From the course: Critical Thinking
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Break big problems into small ones
From the course: Critical Thinking
Break big problems into small ones
- One of the first steps in any good critical thinking process is taking a very big problem and breaking it down into smaller ones that you can actually solve. The time you invest thinking through what the components of the problem are is going to pay dividends on the backend when you look at the possible solutions, because you'll have a better sense for what recommendations and solutions to pursue and how those solutions help you solve the bigger problem. Let me illustrate. So, let's imagine we have a problem where our profits are down. That's a huge issue to solve. We can't solve that in and of itself. We have to look at smaller components of it. So, if we have a profit problem, we have two components. Either our revenues are down or our costs are up, or some combination of the two. But those are still very big problems to try to solve. So, let's break down revenues and what could be causing our revenue shortfall. Well, that's either volumes are down or prices are down. And on…
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