The HeadScratcher Post
A thought provoking free monthly post highlighting a successful Technique used in problem solving, creativity and decision making.
A thought provoking free monthly post highlighting a successful Technique used in problem solving, creativity and decision making.
HeadScratcher Post - Title
Description
The HeadScratcher Post Thinking Tips Archive
| The #1 Thing | Highly effective Problem Solving starts with an unwavering belief that a satisfactory solution exists |
| Deductive and Inductive Thinking | How Deductive and Inductive reasoning play a role in decision making |
| Elements of Invention | Invention requires; Need, Knowledge, Association and Critical Thinking |
| What is Critical Thinking anyway? | Critical Thinking ... a way of "Thinking Smarter" and how it's done. |
| Fast Cycle Time | Fast Cycle leads to Out Cycling your competition |
| Asking So What? | So What?; gets people thinking about what data they are collecting and what it means |
| Gedanken Experiments | "Thought" experiments save a lot of time and money |
| Key Metrics | Key metrics should give you the time to change an outcome they predict. |
| Triangular Thinking | A way to find a solution with indirect measurements and predictions |
| The Definition of Done | Thinking through to "Done" |
| The Numbers Talk | Analyzing the data |
| The 3rd Version Syndrome | A fatal phenomena that occurs in nearly every software company or IT department |
| Beating the Odds - Changing the Equation | Changing the equation is when breakthroughs occur. |
| The Infamous Requirements Document | Waiting for requirements? Go out and get them instead. |
| 180 Seconds of Headscratching | Thinking about a broader problems are when solutions that make a huge difference are created |
| Because !! | Finding the "Because!!" frees you to start solution building |
| How long will it take? | How to improve on the accuracy of this answer |
| Anticipatory Thinking | Anticipating what's next changes how think about the present. |
| The Better MouseTrap | When is better not good enough? |
| Everything is Throw-Away | It's the return on the investment that's important |
| Hypothesis | Predicting an outcome based on an understanding |
| Defragmented Thinking | Make sure your critical thinking is not conducted in your fragmented schedule |
| Sampling | Sampling can answer which way to go, or what the issue might be, or what might be wrong. |
| Readiness and Quality | Knowing when you're "Ready" is critical when you want consistent quality. |
| Trending | You have an amazing ability to Trend. Tap into it. |
| When logic is illogical | Decisions and Conclusions are related to assumptions and beliefs. These vary from person to person. |
| Thinking outside "The Box" | Thinking Outside "The Box" means that there is something that bounds a Box. What is that? |
| Famous Thoughts | Selected Quotations about Thinking |
| Abductive Thinking and Creativity | There is another component of logic beyond Deduction and Induction. This one is the foundation for Creativity. |
| Can your mind be too helpful? | Your mind has an ability to fill in blanks and make things fit into what makes sense. This isn't always good. |
| Creativity and Music | Is it possible that listening to music can help your creativity? |
| Tips to Think Critically In 2008 | A few tips about Inductive Reasoning to get you started |
| Leading People to Think | Leading people to "think" and not just "do" can make a huge difference in performance and quality |
| Crisis Thinking | When in a crisis, critical thinking is important. A few tips to use for a strategy during this time. |
| Making Decisions | The "who", "what" and "when" about making decisions. |
| Fuzzy Thinking | Fuzzy thinking and how to deal with it using Critical Thinking |
| Thinking about Priorities | Priority lists .. Are yours a gate or a tool for managing change? |
| Maintenance and Customer Retention | Strategies for maintenance on equipment or your own health are also useful for customer retention. |
| Surprise vs Predictability | Random events are not common. If it's not random, it's predictable. Can you predict your business outcomes? |
| Learning to Learn | Learning how to learn is a skill more valuable than anything in particular you can learn. |
| Innovation - Now more than ever | With the current economy, there has never been a more important time to innovate ... and to Think! |
| The Moon Shot - May 25, 1961 | Lots of changes coming in 2009. Are you preparing for them? Ask these 4 questions. |
