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Problem Solving Methods

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Maikel Mardjan
Maikel Mardjan

Radical open innovation requires systems thinking and problem solving methods. It involves collaboration across diverse partners to solve complex problems accelerated by technological, economic, and environmental changes. Systems thinking views problems holistically rather than through generalizations and can help address unintended consequences and design effective policies for managing systems. Key tools for systems thinking include causal loop diagrams, stock and flow models, and identifying archetypes to predict system behaviors and assess how proposed changes may impact the system over time. Simulation is also essential to validate if changes will lead to sustainable outcomes.

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Problem Solving Methods NOCX Analyst report 1 (c) 2020 Business Management Support Foundation (bm-support.org) - This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License Created by : Maikel Mardjan (www.nocomplexity.com ) Last update : July 2020 Proven tools for Radical Open Innovation
Radical Open innovation A modern innovation processes requires: ● An enormous diversity of knowledge and skills ● Use of knowledge partners ● Openness Radical Open innovation is all about collaboration We define Radical Open Innovation(ROI) as a method in with exchange of ideas and knowledge is possible in an open structure using openness principles by default. ROI requires the use of problem solving methods with a foundation in systems thinking. 2
Accelerating changes Changes in: ● Technology: Machine Learning (AI), biohacking (crissp) , Internet use, etc ● Post covid-19 economy ● Environmental shifts (water becomes the new gold) 3
Solving problems is never easy Well intentioned efforts to solve pressing problems lead to: RESISTANCE Many times your best efforts to solve a problem actually: MAKE IT WORSE 4
Systems thinking will help Move from generalizations to tools and processes: ● that help to solve complexity ● design better operating policies, and ● Guide change in systems (organisations and technology systems) System Dynamics is a method to enhance learning in complex systems 5
Systems thinking is critical for ROI ● Changes in our environment are driving us to think differently about governance. ● Information explosion: More accessible knowledge (fads, facts and opinions) ● Digital connected world (Machine Learning / AI, IoT, Internet) -> Everything is connected. ● Communication is more complex: E.g. complex collaboration networks 6
What is a system ● A combination of interacting elements organized to achieve one or more stated purposes. ● An integrated set of elements, subsystems, or assemblies that accomplish a defined objective. These elements include products (hardware, software, firmware), processes, people, information, techniques, facilities, services, and other support elements. ● a set of things, connected in such a way that they produce their own pattern of behavior over time. (Donella Meadows) 7
Systems thinking ● Systems thinking is a unique perspective on reality a perspective that sharpens our awareness of wholes and how the parts within those wholes interrelate. ● A systems thinker knows how systems fit into the larger context of day‐to‐day life, how they behave, and how to manage them. ● Systems thinking recognizes circular causation, where a variable is both the cause and the effect of another and recognizes the primacy of interrelationships and nonlinear thinking. A way of thinking where the primacy of the whole is acknowledged. 8
