The Thinker's Toolkit: 14 Powerful Techniques for Problem Solving

The answer lies in the uncomfortable fact that, when it comes to problem solving, we humans tend to be poor analysts. We analyze whatever facts we have, make suppositions about those aspects for which we have no facts, conceive of a solution, and (like the managers of Family Frozen Foods) hope it solves the problem.

“What reason weaves, by passion is undone.”

(That is precisely what happened at the meeting of Family Frozen Foods managers. Darfield began the discussion with the decision—a conclusion—that the solution to the backlog in deliveries was to expand the fleet of delivery trucks.)

Major factors and major issues are the navigational aids of analysis; they tell us where our analysis should be headed. And they will normally change as we become aware of new information and gain a deeper understanding of the problem. If we lose sight of them, we lose our way in the analytic process.

Not surprisingly, the solution we intuitively favor is, more often than not, the first one that seems satisfactory. Economists call this phenomenon “satisficing” (a merging of “satisfy” and “suffice”).

Our analysis usually focuses on the solution we intuitively favor; we therefore give inadequate attention to alternative solutions.

We view the world through a dense veil of burdensome, thought-warping emotions, biases, and mind-sets. Through this veil we sometimes perceive cause-and-effect and other “patterns” where there are none. We are prone to grace these nonexistent patterns with self-satisfying explanations with whose validity we are instinctively unconcerned. Finally, w

Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ,

it. It’s the familiar trial-and-error technique. We humans therefore tend to muddle through in problem solving, enjoying moderate success, living with our failures, and trusting in better luck next time.