THEORY NOTES

Problem Solving

Problem solving is the process of identifying problems and their causes,

developing and evaluating possible solutions, and implementing an
action or strategy based upon the analysis in order to achieve a desired
goal or outcome.

The ultimate goal of problem solving is to eliminate a problem. The

problem solving process involves identifying a problem, gathering
information, generating and evaluating options and implementing
solutions.

The Problem Solving Process

The best way to attack a problem is to view the problem is an opportunity

for improvement. It is helpful to have a structure to follow to make sure
that nothing is overlooked. The problem solving process consists of a
sequence of steps when correctly followed most often leads to a successful
solution.

The first steps involve defining and analyzing the problem to be solved.
The best way to define the problem is to write down a concise statement
which summarizes the problem. and then write down where you want to
be after the problem has been resolved. The next steps involve generating
and analyzing potential solutions for the problem. The final steps involve
selecting and implementing the best course of action. It is always
recommended to evaluate the solution after it is implemented.
Steps in Problem Solving

1. Identify and Define the Problem

2. Analyze the Problem

3. Generate Potential Solutions

4. Analyzing the Solution

s Selecting the best Solution(s)

6. Implement the Solution

7. Evaluate the Solution

Our Development Series provides strategies, techniques, and tools to help

individuals and teams to effectively solve problems. You will learn
techniques for extracting good information from a large amount of data,
as well as help break large, seemingly unmanageable problems down into
achievable parts.

Tips and Strategies including how to:

 1. List the attributes of the problem

2. Identify possible causes of problems

3. Look at the problem from more than one perspective

4. . Extract maximum information from facts

5. Expanid the boundaries of the problem

6. . Think outside the box for solutions

What is Email

• A method of exchanging messages instantly from one system to

another with the help of the internet is called an Email. Initially,

Email usage was limited to users of the same computer, and it asked

for the users to be online to receive the messages. Time changed,

and now we know how the mailbox looks. The mail can be sent to
 more than one recipient, and the recipient’s name can be hidden

from others by adding their names in Bcc.

What is email etiquette?

Email etiquette is a set of implied protocols on writing or answering

emails in a socially or professionally acceptable way. The etiquette varies
depending on whom you are sending it to and differs for professional and
personal emails.

For example, the emails you send to your friends and colleagues are two
different beings. You don't have to fret about sounding rude or
unprofessional when emailing friends. But with colleagues, you have to
maintain proper decorum in your emails. You have to use the proper
salutation, a respectful send-off, etc.

Why is email etiquette important?

When communicating with someone, our expressions and what we say

matter as much as how we say it. In emails, we remove the voice and
expression, so we have to convey it properly through the written content.

This is why etiquette for writing emails is so important because it helps

you convey your message clearly, and it also helps achieve the following:

• Professionalism: Using proper email language, you and your

organization will convey a professional image.
• Efficiency: It helps you improve your communication skills. Emails
which get to the point are much more effective than badly conveyed
emails.
 • Clarity of expression: Use appropriate tone to avoid being
misunderstood or misinterpreted.
• Protection from liability: Awareness of email stakes will protect
you and your organization from costly lawsuits.

Importance of Email

• Business communication can be done easily without any security

issues, and it is faster than any other forms of communication. Also,

contacts can be saved easily with the help of emails, and the past

messages can be checked frequently rather than saving the data in

the local server. This helps to save storage space.

• Most of the emails come with a subject line, and hence it is easy to

understand the matter inside the email and categorize them

accordingly. This helps in saving time checking for emails.

Unwanted emails can be easily ignored and moved to spam folders.

• An informal communication tool where the language needs not be

official as it is made to be simple as in a conversational talk so that

the business runs smooth. The emails can be used as a tool to start

the conversation as it is fast, and hence the business can be made to

run smooth.
 • Email is faster than it can be compared to one to one chat. As it can

be made as an informational talk and as a serious business talk,

email works magic in both ways in terms of speed. No other tool is

this faster to send messages.

Advantages
Some of the advantages are given below:

• The main advantage we could think of email is that it is paperless.

The documents of instructions and status updates can be sent

through the mail rather than typing it in papers and distributing the

same. This makes the work easy with less clutter and environment

friendly.

