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In this week's newsletter I shared the questions I use when I'm trying to find creative solutions to problems. What are your favorite questions?
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In this week's newsletter I shared the questions I use when I'm trying to find creative solutions to problems. What are your favorite questions?
Help them think in specifics; Ask them to make the problem worse
These are variants of some of the already listed questions, but I find them helpful because they force the person to think in specifics. And in some cases it is easier to see how things can go wrong and reverse it than it is to predict what will make things better.
"If you could pick just one part of this problem and make it instantly go away what would it be?" (Focus on a specific element and drill in on solutions there. This also helps the team to focus on the most important parts of the problem.)
"If we wanted to cause this same problem somewhere else, how would we do it?" (Addresses who might have faced this problem before and may allow you to find a new situation/domain where this problem doesn't apply. From there you can dig in on why the new domain is immune to this problem and see if it gives new ideas.)
"If we wanted to make this problem worse, what is the most effective way to do it?" (Similar to above, may allow you to invert the cause and see a way forward)