bilan bog’liq so’zni ishlating.
• Juda ko’p yaxshilik ham yomon. Sarlavhaga (va maqolaga ham) undov yoki savol belgisi orqali hissiyotni ko’p qo’shmang. Hali hech kim imlo qoidalarini bekor qilmagan. Bundan tashqari, sarlavhani katta harflar bilan yozmang. Bu, albatta, hissiyotni beradi, muallif qichqirayotgan yoki tajovuzkordek ko’rinadi.
• Agar siz bosma nashr uchun yozmoqchi bo’lsangiz, siz qo’ygan sarlavha boshqasiga o’zgartirilishi mumkinligiga tayyor bo’ling, ammo bu nashr bilan oldindan qanday kelishganligingizga bog’liq va siz buni har qanday holatda ham bilishingizni istardim.
• Foyda beradigan maqola sarlavhasi andozalaridan foydalaning:

“Qanday qilib …” Juda oddiy boshlangan va juda muvaffaqiyatli andoza. Bu muammoning bevosita belgisi va uni hal qilish usulidir.

– “Qanday qilib muvaffaqiyatli biznesni yo’lga qo’yish mumkin”

– “Qanday qilib sayt yaratishni o’rganish mumkin”

“… haqida qisqacha qo’llanma” Hozirda jamiyat quruq gaplarsiz, konsentratsiyalangan bilimlarni iste’mol qilishni yaxshi ko’radi va har qanday narsaga tezkor qo’llanma so’rashadi.

– “Muvaffaqiyatli biznesni rivojlantirish haqida qisqacha qo’llanma”

– “Sayt yaratishni o’rganish bo’yicha qisqacha qo’llanma”

“… usuli / yo’li” maqolaga ilmiy va / yoki amaliylikni aks ettiradi.

– “Muvaffaqiyatli biznesni qurishning eng samarali usuli”

– “Tez va oson sayt yaratishning yo’li”

“… tez yo’li / qanchalik tez” Uzoq va ko’p vaqt davomida hech kim qandaydir muammo bilan bezovta bo’lishni xohlamaydi, ko’pchilik o’z muammolarini tezda hal qilishga harakat qilishadi.

– “Muvaffaqiyatli biznesni qanchalik tez qurish mumkin”

– “Muvaffaqiyatli biznesni qanday qurishning tez yo’li”

“… oson yo’li / oson echim” Ushbu andoza ham juda yaxshi ishlaydi. Oddiy echimlar har doim dolzarb.

– “Muvaffaqiyatli biznesni yaratishning oson yo’li”

– “Sayt yaratish va rivojlantirishning oson yo’li”

“… yarating” Ushbu andoza o’quvchilarning hissiyotlari va ijodiga murojaat qiladi.

– “Muvaffaqiyatli biznes uchun o’z formulangizni yarating”

– “Sayt yaratish va rivojlantirish uchun o’z yo’lingizni yarating”

“… endi mumkin” Ya’ni albatta, agar xohlasangiz, ushbu maqola tufayli, kerakli narsaga qodir bo’lasiz.

– “Muvaffaqiyatli biznes qilish, endi mumkin”

– “Bank orqali xohlagan mamlakatga pul o’tkazish endi mumkin”

“Bepul, noyob, eng yaxshi, ishonchli, samarali, taqlid qilmaydigan va hokazo.” Ushbu so’zlar doimo diqqatni jalb qiladi.

– “Muvaffaqiyatli biznesni tashkil etish bo’yicha bepul kurs”

– “Sayt yaratish va rivojlantirishning samarali usuli”

“… buhi bilishi kerak” Bunday sarlavha ma’lum bir masala bo’yicha o’z bilimini sinab ko’rish zaruratini kuchaytiradi.

“Har bir boshlang’ich biznesmen buni bilishi kerak.”

“Har bir muvaffaqiyatli odam buni bilishi kerak”

“Raqamlar”. Agar sarlavhada raqamlar ishtirok etsa, maqolalar juda muvaffaqiyatli bo’ladi. Sarlavha uchun quyidagi raqamlar juda mos keladi  – 5, 7, 15, 100, 101 va hokazo.

