"I believe that if you show people the problems and you show them the solutions they will be moved to act." -Bill Gates
Systematic Problem Solving: Part 2
Well let's review a little bit and consider everything we've looked at so far.
We've discussed a bit about how using a systematic problem solving method can help us to more efficiently and effectively tackle problems by streamlining all the steps needed into a neat, flexible, modular framework. We explored how we can build exactly such a system in four basic blocks:
Determine:
What do we mean by determining paths to solutions? Well, with many problems we may face quite a number of different ways to solve them. Some of them may be very good methods, while others are very bad ones. Our main goal in this step is not to make this distinction yet. The goal of this step is to list multiple ways to try solving the problem. It would amount to, in a basic sense, being a brainstorming session with yourself or your task group. You've gathered all of the information pertaining to the problem by this point. You have a definitive objective you are trying to accomplish, or a specific question you want to answer. You have listed out the information you have and any direct inferences relevant to the problem. Now we want to list out some different ways we think we may be able to solve the problem and a very brief sketch of the ideas.
This is a time where pretty much anything goes, if it could possibly lead to a solution, you can list it. This is not the point at which ethical or financial barriers will rule out a solution, and you should hesitate to do so at this point. We will consider these scenarios later in more detail, but for this step it is okay to include them.
As we come up with ideas of how to pursue a solution, we want to provide a sketch of the way it might be accomplished. This sketch should only be a one or two sentence summary at the most, quite often just a couple of words suffice to convey the correct ideas. What we want to get out of this is a list that we can go through to make comparisons, maybe run simulations, and eventually select the method we are going to use. This is previewing the next step just a little bit, but seeing the purpose of doing something is often helpful.
Coming up next we're going to look at an example that will emphasize this step in our framework. It's an example from physics about gravity. Don't be alarmed if you are not familiar with or even find physics hard! I assure you that the problem will be manageable with just a tiny bit of background material when we use the things we've already learned.
Later,
Tristen
We've discussed a bit about how using a systematic problem solving method can help us to more efficiently and effectively tackle problems by streamlining all the steps needed into a neat, flexible, modular framework. We explored how we can build exactly such a system in four basic blocks:
Determine:
- the information,
- paths to solutions,
- which path to take,
- whether to accept it.
What do we mean by determining paths to solutions? Well, with many problems we may face quite a number of different ways to solve them. Some of them may be very good methods, while others are very bad ones. Our main goal in this step is not to make this distinction yet. The goal of this step is to list multiple ways to try solving the problem. It would amount to, in a basic sense, being a brainstorming session with yourself or your task group. You've gathered all of the information pertaining to the problem by this point. You have a definitive objective you are trying to accomplish, or a specific question you want to answer. You have listed out the information you have and any direct inferences relevant to the problem. Now we want to list out some different ways we think we may be able to solve the problem and a very brief sketch of the ideas.
This is a time where pretty much anything goes, if it could possibly lead to a solution, you can list it. This is not the point at which ethical or financial barriers will rule out a solution, and you should hesitate to do so at this point. We will consider these scenarios later in more detail, but for this step it is okay to include them.
As we come up with ideas of how to pursue a solution, we want to provide a sketch of the way it might be accomplished. This sketch should only be a one or two sentence summary at the most, quite often just a couple of words suffice to convey the correct ideas. What we want to get out of this is a list that we can go through to make comparisons, maybe run simulations, and eventually select the method we are going to use. This is previewing the next step just a little bit, but seeing the purpose of doing something is often helpful.
Coming up next we're going to look at an example that will emphasize this step in our framework. It's an example from physics about gravity. Don't be alarmed if you are not familiar with or even find physics hard! I assure you that the problem will be manageable with just a tiny bit of background material when we use the things we've already learned.
Later,
Tristen