I recently published a post on abstraction. Made me reflect more on the power of this tool in my career and my life. When we are faced with challenges, whether it be technical or personal, being in the thick of things entangles us emotionally and prevents us from seeing a creative solution to the issue. It also leads us into what is called “ psychological inertia“ where we are stuck with thought patterns we are comfortable with. To radically break this, it is necessary for us to step back and look at the underlying physical laws and principles at work.
In my previous example, removing dental tartar is simply the separation of deposited films which have likely been solved in the industrial cleaning or microelectronics industries. The joining of metal and plastic in fashion accessories may have been tackled in automotive and industrial machinery scenarios. The key is to get into the underlying mechanisms and use that as a springboard for ideation.
So how do you solve a problem with Abstraction. The first step is to clearly identify the symptoms of the problem that you face. This is followed by identifying the general problem that covers the symptoms you observed. If it's an electric fan whose blades turn slow then the general problem is either there is not enough torque driving the fan or there is a strong resistance against the torque. The third step is to spell out the general solution in this case it is to increase the torque and minimize the resistance against it. Finally you formulate the specific solution to your problem. In doing this make sure you check out what other industries and technical fields have done to address the same general problem.
As you try the Abstraction approach you'll likely find problem solving a bit easier and pleasurable.
In my previous example, removing dental tartar is simply the separation of deposited films which have likely been solved in the industrial cleaning or microelectronics industries. The joining of metal and plastic in fashion accessories may have been tackled in automotive and industrial machinery scenarios. The key is to get into the underlying mechanisms and use that as a springboard for ideation.
So how do you solve a problem with Abstraction. The first step is to clearly identify the symptoms of the problem that you face. This is followed by identifying the general problem that covers the symptoms you observed. If it's an electric fan whose blades turn slow then the general problem is either there is not enough torque driving the fan or there is a strong resistance against the torque. The third step is to spell out the general solution in this case it is to increase the torque and minimize the resistance against it. Finally you formulate the specific solution to your problem. In doing this make sure you check out what other industries and technical fields have done to address the same general problem.
As you try the Abstraction approach you'll likely find problem solving a bit easier and pleasurable.
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