Solving Problems Analytically and Creatively: 10 Evidence-Based Coaching Practices
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Solving Problems Analytically and Creatively, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Practices that may help
- Decompose the problem into independent parameters
Identify the key dimensions that fully describe your problem space before generating solutions.
Morphological Analysis, Made Practical - Import a frame from a different domain
Describe your problem as if it were a challenge in an unrelated field, then steal the solutions from that field.
Problem Reframing: Solving the Right Problem First - Ask "what else is this like?" to find the hidden frame
Identify the deeper structure of your problem and look for problems with the same structure in different domains.
Combinatorial Creativity, Made Practical - Use morphological analysis for wicked problems with many interdependencies
The method shines on problems too complex for brainstorming to cover adequately.
Morphological Analysis, Made Practical - Iterate the matrix when solutions appear insufficient
If all combinations seem mediocre, the dimensions may be wrong — reframe them before generating more.
Morphological Analysis, Made Practical - Seek analogies from maximally distant domains
The further the analogy’s domain from your problem, the more likely it is to break your current representation.
Constraint Relaxation: Escaping the Walls You Built Yourself - Morphological Analysis, Made Practical
Morphological analysis, developed by astrophysicist Fritz Zwicky, is a structured method for exploring all possible combinations of a problem’s key dimensions. By decomposing a problem into independent parameters and exhaustively combining them in a matrix, it reveals solution combinations that intuition and brainstorming reliably miss. Evidence for the method is primarily from engineering and design fields with strong applied history. - Generate solutions without premature evaluation
List as many potential solutions as possible before judging any of them.
Problem-Solving Therapy, Made Practical - Use forced analogy to generate unexpected solutions
Randomly pair your problem with an unrelated domain and mine the analogy for ideas.
Combinatorial Creativity, Made Practical - Concept fan: map the solution space before picking a direction
Expand from specific solutions to the broader concept behind them, then generate alternatives at the concept level.
Lateral Thinking, Made Practical
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- My problem feels like one big tangled blob in my head
- I feel like I’m staring at this from inside my own little field with no fresh ideas, but I have a nagging sense that somebody, somewhere
- I keep feeling like the deep shape of my problem
- This problem is so knotty and interdependent that every time we brainstorm it, the room just locks onto whoever framed it first, and half the disagreement is really people picturing entirely different versions of the same mess.
- I’ve worked through every viable option and they’re all just flavors of mediocre
Related concerns
- Complex Problem Solving Method
Identify the key dimensions that fully describe your problem space before generating solutions.
Decompose the problem into independent parameters
- Problem Solving And Creativity
Assign your stuck creative problem to your mind, then do a boring manual task and let the problem run in the background.
Use a routine physical task to incubate a creative problem
- Problem Solving Outside The Box
Describe your problem in a different field’s vocabulary — then use that vocabulary to search for solutions.
Reframe problems using cross-domain language
- When The Medici Effect Reframe Problems Cross Domain
Describe your problem in a different field’s vocabulary — then use that vocabulary to search for solutions.
- Creative Approaches To Problem Solving
Expand from specific solutions to the broader concept behind them, then generate alternatives at the concept level.
Concept fan: map the solution space before picking a direction
- Creative Problem Solving Framework
The method shines on problems too complex for brainstorming to cover adequately.
Use morphological analysis for wicked problems with many interdependencies
Describe your situation in your own words to search the complete practice library.