– “Qanday qilib 6 oy ichida muvaffaqiyatli biznesni yo’lga qo’yish mumkin”

– “Muvaffaqiyatli biznes qilishning 5 oddiy yo’li”

“Sirlari”. Bu erda insonning tug’ma qiziqishlari va intilishlari qo’zg’atiladi. Ushbu andoza raqamlar bilan birgalikda yaxshi ishlaydi.

– “Muvaffaqiyatli biznes sirlari”

– “O’z yo’lingizni topishning 7 ta qadimiy sirlari”.

Bular barcha mavjud sarlavha andozalari emas. Boshqa misollarni Internetdan va turli kitoblardan osongina topishingiz mumkin. Va bu, sizning maqolalaringizning barcha sarlavhalari aynan shunday bo’lishi kerak degani ham emas. Tajriba qilib ko’ring, o’zingizning uslubingizni qidirib topishga harakat qiling. Bundan tashqari, sarlavhalar uchun “moda” o’zgaruvchan, o’zgarishlardan xabardor bo’ling va o’zingizning yo’lingizni ixtiro qiling.

Maqola qanday reja asosida yozilishi kerakligini yozib, reja tuzib chiqishingiz kerak . Maqolaning umumiy tuzilishini yozmasdan turib, shunchaki, faqat bitta mavzuga asoslanib yozishga harakat qilish, odatda omadsizlik va ortiqcha kuch yo’qotishga olib keladi.

Reja yozib chiqilishi kerak. U juda oddiy bo’lishi kerak:

• kirish (matnning asosiy g’oyasini qisqacha ochib berishi kerak),
• asosiy qism – bir nechta tavsiyalar yoki tezislardan iborat bo’lishi kerak
• xulosa (yakun yasash, xulosa qilish).

Kirish qismida o’quvchini yumshoq tarzda asosiy mavzuga olib kirish kerak bo’ladi. Bundan tashqari, kirish qismida, maqolada qanday muammolar  ko’tarilishi va u kimlar (qanday maqsadli auditoriya) uchun ekanligini tasvirlab berishingiz kerak.

To’g’ridan-to’g’ri munozara. Bu erda siz, bir nechata muhim amaliy tavsiyalarni berishingiz yoki ushbu mavzuning asosiy tushunchalarini tushuntirishingiz mumkin. Va bu asosiy qismida, aniq va to’g’ri ko’rsatmalar, foydali va qimmatli malumotlar bo’lishi kerak. Hikoyalar yoki masallar, qiziqarli faktlar, shuningdek, o’zingizning tajribangiz va maqolada ko’tarilgan muammoga o’z qarashlaringizni bildirish, yaxshigina to’ldiruvchi qo’shimchalar sifatida yozishingiz mumkin.

Agar siz, matnni epithets bilan to’ldirsangiz, bu quruq dalillarga hissiyot qo’shadi. Asosiy qismida siz kirish qismida berilgan savollarga javoblarni ko’rsatishingiz kerak.

Epithet – bu, tasvirlangan hodisa, shaxs, mavzu, hodisani tasviriy va hissiy jihatdan xarakterlovchi badiiy ta’rif.

Iloji boricha 2-3 ming belgi ichida muammoni to’la-to’kis ochib berishga harakat qiling, ya’ni 1-2 bet. Matningiz samimiy va tushunarli bo’lishi uchun buni eslab qoling: siz shunchaki maqola emas, balki aniq maqsadli auditoriya uchun , yana ham aniqrog’i, ushbu muammoning yechimini kutayotgan yaxshi bir odam uchun maqola yozayotganingizni unutmang. Shunday qilib siz, o’quvchilaringiz bilan ishonchli munosabatlarni o’rnata olishingiz mumkin.

Bu erda siz, ijobiy natijaga e’tibor qaratib, asosiy qismda keltirilgan ma’lumotlar muammoni hal qilishga yordam berishiga o’quvchining e’tiborini qaratasiz va maqolaga yakun yasaysiz.

