Stop Brainstorming, Start Problem Solving

Introducing Split-Solving, the one problem solving technique to rule them all!

Photo by Olav Ahrens Røtne on Unsplash

Why not Brainstorming?

Brainstorming is where a group of people meet to generate new ideas and solutions. People suggest as many spontaneous ideas as possible, without criticism, and after the brainstorming session the ideas are evaluated. [Wikipedia]

Brainstorming is proven to be a waste of time but it’s still in widespread use, probably because it’s easy.

Brainstorming is just guessing, and it’s easy to guess lots of potential solutions. You might get lucky and guess correctly. More likely you’ll guess incorrectly and waste time wondering why your ‘solution’ isn’t working. Instead, adopt a problem solving approach that’s based on fact not opinion; a problem solving technique that’s guaranteed to get to the root cause of the problem: Split-Solving.

Introducing Split-Solving

Used in organisations like NASA, the US Military, and leading consultancies, Split-Solving eliminates potential sources of the problem, effectively ‘splitting’ the problem into smaller and smaller chunks for you to then really focus in on.

Key to it is identifying those variables that could contribute to the undesirable effect, and then eliminating those proven to not be causing the problem.

Which playing card are you holding?

Imagine you hold a playing card, and it’s my job to work out which card it is. I could simply guess, like brain-storming, or I could Split-Solve…

Split-Solving example using Playing Cards

• Variable 1 — Colour: Is the card Red? Yes. I’ve just eliminated 26 cards
• Variable 2 — Suit: Is the card a Heart? Yes. I’ve eliminated a further 13 cards
• Variable 3 — High or Low cards: [Assuming Ace is low] Is the card a 7 or lower? No. I’m now down to just 6 cards
• Variable 4 — Picture: Is the card a picture card? Yes. Down to 3 cards
• Variable 5 — Sub-split of Picture: Is it a Queen or lower? Yes. Down to 2 cards
• Variable 6 — Sex: Is the card a male? Yes. It must be the Jack of Hearts

At each stage I’ve eliminated potential options by splitting the problem in half — you can do this for any process or geographical/spatial related problem.

If you’ve a lamp that’s not working, for instance, “Is there electricity at the wall socket?” could be an appropriate place to start. Plugging in another lamp into the same plug socket will immediately confirm whether the fault is somewhere in the building, or a problem with the lamp itself.

Why is my Electricity bill high?

The playing cards example is simple because the answers are binary, meaning you’re immediately pointed down a certain route. Try and make every question have a binary result by having a ‘Target’ and ‘Actual’ value for each variable. If the ‘Actual’ is less than ‘Target’ you know your variable is out of specification.

Split-Solving a high electricity bill

To work out why my electricity bill is high we:

1. Identify the ‘Key Variable’. This is the variable that best defines the problem. It can be measured, which then enables us to be objective in our problem solving. In this case it is the Bill Amount, measured in £.
2. Build the ‘Top Level’ split. Here we identify the highest level variables that together control the ‘Key Variable’. This (and indeed every) level of the Split-Tree can be arranged in a mathematical equation to calculate the variable they feed into. This way we know the Split-Tree is correct: that there are No Gaps in any level of the split, and that there are No overlaps either, meaning we don’t accidentally count anything twice. This is often known as being MECE — Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive.
3. Eliminate variables from the ‘Top Level’. Any variables that are within spec can be eliminated — we know for a fact these are not contributing to the problem.
4. Expand the Split-Tree to the next level(s). If a variable is out of spec we add another level to identify those sub-variables that contribute to it. We then continue to do this until we get to the root cause.

Why is my employee under-performing?

Split-Solving can be used for behavioural and more abstract problems too, but it takes a bit more thought to ensure each level of the split is objective, and that it has No Gaps and No Overlaps.

Split-Solving why an employee is under-performing

Employee performance, for instance, can be split down into Skill (Are they trained, and have they ever demonstrated the necessary skills/behaviours to do the role?), Will (Are they sufficiently intrinsically and extrinsically motivated?), and Opportunity (Do they have the time and tools available to do what I am asking of them?).

We could split each level out further (eg. Intrinsic motivation could split into Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose) but the beauty of Split-Solving is that we only need to put our energy into investigating further when the problem points us that way.

Your turn

Split-Solving isn’t easy to master, but do persevere as once grasped it will step-change not only how you solve problems, but your overall clarity too.

So any time you are stuck or face a problem follow the mantra: if in doubt, Split-Solve it out!

To help you learn, how about you try to identify the Key Variable and the Top Level Split (ie. The first level of the Split-Tree) of the following problems? Enter your thoughts in the comments, and I’ll let you know you know how you’ve got on.

Example:

• Problem: Why was I late for work?
• Key variable: Time of arrival at work
• Top level split: Departure time, Distance travelled, Average speed

Problems for you to consider:

1. Why is the grass on my lawn so long?
2. Why has my phone run out of battery?
3. Why are today’s sales in my shop low?

Happy splitting!