The biggest problem is figuring out what the problem is. Blogging is practicing figuring out what the problem is.
/By Duncan Anderson. To see all blogs click here.
Reading time: 10 mins
Innovation vs Problem Solving vs Rote Learning
Innovation = 1. Figuring out what the problem is * 2. Solving the problem
Problem Solving = 1. Being given the problem to solve * 2. Solving the problem
Rote Learning = 1. Being given the problem to solve * 2. Being given the solution to the problem
Comment:
I believe all mental skills are cultivated. You aren’t born able to walk or talk. You aren’t born able to do maths or draw.
IMO you aren’t born able to Problem Solve or Innovate.
Mental skills are like sketching, each time you do them you get a little better.
IMO one can cultivate one’s ability to Innovate. IMO one can cultivate one’s ability to Problem Solve.
For me, I’ve found it much harder to ‘1. Figure out what the problem is’ than to ‘2. Make progress solving a problem’. So…
Jingle: the biggest problem is figuring out what the problem is :)
The best way I know to build Innovation ability? Write a ~1,000 blog on the same problem space each week.
Steps:
Step 1: pick a problem space like ‘the product of Edrolo’ or ‘the business of Edrolo’ or ‘what ways to I want to help improve the world’, etc
Step 2: write a ~1,000 word blog on the problem space each week
Outcome
Writing a blog = ‘1. Figuring out what the problem is’ = what should I write about = figuring out the question
Writing a blog = ‘2. Solving the problem’ = the making progress for the question you have identified
Each week one should eat well, exercise, meditate, learn about the world… And IMO systematically build Innovation and Problem Solving ability AKA write a blog of ~1,000 words a week on the same problem space.
If I look back at where my personal growth has come from in the last 5 years; IMO more growth has come from writing 2-3x blogs of 1,000 words per week than any other source.
If I look back at where increases in my personal happiness have come from in the last 5 years; IMO more growth has come from writing 2-3x blogs of 1,000 words per week than any other source.
Honestly, I’d stop exercising before I stopped writing each week. For me, writing = essential life element.
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Details
Secondary school context: Innovation vs Problem Solving vs Rote Learning
At secondary school you are almost always given the problem to solve, eg the english essay prompt, the maths question. The exam isn’t ‘do anything you want’. From my perspective there is almost zero ‘1. Figuring out what the problem is’ AKA Innovation AKA figuring out what the Job To Be Done is in secondary schools.
Innovation would be making the maths questions to help you understand the concept in the lesson.
Innovation would be making an exam for eg Legal Studies.
Problem Solving = making the if/then statement for a question = getting from the start point (the question) the finish point yourself = conceptual understanding
Rote Learning = being given the if/then statement to answer a question = being shown how to get from the start point (question) to the finish line = memorising steps without understanding why = procedural understanding
IMO for most people the goal in secondary school is ‘100% on the test’.
IMO most people are unaware of the difference between ‘Problem Solving vs Rote Learning’ (AKA making the if/then statement yourself vs being given the if/then statement).
So unwittingly many students and teachers actually learn / teach in a Rote Learning manner (procedurally) as this is often the path of least resistance to get the exact question in front of them ‘right’.
So in effect the secondary school learning environment IMO:
Has little to no Innovation...
… and can massively overweight towards Rote Learning vs Problem Solving :(
Real life ≠ secondary school exams
IMO in real life you need to figure out what problems you want to solve. So Innovation is important.
IMO in real life for the most important things there is no ‘right’ answer, eg how to improve education, eg what to do for work, eg what is the best way to fight COVID-19, eg what is the best way to make a coffee! There is just making the best decision possible with the information you have at the time
So you can’t rely on Rote Learning, you have to Problem Solve.
"Questions you cannot answer are usually far better for you than answers you cannot question" - Yuval Noah Harari
As we ascend Maslow’s hierarchy of needs we go from questions with answers to questions that can never be answered :).
As we ascend Maslow’s hierarchy of needs we go from money being able to solve the problem to money being low in relevance. No money will make you sad, lots of money won’t make you happy :).
Is it possible for one to systematically build Innovation skills? IMO yes.
Each week I systemically do units of ‘unstructured problem identification’ AKA ‘1. Figuring out what the problem is’.
How do I do this?
The best way I know to build ‘1. Figuring out what the problem is’ is to pick a problem space and then to write about it each week.
IMO Writing = 1. Figuring out what the problem is * 2. Solving the problem = Innovation
One example is this CloudStreaks blog you are reading. I give myself a problem area and then I make myself write about that problem area each week.
Figuring out the problem space
Defining the problem space
Solving the problem
How
Execution
Writing = 1. Figuring out what the problem is * 2 Solving the problem = Innovation
Writing = F * P * S = Innovation
Problem Space Example 1: the business of Edrolo
The CloudStreaks blogs are meant to be ways for Edrolo as a business to improve.
Each week I write a blog on a way that I hope to help Edrolo improve.
For me the hardest part is ‘figuring out what to write about’ AKA ‘1. Figuring out what the problem is’.