• When there is a history of emails to be referred for a particular

document, we can add a reference to the email and the process can

eb made simple rather than going through the entire mail chain.

Alerts can be set for emails, and it can be scheduled to send the

emails on time so that the recipients receive the mails at the

intended time.
 • Photos or any documents can be shared easily to various people

through a single mail, and it is received sooner by them. Also, as

cloud storage, this can be saved permanently in the mailbox. Any

details, including the time and the list of recipients who received the

messages, can be saved and sorted if needed using emails.

• The users can set automated replies for the emails they receive, and

this helps to save time.

Uses of Email

• The one use that comes to focus more often is that we can contact

the person any time of the day, and he/she can read the mail and

respond at their own convenience. This makes the email to respect

the individual’s time and avoid unnecessary communications.

• The traditional method of contacting people anywhere in the world

used to be costly. With a single click, mail can be sent to anyone who

has a mail address, which helps to maintain contacts easily. And this

is done with no cost at all if the system is connected to the internet.

• Emails can be used for many purposes and this depends on the

person who uses them. It can be used as a means of communication,

 informing a failure or an update, helping the team with instructions

and guidelines to follow, route map for a trip, instructions to be

followed for cleaning or hospitalizing and anything that seems

relevant to the user.

• In educational terms, emails can be sent to apply for admissions,

receive results and job offers. It helps the communication smooth

and simple that people find it easy by clicking on the send button.

Do’s and Don’ts of Email Writing

• Consider your readers

• Provide a clear, specific subject line

• Use excerpts from previous messages to clarify what you’re

replying to

• Remove long lists of recipients’ names and addresses

• Strike a balance between formal and casual language

• Read and then reread your message before you send it

• Key in your name at the end of your message

• Be careful how you present your message

• Acknowledge receipt of messages promptly

 • Observe the common practices of your company

DON”TS

• Never substitute email for necessary face-to-face meetings

• Never assume that email is private

• Don’t assume that everyone reads email immediately

• Never forward jokes, spam, chain letters, or advertisements

• Never send an angry message via email

• Never send an email message written in capital letters, LIKE THIS

• Do not use email for any illegal or unethical purpose

SMART GOALS

Goals are part of every aspect of business/life and provide a sense of

direction, motivation, a clear focus, and clarify importance. By setting
goals, you are providing yourself with a target to aim for. A SMART goal
is used to help guide goal setting. SMART is an acronym that stands
for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. Therefore, a
SMART goal incorporates all of these criteria to help focus your efforts
and increase the chances of achieving your goal.

SMART goals are:

• Specific: Well defined, clear, and unambiguous

 • Measurable: With specific criteria that measure your progress
toward the accomplishment of the goal
• Achievable: Attainable and not impossible to achieve
• Realistic: Within reach, realistic, and relevant to your life purpose
• Timely: With a clearly defined timeline, including a starting date
and a target date. The purpose is to create urgency.

Specific SMART Goals

Goals that are specific have a significantly greater chance of being

accomplished. To make a goal specific, the five “W” questions must be
considered:

1. Who: Who is involved in this goal?

2. What: What do I want to accomplish?
3. Where: Where is this goal to be achieved?
4. When: When do I want to achieve this goal?
5. Why: Why do I want to achieve this goal?

For example, a general goal would be “I want to get in shape.” A more

specific goal would be “I want to obtain a gym membership at my local
community center and work out four days a week to be healthier.”

Measurable SMART Goals

A SMART goal must have criteria for measuring progress. If there are no
criteria, you will not be able to determine your progress and if you are on
track to reach your goal. To make a goal measurable, ask yourself:

1. How many/much?
2. How do I know if I have reached my goal?
3. What is my indicator of progress?
For example, building on the specific goal above: I want to obtain a gym
membership at my local community center and work out four days a
week to be healthier. Every week, I will aim to lose one pound of body
fat.

Achievable SMART Goals

A SMART goal must be achievable and attainable. This will help you
figure out ways you can realize that goal and work towards it. The
achievability of the goal should be stretched to make you feel challenged,
but defined well enough that you can actually achieve it. Ask yourself:

1. Do I have the resources and capabilities to achieve the goal? If not,

what am I missing?
2. Have others done it successfully before?