Emergence ● System-level properties exist only at the system level as the system functions. ● System properties are not observable by looking at a subsystem only. ● Emergence behaviour cannot be understood, explained, or inferred from the structure or behavior of constituent elements or their local properties. ● Cause and effect relationships can only be established through retrospection. ● Traditional reductionist analytic techniques are incapable of useful predictions of emergent, system-level behavior. 9
Systems Science overview Source: DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/dsj.2018.16 (cc-by) 10
Systems Science overview (2) 11Source: DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/dsj.2018.16 (cc-by)
Skills 12 Source: Canadian Chamber of Commerce, 2013
System Dynamics 13 Known and Unknown behaviour makes IT innovation comparable with rocket launching: ● Programming (mistakes) ● Knowledge ● Floating specs ● Budget ● Scope creep ● Software errors ● Hardware errors (CPU, Storage, etc) ● Communication errors (network and humans) ● Human behaviour ● Factor time
System Dynamics System dynamics is fundamentally interdisciplinary: ● Behaviour of complex systems ○ Theory of nonlinear dynamics and feedback control ● Behaviour of humans ○ Cognitive and social psychology, economics and other social sciences. 14
System Dynamics 15
Factors that make innovation complex Only a few factors make problems complex and hard to solve: ● Humans (mostly behaviour) ● Time (and delays in time) Time delays between taking a decision and its effects on the state of the system are common and particularly troublesome. 16
Feedback ● Much of the art of system dynamics modeling is discovering and representing the feedback processes. ● The most complex behaviors usually arise from the interactions (feedbacks) among the components of the system, not from the complexity of the components themselves. POSITIVE FEEDBACK SELF-REINFORCING NEGATIVE FEEDBACK SELF-CORRECTING 17
Time: Exponential behaviour 18
Time: Scale 19
Core tool: mental models Share perceptions 20
Core tool: Causal Loop Diagrams Use the most simple (and FREE! ) tool available: https://nocomplexity.com/causalloopdiagram/ 21
Core tool: Stock and flow models Use the FOSS tool Insight Maker to create fast simulations to validate if changes are sustainable. Its free to use! Check: https://insightmaker.com/ 22
Core tool: Archetypes to predict behaviour ● Feedback loops are linked to specific kinds of behaviour patterns. ● Finding archetypes (feedback loops) in nonlinear systems (so real world systems!) is very hard! 23
Requirements for successful ROI ● Use systems thinking and the key tools. ● Simulation is essential. 24 Your innovation problem Create diagrams, rich pictures and causal loop diagrams Create an architecture view with the current (baseline) and the target situation to define the gap Select a PSM to approach the problem (and iterate!) Define the implementation steps needed for change Implement and learn (with all stakeholders!) Real world System thinking about the real world (virtual worlds)
Join! Joining the Open Company Directory network of the BM-Support.org Foundation enables more opportunities for your open collaboration project. ● Joining this open network is free. No strings attached! ● It is a decentralized network by design. You decide if, how, when and with whom you want to collaborate. https://www.bm-support.org/join/ 25
Contact Information Business Management Support Foundation Chamber of Commerce number 08164333 (The Netherlands) Info [ at ] bm-support.org BM-Support.org is a foundation for sharing and creating knowledge. Everyone can join the bm-support.org network! Support our foundation by your donation or participation! 26

