Represent the Problem
Once you have identified a problem, take the time to represent the problem. Representing the problem may involve thinking abstractly, but it can also involve putting the problem in a tangible form.
The article, The Road to a Solution – Using models to represent a problem, identifies the following issues that can arise if you skip this step:
1. Not seeing all the relationships between different parts of the problem.The human mind can focus on only a small amount of information at one time, so that we often find it difficult to hold a complete and detailed mental picture of a problem in our minds. Without this we may overlook important relationships.
2. Not seeing beyond the most obvious solution.The way we associate ideas and concepts in our minds, forming patterns which are reinforced by experience, often makes it hard to see common situations in a new light. Relationships between information which are new or seem 'unlikely', and ideas which appear irrelevant, may be either consciously excluded or not triggered from memory because of their weak associations with the situation.
The article goes on to explain why representing the problem through a model is important:
"Models give shape and structure to information, making it easier to remember, think about and build on our ideas. They can highlight gaps in our information, help to predict the consequences of our actions and stimulate ideas. Models are also invaluable for communicating problems and ideas for their solution to other people."
Consider the following options and read the article for additional ideas and explanations:
The article, The Road to a Solution – Using models to represent a problem, identifies the following issues that can arise if you skip this step:
1. Not seeing all the relationships between different parts of the problem.The human mind can focus on only a small amount of information at one time, so that we often find it difficult to hold a complete and detailed mental picture of a problem in our minds. Without this we may overlook important relationships.
2. Not seeing beyond the most obvious solution.The way we associate ideas and concepts in our minds, forming patterns which are reinforced by experience, often makes it hard to see common situations in a new light. Relationships between information which are new or seem 'unlikely', and ideas which appear irrelevant, may be either consciously excluded or not triggered from memory because of their weak associations with the situation.
The article goes on to explain why representing the problem through a model is important:
"Models give shape and structure to information, making it easier to remember, think about and build on our ideas. They can highlight gaps in our information, help to predict the consequences of our actions and stimulate ideas. Models are also invaluable for communicating problems and ideas for their solution to other people."
Consider the following options and read the article for additional ideas and explanations:
In his book, The Back of the Napkin, Dan Roam states, "Visual thinking is an extraordinarily powerful way to solve problems, and though it may appear to be something new, the fact is that we already know how to do it. Although we are born with an amazing vision system, most of us rarely think about our visual abilities and even fewer have any idea how to improve them. It's as if we've been given a high-end desktop supercomputer as a gift, but we don't know where to find any new software. Even though sight is for most of us the most highly developed of all our senses, when it comes to visual thinking, we limit ourselves to what is available right out of the box. This is a shame, because by better understanding the vision tools that we already have (and then learning to use a few new ones) we can learn to solve problems with pictures in remarkable ways."
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Case Study: Computational problem solving at Google. |