Life in business and at home presents an endless array of problems to solve. Probably due to this relentless volume, it’s easy to get stuck in a routine of implementing solutions that will simply solve the immediate problem. It’s uncommon to routinely take the time and energy to identify good long-term solutions that will be scalable and flexible enough to handle growth and other changes.
Unfortunately, the effect of routine short-term problem solving is that problems reoccur and accumulate. As the volume of reoccurring problems increases, it gets harder to have the time and energy to work on long-term solutions. It is a vicious cycle and it’s easy to get stuck.
One easy way to either avoid getting into this mess or to claw your way out of it you’re already there is to start solving problems using what I call a 10X test. The next time you have a fresh problem to solve (or one of those reoccurring problems resurfaces) ask yourself how you would solve it if you had ten times (10X) whatever is the root catalyst of the problem. That could be 10X the number of staff, customers, transactions, kids – whatever.
The idea is to jar you out of your current problem solving mindset, to approach the solution from the top down (10X) instead of the bottom up. It does not mean that you need to go with a solution that is 10X more costly or complicated than what is actually needed, but simply to explore solutions from a 10X perspective.
Go ahead and give it a try and comment below if you too find that this approach leads you to more creative and longer lasting solutions.
2 Comments
Pingback: A simple "Is it worth my time to improve?" calculator | It's Worth Noting
This is a great way to problem solve. I know that good programmers (I’m not one) think this way automatically, because they think modular variable structures that allow change without re-programming.