Posted by Sometimes the situation is only a problem because it is looked at in a certain way. Looked at in another way, the right course of action may be so obvious that the problem no longer exists.
– Edward de Bono
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Edward. Read his book on Lateral Thinking in ca 1973. I believe he was the first to re-formalize brain-storming as a valid problem solving methodology by introducing lateral thinking principles. Bit of a tough read IIRC, he tried very hard to use language in a conservatively-acceptable fashion but was talking about something that was in fact emerging from the drug+TM culture of the time (reaching back to the early 1960′s).
This is a nice quote of his that relates well to a technique I use myself (probably as a result of digesting his works): one does not “solve problems”, rather one iteratively re-states what is initially perceived as “the problem” until one either arrives at a description of what is wanted, or the hole in which what one wants resides is clearly revealed.
June 29, 2010