Breaks versus Interruptions

It is a good idea to take a break when working on a problem for a variety of reasons.

• Overcoming mental blocks.
• Getting a fresh perspective on a problem
• Incubation
  

However, interruptions destroy the momentum you've built up. Some of the more obvious forms of interruptions.

• Instant messages
• E-mail notifications
• Co-workers
• Phone calls

To remain productive you must take breaks rather than experience interruptions. The fundamental difference is that you decide when to take a break. Other people decide when to interrupt you.

If you're a manager, make sure the people that work for you are free of interruptions. Perhaps designate certain time periods where people can be off the grid, focusing on the difficult problems. Then other times when interaction is encouraged. Both are important and so you need to make time for both.

If you're not a manager, perhaps block off time in your calendar, turn off the instant messaging and E-mail notifications so that you can't be bothered.

I wonder if anyone has ever studied the workplace and the amount of interruptions that modern day workers encounter and the effect on productivity. Although we're more productive today because of technological advances, we may now be turning the corner where we are becoming less productive due to the inability to focus on problems.

Short Memory

"You can’t improve a design when you’re emotionally attached to past decisions. Improvements come from flexibility and openness." A quote from the 37signals blog.

This brings me back to diverse thinking and confirmation bias. The longer we work on a problem, the more focused we are. The good part is that we tune out the unimportant and distractions, but the downside is that we are less open to a new insight which might lead to a better solution.

How does one achieve a balance between focus and freshness? One way is to have several projects going at once (who doesn't) but rather than flitting back-and-forth in a feeble attempt to multi-task, I think you should dedicate significant chunks of time and effort to one problem. Then switch to another without re-visiting the first problem for some time. When you return to the initial problem you can't help but have a fresh perspective. You've also allowed for some incubation to occur. The longer you've worked on a project, the harder it is to return with a fresh perspective. That's where the challenge is.

The time spent devoted to one project is a factor you can play with. If it is a project you're familiar with, you can stay away from it for some time. For a new, unfamiliar project, don't stay away too long because you may end up spending too much time refreshing your memory.

Creation, Consumption, and Communication

We engage in three basic types of activities: Creation of new ideas, consumption of existing ideas, and communication, either of existing ideas or our own new ideas. Each of these has importance and there must be a balance among the three.

I've posted about Isolation and Creativity before and there's a new book (and free e-book) about the need to focus in order to be productive. I've not worked my way through it (lack of focus I suppose) but it looks like the author will present various tools and techniques for eliminating distractions and the Data Smog that assaults us all the time.

I've also posted about consumption (or learning). One should spend time being exposed to new ideas, getting inspiration from others. Consumption shouldn't just be of the things we like or that agree with our mind-set but should expand our ideas. Not that we blindly accept everything that comes our way, but that we are able to see things from another perspective. Nothing is more dangerous than someone who is certain they are correct. Doesn't matter where. As Nassim Taleb points out in the Black Swan, Experts are people who don't know what they don't know.

And finally communication. Check the tag cloud for posts about that topic.

There must be a balance of all three. We will be strong in one of these areas. You must cultivate your skills in the other areas. While being able to switch from one to another is important, don't get into the situation which the author of Focus describes where you flutter from one to another so quickly that you cannot build up any momentum.

These three areas are a stool that your problem solving skills sit upon. Make sure each leg is strong and capable of supporting the weight of the problems you must address.

Isolation and Creativity

I've also come across a blog posting about the Creativity Trigger. I might be misinterpreting it a bit, but one of the things the author mentions is being overloaded by information such that one doesn't have original thoughts but merely reforms what someone else has already done. Well he's a designer, and originality has more value in that area that for a scientist or engineer, but I think we can learn from him. While it is important to be linked, and exposed to many sources of information, you should also balance this with times of isolation. This can bring new solutions, approaches, and strategies towards our problems.

Like everything in life, we need to strike a balance in how we go about solving problems. You can't be everything at all times, so take the time to make a conscious shift in your approach from time to time.

