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Stop Guessing

The 9 Behaviors of Great Problem Solvers

Nat Green

Berrett-Koehler, 2017

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Overview

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Consultant Nat Greene shows you how to address difficult issues and solve tough problems by using nine strategic problem-solving behaviors. He says you should stop guessing and learn how to “smell” problems. Other steps can help, such as acknowledging your ignorance and making sure you are defining the problem accurately. Greene urges delving into the science behind a problematic system, shooting for simple solutions, making choices based on solid factual evidence and staying on target until you unravel the knot. He provides many interesting, entertaining anecdotes to enliven his succinct guide. Greene offers the most help to those who lack an engineering background and who feel overly reliant on experts, but anyone trying to analyze an issue can benefit from his structured framework. getAbstract recommends his approach as a helping hand for those who want to adopt a specific problem-solving strategy.

Summary

Dealing with Issues

Have you ever been forced to accept certain problems because you didn’t think you could do anything about them? You might have attempted to address them and not succeeded. You may even have thrown money at these issues to circumvent them. Instead, follow the example of great problem solvers who use a consistent set of “behaviors” to solve the most difficult issues. Learn these nine strategies to become a better problem solver:

1. “Stop Guessing”

Each time you come across something that doesn’t work, you normally make a guess about what to do. Fast solutions mattered in ancient times when people had to act quickly to survive and couldn’t pause to conduct a “root cause analysis.”

Most likely quick answers can’t solve today’s hard problems, even though teachers reward students who come up with quick answers. Managers value employees who respond with speed. But acting too quickly encourages “solution guessing” rather than “problem solving.” To resolve a problem, you have to understand the issues behind it.

Today, you can usually take the time to “make sure the method you’re choosing does not encourage...

About the Author

International consultant Nat Greene has explored engineering design, global trade, organizational change and political reform. He co-founded Stroud International and became its CEO.

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J. M. 11 months ago

It's a nice sumarry
A. 7 years ago

It's a good summary for hesitant problem solvers.
A paragraph dedicated to how to gather data in a simple way would be appreciated.