What do you see?

Let's take a look at this photo:

  

Can you tell what is inside this photo?

Let me share a hint: Our brains are conditioned (through education and upbringing) to focus on the dark part of an image to identify meaning. If we break this condition and start seeing the photo as a whole (see the black blotters AND the white space) we might be able to capture something.

Do you see that this is a photo of a cow?

Some of better-trained people with open-minded brains will see this perhaps at the moment they see the photo. Some will see this after they receive the hint (that they should include the white space as part of the photo). Some with lesser-trained, more-hardened brains will see this after they are told that this is a cow. Some with a severe case of close-minded brains will still unable to see it even after they are told about the cow.

So what's the point? Creativity is the capability of creating something new out of what seems to be impossible - something people never thought about. This requires our brain to be 'open' and see beyond the norms, such as seeing a cow in a seemingly random blotters.

This is taken from Creative Thinkering, by M. Michalko. The book is very entertaining and inspiring. It has a lot of brain exercises and techniques that eventually will train us into a more creative individual.

More on Problem Definition

Apparently my If Matrix turns out to be a bit more controversial than I originally expected. These are some questions I received from readers and colleagues:

"Did you just put bureaucracy on such a simple problem definition?"
"Wouldn't you end up with the same thing if you focus on such an obvious thing as IT integration from the beginning?"
"Should we really create this matrix and put it in our problem definition report?"

The answer to all of the questions are: No, no, and no. Bureaucracy is the last thing in my mind when I conceptualized the simple matrix. If you look closer at the matrix, it is simply a quick tool to check whether we might jump too quickly on a path that might lead us to a wrong destination. So, this is not a requirement, and this is definitely not something that has to be in a report (unless you feel it is necessary to lay out all assumptions on paper).

And the purpose of this matrix is exactly to avoid thinking that something is obvious. Even if the solution is something obvious like integrating an IT system, framing the problem properly will lead us into developing a set of critical parameters on what the desired outcome of the project will be, and understanding where we should focus on. It will also allow us to have some flexibility on how we get to where we want. Just like when we want to go from City A to City B, if we insist that we should take Road X without understanding that the actual desire is City B, we will fail to see that there is another route via Road Y, which has less traffic than Road X, that can get us faster and safer to City B.

Have fun!

Problem Solving Series 5b - Analyze the Problem

This is part 2 of Analyze

We have talked about a nifty tool where we can compare two continuous factors and find out if there is any relationship between them.

Now what about we are faced with two sets of data from two categories, such as male and female? This is when we can use the next tool.

b. Box plots: Here are a sample of Box Plots - comparison of MRI count (an indicator of brain size) between male and female

  

As you can see, it is easy to note that Male has higher MRI count than female. To find out more about how to create Boxplots, click here.

Now that we have all these tools, what next? The next steps is to have an open mind. Train your mind to think creatively through getting rid of any prejudgment and objectively look at the facts separately from the language (e.g. an animal with long ears is not necessarily a rabbit, so if it eats meat, don't think it's a rabid rabbit), and separately from the past (e.g. a wireless communication device is sci-fi material in the 60s, but it does not mean it is not possible now). In conjunction to this, we need look for more potential influencing factors than what we normally pick. For example, if we want to improve our financial health, make sure we look beyond getting a pay raise or cutting back Starbucks coffee. There are plenty of other factors we need to look into.

Finally, as in almost anything in life, getting many flying hours is the key to getting a good grip of problem analysis. So, the only advice I have is, do it, practice, repeat.

Good luck.

Legacy

October 2011 is an interesting month of my life. In the opening of the month, my distant in-law relative passed away abruptly due to a stomach aneurysm. Then my mentor's relative, who has been ill for quite some times, passed away two days ago. Almost at the same time, Steve Jobs passed away.

All these events reminded me about one thing that I have thought and desired long time ago. It is possibly the only thing that I desired most in life - the only important thing in my limited time here: Leaving a legacy.

Have you ever thought that there must be some cosmic reason for our existence? Have you ever thought that there is no way we 'just happen' to be around? Have you ever wonder that maybe the purpose of life is more than just wake up, go to work, go home, and go to sleep? If it isn't so, have you ever wondered why do we spend arguably more than 70% of our lives doing that? Does it bother you that you have not understood it after living 30 plus years? It bothered me. A lot.

For me, the day-in, day-out way of life is no longer attractive. These past events are a strong reminder to me that the most important thing in life is not the corner office, the big account, or the titles we hold. The most important thing in life is what we leave when we are no longer here. What we will be remembered as, how our kids will live their lives, and what we have done to our community. Everything else is just a shiny object distraction.

Are you working on your Legacy?

Things you cannot see...

Yesterday I was driving home late at night from a meeting in an area that I have never been to before.

The street was very dark, the only illumination in front of me were my two headlights. I was told to keep following the winding road in front of me until I found a street sign guiding me to the freeway entry ramp.

After 20 minutes of driving in the dark without any sign of the freeway ramp, I began to doubt the way I am going. Maybe I missed the street sign? Maybe the instruction was flawed?

Have you ever been in that kind of situation? Perhaps in your case, you were not trying to find a freeway ramp. Perhaps it was your current career or business that you do. You faced a big obstacle, or maybe you felt that you have missed the real opportunity because you have been doing what you were doing for quite some time with no significant breakthrough. You felt that you were heading nowhere.

What did you end up doing?