The Power of 2 in Problem-Solving – By Ken Leaver

The Power of Two in Problem-Solving

Ken was thinking today about a project that someone had asked him to help with. A fairly complex one. The company already had a system, which had certain constraints. At that stage, it was unclear whether the operational model that they wanted to run was possible on this system.
And if so, what hacks would need to be made to make it happen?
As Ken thought about it, it hit him that this was a more complex problem than the ones he has had to deal with for a while.

Product management is typically relatively superficial problem-solving and much more project management in his view. For this reason, he would typically just use a tree structure problem-solving approach and keep breaking the problem down into component problems. In this situation, it could work but wouldn’t have been optimal. He found there were a lot of things he wanted to discuss and clarify. In any situation, discussion adds dimension to the problem-solving process.
Just the act of voicing out the problem and hearing it often gives me new ideas and angles on a problem. Which is why he loves working with another smart person on any complex problem.

This reminds him a lot of the quantitative modelling case studies he was given during his MBA. If he just sat in front of a complex model by himself, he felt it was easy to get stuck.
But the minute he started working on it with his friend they would just keep moving forward by verbally discussing the issues and solving them together.

“Through dialogue the quality of thought and problem solving got better”.

This takes him to my next point:
For the past three months, he has done 1-2 online sessions per week on Growthmentor.com
Growthmentor.com is a subscription-based service where you can set up calls with experts on various topics. There are particularly many folks from growth and digital marketing teams. An area in which he wanted to improve his skills on. He refers to those experts as “sounding boards”. They help him to unlock issues he faces with his startup, Therapada.com. But also on issues, he is facing on client’s projects. He absolutely loves this format of getting an external opinion. And found that some great ideas have come out of it.

He now does this style of problem-solving almost systematically and views this as kind of a ‘secret weapon’. Ken believes it is rare to have a steady flow of smart people that you can have access to. This technic allows him to jump directly into the hairy problems.

In Ken Leaver’s view, it’s kind of a myth that you can do this with colleagues at your company. Why?

• They have their own goals, and may not have much time or motivation to assist.
• They will not be completely impartial as they already probably have a set way of thinking about the problems in the company.
• They may not be able to disclose everything as openly as with a third party.

Reflecting on his past problem-solving ken believes he would have made much higher-quality decisions on a number of topics using this strategy. Particularly as it relates to his startup.

Ceicia’s values are all about teamwork and cooperation with external parties to bring the best out of your business.

• Humanity
• Synergy
• Fairness & Honesty
• Go beyond

The only limit is our mind. Go beyond with your team to create a sustainable future, and meaningful missions and show them appreciation. Ceicia helps you to make to bring harmony & wholesomeness into the ecosystem of your company.

If you would like to read the original article: By Ken Leaver