There is a misconception among many people – including many technical people – that technical people are not “creative.” This is not only wrong but detrimental because any problem-solving involves creativity. To the extent that technical problem solvers buy into the idea that they are not (cannot be) creative, they …

“The righter you do the wrong thing, the wronger you get.” Russell Ackoff In an interview with Phyllis Haynes on the Studio 1 Network, Russell Ackoff, Professor Emeritus in Management Science from the Wharton School, discussed one of the central problems in problem solving: addressing the right problem. This issue …

“Model” and “view” are terms that are used somewhat loosely in the world of systems engineering. Often they are used interchangeably. Frequently, the imprecision of their usage causes confusion. Careful consideration of these terms can offer some help in clearing away the confusion. Many model definitions feed this imprecision. Consider, …

Einstein once observed, “If I had an hour to solve a problem I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.” In the world of problem solving it is hard to overstate the importance of understanding the problem to be solved. Our natural tendency is …