Organization and Creativity

One doesn't think of a methodical, organized person as creative. There's no eureka moment, frenzy of activity, or sudden change to point to. However, part of being creative is being prepared. Musicians practice long hours on very basic skills in order to have the ability to demonstrate artistry with ease. You can't play a concerto without having mastered tone and articulation. Despite what one might think, making music doesn't come naturally.

Problem solvers should build up a database (some might call it a repertoire) of information, techniques, and connections. You never know what might be of importance in addressing a problem you encounter. If you haven't toyed around with something, you won't know it's capabilities when faced with a problem. I've posted on this topic before, perhaps more specifically. Take time to learn new skills, play around with things, and build up a database of information in order to be prepared for your next eureka moment.

Here's Joan Rivers sharing about her creativity.

Overcoming Mental Blocks

A quote from the signal vs noise blog. "Sometimes a design isn’t working because you think you can’t change the one element that needs to be changed"

The same goes for problem solutions. Maybe you're not finding an effective solution because you are locked in on something as being essential when it isn't. Take a step back, attack the problem with a beginner's mind and maybe another solution will present itself.

I was once faced with an analysis problem in which I couldn't avoid the compound I was trying to analyze decompose in the equipment. After many iterations of trying to find a way to avoid decomposition, I finally realized that if I deliberately decomposed the compound in a known manner, the solution was easy.

Imagination

I haven't posted in some time. It's probably a lack of imagination.

Why is it that some people are content to do the same job, the same way over and over. I don't think it's that they're lazy. In most cases what they are doing is labor intensive. They might be very proficient and fast at what they do.

I think it's a lack of imagination. They can't imagine doing it a different way. Not automated, not faster, not different. Just doing it.

I follow a couple of blogs on Excel. The posts are mostly about customizing and automating so one can do things faster, and exactly the way you want them to be instead of relying on what the programmers envisioned. The desire to do things differently requires imagination about the way you want things to be.

Work on your imagination and who knows where it will lead.

We're all Creative

In Moving To Higher Ground, Wynton Marsalis writes that creativity is not the province of  a small, specialized group of people but that everyone is creative.  He gets kids to blast away on instruments doing whatever and points out that they are creating.

He goes on to say "I told you it was easy [to be creative].  It's only hard if you want to sound good."

We don't lack creativity.  The trick is bringing that creativity to fruition.

Relationship of Art & Science

Too often we focus on our strengths. Scientists & engineers have strong analytical skills and cultivate those throughout their education. Others have artistic skills and cultivate those. Frequently this is of necessity because we don't have time for both. Mae Jemison, an astronaut, doctor, and dancer (not necessarily in that order) talks about the relationship between art and science in a TED talk.

Problem solving requires creativity and as I've mentioned before, developing our creativity requires developing all parts of our mind. Try doing something new. Even if you aren't successful (or even moderately good), it will stimulate your mind. Bust out the crayons and color with your kids, try photography, write a Haiku, who knows what. Just try something you wouldn't normally do today.

Kaizen and Innovation

Problem solutions can be realized in three ways,

• studying a problem and developing a solution
• small incremental improvements which will ultimately lead to a solution (Kaizen)
• a major break-through (Innovation)

The first is the most common way scientists and engineers tackle technical problems they face. The problem is analyzed, potential solutions are developed, tested and measured to see if they are effective, and ultimately implemented and monitored to insure continuing success. (DMAIC)

The other two approaches have their place in any successful organization and they should be cultivated by management.

The advantage of Kaizen is that it can be done by anybody in the organization. It many cases it is most effective when those actually doing the work are suggesting and making the changes with the help of engineers or those who have the bigger picture in mind.

Innovation is more of a serendipitous event. There is no formula or process you can follow to have innovation. However you can strive to develop an environment that is fertile for innovation to occur. I'll comment more about this in a later post.

