Identifying and Creating a Problem Bank

Identifying and formulating the problem is the most difficult part of creative problem solving. Very often we state symptoms of the problems and end up wasting scarce resources chasing the illusionary “golden deer of the epics.” Management then becomes so emotionally committed to the wrong path that we can end up moving faster and faster along the wrong road. It is like a man who drills an oil well, in a bad spot. More and more money is spent with no resulting strike. But those involved, refuse to fill up the unproductive well and move on to a new location. They continue throwing good money after bad, because they do not want to admit that a mistake had been made initially. 6M Map for Problem Analysis 6M Plus Minus Interesting Men Materials Machines Methods Markets Money It is important to involve everyone in identifying the real problem. What is a problem for the worker need not seem like a problem for the manager. Problem Bank Create problem banks around initial problem statements. The problem bank should be a constantly growing database of emerging problems, developed by stakeholders. The problem banks should reflect the possibility of improvement and innovation, even in processes that seem to be working perfectly well. Anyone in the organization should be able to work on these problems and solve them. In a good, dynamic organization, there should be at least a few problems, which remain unsolved and need outside help. The time to identify problems is when things are going well. The organization then has the resources and energy to find hidden problems.