This is a preview of the tool. Fill it in to see how it works — nothing is saved and nobody else can see it.
Tick each item off, step by step, to get where the tool is meant to take you.
As much information about the problem as possible has been gathered, for instance with 5W+H.
A first definition of the problem is written in section (1).
The problem has been generalised and made specific in section (2).
Holding the wider context and the precise definition in mind, the problem has been paraphrased into a new form (3).
The problem has been generalised and made specific in section (4).
Holding the wider context and the precise definition in mind, the problem has been paraphrased again (5).
The problem has been generalised and made specific in section (6).
The best of the three definitions has been chosen.
These should be KNOWN TO THE WHOLE TEAM before you start, and kept in mind by everyone while you work.
What you are after is the definition of the problem that rings truest.
Metaphors help when rewording. So does challenging the assumptions written into the generalisation and the specification.
To understand the context, drop assumptions one at a time and add new ones — asking, each time, what if?
Generalisation2. What is the smallest set of factors that led to the problem? |
Generalisation4. Which factors stopped making sense, and which new ones turned up? |
Generalisation6. The widest generalisation — what MUST happen for this to be possible at all? |
First definition...1. Defining the problem |
Redefinition (1)...3. Paraphrase the problem from point 1. |
Redefinition (2)...5. Paraphrase the problem from point 3. |
Specification2. Every known circumstance of the problem (who, what, where, how, when, why). |
Specification4. What other circumstances could bring the problem about? Which no longer could? |
Specification6. The necessary and sufficient conditions for the problem to exist. |