What is your area of strength? Are you the problem solver, continuous improvment person, or an innovator? As individuals, we have a tendency to fall into one or the other area primarily. However you shouldn't neglect the others. If you are a problem solver, take some time to look for minor improvements or do something creative occasionally.

An organization should strive to have a balance of all three. Too many organizations emphasize one at the expense of the others. Innovators may never have a chance to be heard, get frustrated and leave; or perhaps the organization is full of wildly creative people but nothing ever gets off the ground because there aren't people to implement and grind out the solution.

Look at both yourself and your organization. If you are in management, does your organization have all three going on? If you are an individual contributor, are you trying to develop skills in those areas where you are weaker?

Modeling

Modeling is a way to combine play, mapping, and visualization. Many of us built models when we were kids. Looking back, it was a great way to learn the parts of a car. My brother even had a model of a V8 engine with all the pistons, pulleys, camshaft etc. I still visualize that model when it comes to problems with my 4 cylinder turbo-charged engine in my VW.

Consider how modeling might help you solve your problem. A model might be a physical model, a computer simulation (everything from weather-prediction models using supercomputers to a simple Excel spreadsheet), or maybe a diagram sketched out on a napkin. Once you have a model, feel free to play with it, make changes and see what happens. Remember it's only a model and there will be aspects of the real situation that they don't model, nevertheless, a model is a great way to develop some intuition about your situation.

Excel is a great way to build a simple model of many systems. Take some time to get familiar with Excel and move beyond simple formulas and formatting. If you're using Excel to make pretty tables or just keep lists, you're missing a lot. There are a lot of resources on the internet for Excel. Two of my favorites for picking up tips and new techniques that I can use are Pointy-Haired Dilbert and Peltier Technical Services. One of them had a great method for randomizing a list which I now use routinely to run my analysis samples in random order to avoid time effects in my analysis.

Beginner versus Expert

Since my last post I have been doing some thinking about the Beginner's versus Expert mind. Clearly there must be balance between these two extremes. One the one hand, you want someone experience working on the problem. When you have bypass surgery your main concern is how many times your doctor has performed one. You don't look for a resident who has only watched a bypass surgery in the hope that they will come up with an innovative approach. On the other hand, an expert may jump to conclusions based on past history and miss a nuance that points to a different solution.

The same processes that make us creative by allowing us to see relationships between seemingly unrelated things can lead to error. Drawing conclusions from small amounts of information can help you react/respond to new situations but sometimes we jump to conclusions, classifying a new situation as an old one even when there are significant differences.

How to avoid this pitfall of the expert? It is critical to always circle back and evaluate your solution to insure it is working. Problem solving involves a cycle - it is never a single pass.

Play as a problem solving tool.

The Presentation Zen blog had a post today about play and refers to the beginner's mind. I touched on the beginner's mind before in my Diversity of Thought post. The PZ blog does much better job of stimulating thoughts about play than I could so I thought I'd just direct you there. Read the post with a problem you have in mind.

Problem solving often requires a fresh perspective. Play frees the mind from whatever rut you are in.

Diversity of Thought

I started reading the book "Turning Numbers into Knowledge" (I suppose this book is in many way what my website will be about). In chapter 1 Koomey talks about a "Beginner's mind" - looking at things from a fresh, unbiased perspective. I think this is an issue of Diversity of thought. My company is currently making a big deal about "Diversity" without really defining what it means. Most people are taking it to mean we have to have male/female, ethnic group, race diversity. What may be more important than such diversity is a diversity of thought (and perhaps how you approach problems). You can have all white males in a room, but if they all approach a problem from a different perspective it is just as powerful as if you had a whole mix of race/gender/ethnicity. Perhaps even more powerful because you don't spend time trying to explain things to everyone. There must be a balance, diversity to get different perspectives, but some commonality or else you never get on the same page.

I suppose my website on Technical Problem solving should address ways to cultivate diverse thinking. I myself tend to approach things pretty uniformly. I wonder if that is typical of all people? If you can cultivate diverse thinking, then you can become a great problem solver since you don't have to waste time explaining things to yourself.