Effective Software Project Management

Problem Solving

Creativity and problem-solving go hand in hand. A good problem solver will think outside the box. He or she will conceive of approaches that may have been overlooked. The ability to think outside the box and suggest other approaches is the territory of the creative person. As I will discuss next, each of the learning styles relates to a different part of the problem-solving model. That means that the team must have all learning styles represented in order to solve problems effectively. In this section, you will see how the Learning Styles Inventory relates to the problem-solving process.

In his work Creative Problem Solving and Opportunity Finding (Boyd and Fraser Publishing, 1995), J. Daniel Couger points out that there are dozens of models for problem solving. The model that seems most appropriate for business problem solving is one put forward by Couger and shown in Figure I-1.

Figure I-1. Couger’s creative problem-solving model

Couger’s process begins with an outside stimulus—an event has occurred that creates an out-of-control situation that must be rectified. That launches a series of actions that clarify the situation, identify and assemble relevant data, get a number of ideas and approaches on the table, and analyze the ideas. It then selects the idea that would appear most promising as the way to rectify the situation and return it to normal. Finally ...