Creative problem solving

Introduction to Creative problem solving - Tinker Toy

" The majority see the obstacles; the few see the objectives; history records the successes of the latter, while oblivion is the reward of the former."

                                                                        ---  Alfred Armand Montapert 

Life, during its journey, poses several problems that require a creative bent of mind for the solution. Particularly, if you are a manager who needs to deal with several such situations in your everyday life, it becomes necessary that you develop such a mindset to be effective. As a part of our 'Principles of Management' course ware by Dr. Prasad, we were introduced to creative problem solving in the form of a Tinker toy. In this blog, let me outline the steps we have taken to solve it.

The Tinker toy

The Tinker Toy consists of a wooden tennis bat structure with a slot in the handle. A rope passes through this slot whose ends hold one wooden square piece and one plastic ball each on either side of the slot. A circular disk encloses both the ends and is not wide enough to be removed from the toy. Neither can it pass over the wooden pieces to fall down.

The slot in handle is wide enough to let the circular disk and square pieces to pass through but not the balls. There is no possible way the rope can come out of the slot due to the balls. The challenge is to remove the ring from the toy without tampering in anyway with the toy.

Solution

After many trails and errors, we began to outline an approach to solve this puzzle. I will try to outline the steps in our thought process:

1. The ring is the primary hindrance to any movement through the slot. Push the ring up above the slit in the toy.

2. To pull out the wooden ring, the two wooden blocks need to be on the same side of the slot. Hold the ring and take one of the hanging wooden blocks and pass it through the slit onto the other side of the toy. The ball for the same would be near the slit.

3. Pull the ring down below the ball. Hold the ring up and pass it through the slit from the direction opposite to the side having the ball. The ring can be removed from the other side.

To get a clearer picture, take a look at the video:

Learning

                                        

Let me outline my learning in this exercise with the above diagram. Any creative solving problem requires the following three basic steps:

1. Explore the challenge

	Objective Finding - Identify Goal, Wish or Challenge This could be a wish or a goal. In our case it is to remove the circular disk from the tinker toy.
	Fact Finding - Gather Data Assess and review all the data that pertains to the situation at hand. Who’s involved, what’s involved, when, where, and why it’s important. Make a list of the facts and information, as well as the more visceral hunches, feelings, perceptions, assumptions and gossip around the situation. In this step, all the data is taken into consideration to review the objective and begin to innovate.
	Problem Finding - Clarify the Problem In this step, explore the facts and data to find all the problems and challenges inherent in the situation, and all the opportunities they represent. This is about making sure you’re focusing on the right problem. It is possible to come up with the right answer to the wrong problem. Re-define what you want or what’s stopping you.

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Idea Finding - Generate Ideas Generating ideas is much more than brainstorming. During this step, be vigilant about deferring judgment and coming up with wild, outrageous, out-of-the-box ideas. This is where you explore ideas that are possible solutions and have the most fun. It’s also where you need to stretch to make connections, take risks, and try new combinations to find potentially innovative solutions.

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Solution Finding – Select and Strengthen Solutions First, try to strengthen and improve the best ideas generated. Next, generate the criteria that needs to be considered to evaluate the ideas for success. Apply that criteria to the top ideas and decide which are most likely to solve the redefined problem. The best idea needs to meet criteria that makes it actionable before it becomes the solution. A creative idea is not really useful if it won’t be implemented.

Acceptance Finding – Plan for Action In this step, look at who’s responsible, what has to be done by when, and what resources are available in order to realize this idea as a full-fledged, activated solution.

The following statement summarizes it all:

"The first step is to make the problem specific . . . ; The second step is to form theories freely of how to rid yourself of that burden . . . ; The third step is to develop in foresight the consequences of your proposals . . . ; The fourth and final step in thinking is to compare the consequences of your proposals to see which is best in the light of your scheme of life as a whole . . . ; Whether you choose a vacation or a spouse, a party or a candidate, a cause to contribute to or a creed to live by - think!" — Brand Blanchard