Writing the blog = ‘2. Solving the problem’ = thinking = making progress to level up my thoughts for a certain area
Writing the blog ≠ putting what is in my head on paper
Writing the blog = figuring out a theory to help with the new problem I’ve found (or levelling up an existing theory)
Writing a weekly blog for CloudStreaks = systematic unstructured problem identification = systematic (ie weekly) unstructured (ie no prompt) ‘1. Figuring out what the problem is’
Problem Space Example 2: the macro product of Edrolo
I write a blog each week on product for Edrolo. This is internally only and not company wide.
Again the hardest part is trying to figure out a problem I want to improve my thoughts on.
Problem Space Example 3: specific product for Edrolo - eg Year 7 Maths
I write a blog each week / fortnight for the major product I’m working on. Again this is internal only and not company wide.
I might work on a product for eg 6 months and then write 25x of these little blogs. I find that slowly together they compound into a big step forward. Normally there isn’t one big step forward. I wrote about this in a blog called ‘earned secrets’.
Problem Space Example 4: my non-work life
Yeah I do this for non-work things too :). But I normally only write these for myself (ie no one else sees).
Example topics (aka ‘1. Figuring out what the problem is’):
Do I want to have children?
What different types of friendships are there?
Do I think I have the relationship nourishment I currently want in life?
Some prompt questions I have for ‘1. Figuring out what the problem is’ AKA figuring out what the Job To Be Done is AKA figuring out what to write about AKA building Innovation ability?
Anything that confused you (didn’t make sense)?
Anything that frustrated you (didn’t go well)?
Eg did you have an interaction with someone that didn’t go well.
If you had your time again what would you do differently?
If you could go back in time and give yourself one key learning for when you started this project what would it be?
An upcoming project you want to get off to the best start with?
Anything you really enjoyed?
Anything that went really well?
Blue ocean: anything new you want to create (eg I want to create more Innovation ability at Edrolo)?
Comment: I’ve slowly been able to see more and more ‘problems’ aka things I want to try and develop a better theory for.
I used to think there were ‘ideas people’ and ‘not ideas people’, now I think there are ‘people who have cultivated their ability to see problems to solve’ and ‘people who are yet to cultivate their ability to see problems to solve’.
I never had product ideas for Edrolo as an example. Now I have more than I can deal with.
I used to charge through a week and not see many things I’d like to improve. Now I could write blogs 100% of every day about things I’m wanting to change. Writing blogs to solve an identified problem normally allows me to identify new problems.
Picking a problem space (eg ‘the business of Edrolo’ eg ‘the macro product of Edrolo’) and then making myself write about them each week has turned me from ‘I don’t see any problems’ to ‘I see things all over the place I’d like to help improve’.
I honestly feel like my eyes were previously shut. 10 years ago I think I saw 1% of what I see now.
That is to say that 10 years ago I was 1% as good at ‘1. Figuring out what the problem is’.
Or that I’m 100x better now.
This didn’t happen by accident. In hindsight I was systematically cultivating my ability to ‘1. Figuring out what the problem is’ by writing all the time. In an average week I’ll write 3-10x blogs.
‘1. Figuring out what the problem is’ is like sketching. Each time you try and do it you get a little better.
IMO when I finished secondary school I had almost zero ‘1. Figuring out what the problem is’ ability.
Then I did Engineering & Commerce at university where I was always given the ‘problem to solve’ (just like secondary school) so IMO at the end of university my ‘1. Figuring out what the problem is’ was similar to at the end of secondary school, basically non-existent.
Again, by picking a problem space (eg the business of Edrolo) and then writing about it each week I believe I’ve been able to systematically improve my Innovation and Problem Solving abilities.
The biggest problem is figuring out what the problem is. Writing ~1,000 words a week on a problem space = systematically improving ones ability to ‘figure out what the problem is’.
“With your eyes open, doors open.” --A.r. Kane
“With your eyes open, figuring out problems to solve open”
If you only take away one thing
What 10 years ago Duncan thought: people who are enthusiastic and have a good work ethic = will go far. *Aside: you can get good secondary school results with this.
Now what I think: 1. Enthusiastic * 2. Good work Ethic * 3. can Problem Solve * 4. can Innovate = will go far.
I see many people who have done ‘well’ at secondary school but in fact have actually just ‘rote learned lots’.
I see some people who have done ‘well’ at school and have built ‘problem solving’ skills by figuring out the ‘if/then’ statement for a given question.
I see almost no one who has finished secondary school with any ‘Innovation’ skills, AKA is good at ‘1. Figuring out what the problem is’.
If you have never done sketching why would you be any good at it? Each time you sketch you get a little better.
If you’ve never spent time trying to ‘1. Figuring out what the problem is’ why would you be any good at it? For me blogging / writing each week on the same problem space is easy the way I know to build ‘1. Figuring out what the problem is’ skills.
So… writing each week makes Innovation easy :)
Writing is also some of the most rewarding fun I know of.
IMO one should write ~1,000 words a week on a problem space. Done well this will make innovation go from hard to easy!
Alight one more: different sizes of ‘figuring out what the problem is’
Small: ~100 words in a weekly email on what I learned to help me at work in the last week
Medium: ~1,000 words a week on a specific problem space like ‘Edrolo product’
Large: ~10,000 words once a quarter on the long term vision for Edrolo. Honestly, I find to level up the long term vision for Edrolo simply sit down and start writing about ‘long term vision’. The problem to solve = long term vision. Writing = problem solving.