First Blog

  Solution Methods of Last Resort G Donald Allen 1. Introduction . You and the team can't solve the complex problem. All the engineers, all the accountants, and all the plant managers can agree on nothing definite. Every tentative solution you’ve offered has been rejected by the higher-ups as flawed. Call this a Humpty Dumpty problem [1] .   When up against impossibility or at least complexity, the problem-solver looks for any clue to help. Just a trace of inspiration may do. When you’re trying to move a mountain, only a morsel of information can help. What is singularly important here is that these notes are not confined to normal propositional logic for consideration or resolution. They work with any problem-solving tool you may prefer, from beliefs to faith to emotions, to all. To this point, we’ve already discussed dozens of solution methods. In this chapter, we add on the final bunch, dominated by dream states and thought experiments. 2. The Usual Suspects. You

                                               Illeism – The Lost Art of Problem Solving Introduction .  Often in the throes of problem-solving, we get emotionally involved or otherwise locked in. We want a solution, but subconsciously we want a particular solution and dwell on that outcome, to lasting frustration. When this happens, we don’t talk to ourselves asking, “What’s wrong here?” Not asking nor having a willingness to ask such basic questions is called cognitive freezing as opposed to flexible thinking . Overcoming this requires the objectivity of self-reflection, that is looking at the problems from the outside. Overcoming this requires an alternative to self-involvement, no matter how compelling. Witness if you will, the greatest of geniuses have been willing to ask and look for alternatives, which are among the hallmarks of genius. The most famous of all was Albert Einstein (1879-1955), who through his thought experiments explored new worlds of physical explanations, imp