| Stewing Thoughts | Load up with facts, opinions and ideas and then let it "stew" for awhile for that background thinking to work. |
| Exercising your Brain | Like your heart and the rest of your body, your brain needs exercise ... But a different kind. |
| Two ideas about Change | A critical thinking perspective on change with two ideas to help you cope and manage change. |
| 3 reasons why we don't like to Think | We like to "DO". Here are 3 reasons why we don't like to Think even though the benefits are huge. |
| The Thinking Behind Risk | What is Risk and how do we take that into account when we are making decisions? |
| Five ideas for Impossible Thinking | Here are 5 suggestions to think about the impossible and maybe even to make it possible. |
| Instant Thinking | Sometimes only having 5 minutes to come up with a solution can really deliver some exciting results |
| Critical Thinking without Words | Some situations can't be described by just language. Use some of your "standard" and cerebral senses. |
| Ask "What else?" | Asking "What else?" can lead to new ideas and prevent just picking the first one that comes along. |
| 3 Critical Thinking Tools for Parents | Critical Thinking can be used beyond business. Try these simple tips with your kids. |
| None, One, Two, Many | When creating solutions, and perhaps a "one-off", consider the repeatability of the problem |
| When you can't see the path | A few simple ideas to remember when you're tasked with a goal without a clear path to get ther |
| Thinking about the Future w/Critical Thinking | You think about the future and make predictions automatically. Now try this with Manual Thinking |
| Turning on a Dime (The Physics of Change) | We present two ideas about the thinking of changing quickly |
| Radical Thinking | When you create a goal or challenge that is so outrageous, new ideas are generated. |
| Parallel Thinking | Just because you have a good Plan A, maybe just a quick look at Plan B will help, and prepare you if A doesn't work. |
| Retrospective Thinking | After a project is complete, don't just look back at what went right or wrong, but how the thinking was done. |
| If it ain't broke .... | Only fix things that are broken? ... we think not. |
| Rehash Thinking and more ... | Thinking can be inefficient, especially when you are thinking about the same thing more than once |
| The Great Employee-Manager Disconnect | Decisions are made and employees react, and sometimes there is a great Disconnect |
| Analysis Paralysis | This doesn't come from thinking too much, but because of not thinking about the right thing |
| Critical Thinking and Emotions | Emotions are a part of all decisions. Critical Thinking enables you to be aware of how they influence you |
| Prowling for Ideas | Seek out knowledge .. go Prowling |
| Preeminent Metrics | Track metrics that not only tell you about the future but give you the time to change it. |
| Lessons from the Tooth Fairy | Are you looking to validate your belief, or are you open to information you may not want to hear? |
| Reverse Critical Thinking | Sometimes ideas and solutions just pop up. When this happens reverse the critical thinking process |
| "v-Thinking" | There are "v-Thinkers" and "^-Thinkers". There's a time and each, and a bad time for each |
| Thinking about Balance | Balance isn't about how to balance things, it's about dealing with the imbalance of things |
| Facts vs "facts" | Are your Facts really Facts or just "facts" |
| Critical Listenining | Critical Thinking includes Critical Listening |
| 10 Rules of a Thinking Coach | Being a Thinking Coach helps others generate ideas and solve problems. Here are 10 rules |
| Thinking about "Get" | GET - one of the most common HeadScratchers. How do you "get" them to do do this. |
| Ask Why? to distinguish "this" from "that" | Asking why? can help distinguish the real problem from the one that might just be only the starting point |
| Two ideas for Massive Productivity Gains | Massive productivity gains can be obtained by just using a little Critical Thinking in these two areas |
| Thinking about "When?" | You can't always know when something will be done, or for that matter, which option to choose. Here is a tip. |
| Assumptions and Decisions | Speed up and increase the quality of Decisions by understanding the Assumptions being used |
Critical Thinking Techniques for Problem Solving, Decision Making, Creativity
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