The Amp It Up Fieldbook

9Put Analysis Before Solutions

The business world tends to be so motivated to implement solutions that they often begin making major changes before fully analyzing the problems they are trying to solve. In some cases, especially at large, established companies, leaders begin looking to make changes while ignoring the reasons, risks, and implications of their decisions. Groupthink and bias are often behind these tendencies, but by making the conscious choice to focus on analysis, most people can break these patterns and improve their decisions.

The following activities will help you identify the root causes of problems by showing you how to use first principles thinking to analyze decisions about your business. Remember that first principles thinking is a way of breaking problems down into their foundational elements and removing assumptions.

WHEN THE SOLUTION IS THE PROBLEM

Start by thinking of a business problem that you failed to properly analyze before moving ahead with a solution. When did you realize that you had made the wrong decision? What were the implications of that decision?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Had you thoroughly analyzed the situation, what would you have noticed? What were the signs that you were on the wrong track?

 

 

 

 

 

 

DIAGNOSE YOUR PROBLEM

Leaders should act more like doctors and focus on analyzing a problem before prescribing a remedy. It takes practice to develop this skill, so you may want to do this activity more than once.

Consider a problem, challenge, ...