More Than One Solution-Strategy

by Chris Fillebrown

Frame of Reference advocates using more than one solution-strategy. There is no one strategy that should be used to the exclusion of all others. The more solution-strategies that you know, the better you will be at solving problems. Learn as many solution-strategies as you can and think about how each one can be used to solve a particular problem. It takes practice over time to gain experience with different techniques.

Keep in mind that trying out different strategies is not risky or expensive. Solution-strategies are your tools. When you are solving big problems you have to use the tools that fit your mind the best, even if that particular strategy may not be the most ideal solution-strategy for the problem you are solving.

The only thing that counts is that you solve the problem successfully. In order to gain experience with a new solution-strategies you should try the new strategy out on a small problem.

Another point is that the solution-strategy that you choose does not present a risk. Risk is inherent in the problem you are trying to solve. The risk is not in the solution-strategy that you adopt to solve a problem, the risk is contained in the problem. Solving problems is the elimination of risk, or the reduction of risk to some acceptable level. Solving problems has as much to do with how you think about a problem than it does the subject-matter expertise required to solve the elements of the problem.

Solution-strategies help us to establish a Frame of Reference around a problem. They help us to minimize or eliminate the risk inherent in the problem. Once you have established a Frame of Reference around a problem, a solution is the only possible outcome.