Uzoq vaqt o’ylamasdan va idealizmga chuqur berilmasdan matnni faqat bir marta qayta o’qishingiz kerak (tekshirish va to’g’rilash uchun). Agar ideallikga chuqur ketadigan bo’lsangiz, turli o’zgartirishlarga, son-sanoqsiz tuzatishlarga va natijada yozilmagan maqolaga aylanib qolishiga olib kelishi mumkin. Tekshiruvning maqsadi – xatolarni tuzatish va takrorlashlarni olib tashlash, yoki, sinonimlarga almashtirish. Matn, yengil, xatolarsiz va sodda yozilgan bo’lishi kerak.

Bu juda muhim bosqich. Agar sizning maqolangiz yuz foiz noyob bo’lsa, internet maydonida u yangi maqola sifatida indekslanadi. Demak, ushbu mavzudagi boshqa maqolalar fonida sizning maqolangizning reytingi qidiruv tizimlari nazdida ko’tariladi. Bu shuni anglatadiki, birinchi pozitsiyaga kirish ehtimoli sezilarli darajada oshadi. Qidiruv tizimlaridan sizning maqolangizga o’tishlar qanchalik ko’p bo’lsa, sayt ham shunchalik mashhurlikga erishadi.

Agar maqolada ishlatilgan so’zlarning kombinatsiyasi internetdagi boshqa maqolalarda topilmasa, matn noyob deb hisoblanadi. Aks holda, birinchi so’zdan oxirigacha o’zingiz yozgan bo’lsangiz ham, maqolaning noyoblik darajasi past ko’rsatgichga ega bo’lishi mumkin. Sababi, siz ishlatgan iboralar allaqachon boshqa mualliflar tomonidan ham ishlatilgan bo’lishi mumkin.

Siz maqola noyobligini tekshirib, uni maxsus dasturlarda yaxshilashingiz mumkin, shunday dasturlardan biri Etxt.ru . Maqolaning yuz foiz noyobligi, bosma nashrlarda ham talab etiladi.

Matnni to’g’ri chop qilish juda muhimdir, ya’ni malumotlarning o’quvchi tomonidan oson qabul qilinishini taminlash. Formatlash usullari o’quvchilarga vizual ko’rinishlarni yaratadi va matnni o’qishni oson va tushunarli qiladi. Maqola dizaynini yaxshilaydi.

Quyidagi formatlash elementlari mavjud:

• Qo’shimcha sarlavhalarni ajratib ko’rsatish . Ajratib ko’rsatishning ikki yoki uch usulini tanlang. Agar ajratib ko’rsatishlar ko’p bo’ladigan bo’lsa, o’quvchilarning matndan tez zerikishlariga olib kelishi mumkin.
• Belgilangan yoki raqamlangan ro’yxatlar . Bizning miyamiz hamma narsani tasniflashga odatlangan va ushbu formatlash texnikasi o’qishni osonlashtiradi.
• Asosiy iboralarni yoki so’zlarni ajratib ko’rsatish . Bu tez o’qishda yordam beradi, o’quvchi, darhol batafsil ma’lumotga kirishga arziydimi yoki yo’qligini darhol anglab oladi.
• O’qilishi oson bo’lgan shrift . Turli bezakli shriftlarni o’qish qiyin, bu maqolani o’qimaslik va zerikishga olib kelishi mumkin. Shuning uchun, o’qish oson bo’lgan shriftni tanlang, shaxsan menga Times New Romani shrifti ko’proq yoqadi.
• Oddiy takliflar . Psixologiyada oltin formula mavjud – 7 / minus 2. Bu jumladagi so’zlar soniga tegishli, ya’ni bir abzastda ko’pi bilan 7 ta kamida esa 5 ta jumla bo’lishi kerak degani.
• Maqolada iqtiboslarni albatta ishlating . Bu maqolaning o’quvchi yodida qolishiga yordam beradi.

Oltin o’rtaliqni eslang, formatlash elementlaridan ortiqcha foydalanish, matn sifatini yo’qotishiga olib kelishi mumkin. Matn dizayni haqida gap ketganda, maqolaga qo’yiladigan grafika elementlarini ham esga olish kerak – rasmlar, jadvallar, diagrammalar, fotosuratlar qo’yish ham mumkin. Rasmlarning sifatli bo’lishi va mavzuga mos bo’lishi juda muhimdir.