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Problem Solving Methods

  • 1. Problem Solving Methods NOCX Analyst report 1 (c) 2020 Business Management Support Foundation (bm-support.org) - This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License Created by : Maikel Mardjan (www.nocomplexity.com ) Last update : July 2020 Proven tools for Radical Open Innovation
  • 2. Radical Open innovation A modern innovation processes requires: ● An enormous diversity of knowledge and skills ● Use of knowledge partners ● Openness Radical Open innovation is all about collaboration We define Radical Open Innovation(ROI) as a method in with exchange of ideas and knowledge is possible in an open structure using openness principles by default. ROI requires the use of problem solving methods with a foundation in systems thinking. 2
  • 3. Accelerating changes Changes in: ● Technology: Machine Learning (AI), biohacking (crissp) , Internet use, etc ● Post covid-19 economy ● Environmental shifts (water becomes the new gold) 3
  • 4. Solving problems is never easy Well intentioned efforts to solve pressing problems lead to: RESISTANCE Many times your best efforts to solve a problem actually: MAKE IT WORSE 4
  • 5. Systems thinking will help Move from generalizations to tools and processes: ● that help to solve complexity ● design better operating policies, and ● Guide change in systems (organisations and technology systems) System Dynamics is a method to enhance learning in complex systems 5
  • 6. Systems thinking is critical for ROI ● Changes in our environment are driving us to think differently about governance. ● Information explosion: More accessible knowledge (fads, facts and opinions) ● Digital connected world (Machine Learning / AI, IoT, Internet) -> Everything is connected. ● Communication is more complex: E.g. complex collaboration networks 6
  • 7. What is a system ● A combination of interacting elements organized to achieve one or more stated purposes. ● An integrated set of elements, subsystems, or assemblies that accomplish a defined objective. These elements include products (hardware, software, firmware), processes, people, information, techniques, facilities, services, and other support elements. ● a set of things, connected in such a way that they produce their own pattern of behavior over time. (Donella Meadows) 7
  • 8. Systems thinking ● Systems thinking is a unique perspective on reality a perspective that sharpens our awareness of wholes and how the parts within those wholes interrelate. ● A systems thinker knows how systems fit into the larger context of day‐to‐day life, how they behave, and how to manage them. ● Systems thinking recognizes circular causation, where a variable is both the cause and the effect of another and recognizes the primacy of interrelationships and nonlinear thinking. A way of thinking where the primacy of the whole is acknowledged. 8
  • 9. Emergence ● System-level properties exist only at the system level as the system functions. ● System properties are not observable by looking at a subsystem only. ● Emergence behaviour cannot be understood, explained, or inferred from the structure or behavior of constituent elements or their local properties. ● Cause and effect relationships can only be established through retrospection. ● Traditional reductionist analytic techniques are incapable of useful predictions of emergent, system-level behavior. 9
  • 10. Systems Science overview Source: DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/dsj.2018.16 (cc-by) 10
  • 11. Systems Science overview (2) 11Source: DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/dsj.2018.16 (cc-by)
  • 13. System Dynamics 13 Known and Unknown behaviour makes IT innovation comparable with rocket launching: ● Programming (mistakes) ● Knowledge ● Floating specs ● Budget ● Scope creep ● Software errors ● Hardware errors (CPU, Storage, etc) ● Communication errors (network and humans) ● Human behaviour ● Factor time
  • 14. System Dynamics System dynamics is fundamentally interdisciplinary: ● Behaviour of complex systems ○ Theory of nonlinear dynamics and feedback control ● Behaviour of humans ○ Cognitive and social psychology, economics and other social sciences. 14
  • 16. Factors that make innovation complex Only a few factors make problems complex and hard to solve: ● Humans (mostly behaviour) ● Time (and delays in time) Time delays between taking a decision and its effects on the state of the system are common and particularly troublesome. 16
  • 17. Feedback ● Much of the art of system dynamics modeling is discovering and representing the feedback processes. ● The most complex behaviors usually arise from the interactions (feedbacks) among the components of the system, not from the complexity of the components themselves. POSITIVE FEEDBACK SELF-REINFORCING NEGATIVE FEEDBACK SELF-CORRECTING 17
  • 20. Core tool: mental models Share perceptions 20
  • 21. Core tool: Causal Loop Diagrams Use the most simple (and FREE! ) tool available: https://nocomplexity.com/causalloopdiagram/ 21
  • 22. Core tool: Stock and flow models Use the FOSS tool Insight Maker to create fast simulations to validate if changes are sustainable. Its free to use! Check: https://insightmaker.com/ 22
  • 23. Core tool: Archetypes to predict behaviour ● Feedback loops are linked to specific kinds of behaviour patterns. ● Finding archetypes (feedback loops) in nonlinear systems (so real world systems!) is very hard! 23
  • 24. Requirements for successful ROI ● Use systems thinking and the key tools. ● Simulation is essential. 24 Your innovation problem Create diagrams, rich pictures and causal loop diagrams Create an architecture view with the current (baseline) and the target situation to define the gap Select a PSM to approach the problem (and iterate!) Define the implementation steps needed for change Implement and learn (with all stakeholders!) Real world System thinking about the real world (virtual worlds)
  • 25. Join! Joining the Open Company Directory network of the BM-Support.org Foundation enables more opportunities for your open collaboration project. ● Joining this open network is free. No strings attached! ● It is a decentralized network by design. You decide if, how, when and with whom you want to collaborate. https://www.bm-support.org/join/ 25
  • 26. Contact Information Business Management Support Foundation Chamber of Commerce number 08164333 (The Netherlands) Info [ at ] bm-support.org BM-Support.org is a foundation for sharing and creating knowledge. Everyone can join the bm-support.org network! Support our foundation by your donation or participation! 26