Realistic SMART Goals

A SMART goal must be realistic in that the goal can be realistically

achieved given the available resources and time. A SMART goal is likely
realistic if you believe that it can be accomplished. Ask yourself:

1. Is the goal realistic and within reach?

2. Is the goal reachable, given the time and resources?
3. Are you able to commit to achieving the goal?

Timely SMART Goals

A SMART goal must be time-bound in that it has a start and finish date.
If the goal is not time-constrained, there will be no sense of urgency and,
therefore, less motivation to achieve the goal. Ask yourself:
 1. Does my goal have a deadline?
2. By when do you want to achieve your goal?

For example, building on the goal above: On August 1, I will obtain a gym
membership at my local community center. In order to be healthier, I will
work out four days a week. Every week, I will aim to lose one pound of
body fat. By the end of August, I will have realized my goal if I lose four
pounds of fat over the course of the month.

The Importance of SMART Goal Setting

Often, individuals or businesses will set themselves up for failure by

setting general and unrealistic goals such as “I want to be the best at X.”
This goal is vague, with no sense of direction.

SMART goals set you up for success by making goals specific,

measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely. The SMART method helps
push you further, gives you a sense of direction, and helps you organize
and reach your goals.

Determining urgent and important duties.

ABCDE Method

The point of the ABCDE Method is to break down everything into categories:
A = Your most important tasks that have the most meaning for your life and career.
Doing these should be your priority for that day. (So they're probably also a little bit
harder, and the ones you're more likely to ignore.)

B = Tasks that come with minor consequences if you don't do them. Tracy writes that
answering email usually falls into the B category. (Because truly, what's the VERY
WORST thing that could happen if you let your inbox go untouched for 24 hours?)

C = Yay, no consequences! C tasks are neither urgent nor particularly important.

Maybe you want to check in on a friend, or buy a new pair of jeans. Fun things to do,
but nothing's going to fall apart if you don't do these things.

D = Tasks you could—and should—delegate. Think about everything on your list and
be truthful. What can you give to someone else? Are you still doing tasks that are
technically part of someone else's job? Can you turn a 50-minute task into a 15-minute
one by simply explaining it to someone else?

E = Buh bye! This is an exciting moment. Anything you label E should immediately be
eliminated, and you never have to think about it again. These might be those to-dos
that you've pushed off for weeks. Ask yourself: Do you actually need to do it? If it's
not important, has no consequences, and can't be delegated—can you get rid of it
altogether?

The Eisenhower Decision Matrix

(shorter version is below)
Business thinker Stephen Covey popularized the Eisenhower’s Decision Principle in
his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. In that book, Covey created a decision
matrix to help individuals make the distinction between what’s important and not
important and what’s urgent and not urgent. The matrix consists of a square divided
into four boxes, or quadrants, labeled thusly: 1) Urgent/Important, 2) Not
Urgent/Important, 3) Urgent/Not Important, and 4) Not Urgent/Not Important:

Quadrant 1: Urgent and Important

Tasks
Quadrant 1 tasks are both urgent and important. They’re tasks that require our
immediate attention and also work towards fulfilling our long-term goals
and missions in life.

Quadrant 1 tasks typically consist of crises, problems, or deadlines.

Here are a few specific examples of Urgent and Important tasks:

 ▪ Certain emails (could be a job offer, an email for a new business opportunity that
requires immediate action, etc.)
▪ Term paper deadline
▪ Tax deadline

Quadrant 2: Not Urgent but

Important Tasks
Quadrant 2 tasks are the activities that don’t have a pressing deadline, but nonetheless
help you achieve your important personal, school, and work goals as well as help you
fulfill your overall mission as a man.

Q2 tasks are typically centered around strengthening relationships, planning for the
future, and improving yourself.

Here are some specific examples of Not Urgent but Important Tasks:

▪ Weekly planning
▪ Long-term planning
▪ Exercising

Quadrant 3: Urgent and Not

Important Tasks
Quadrant 3 tasks are activities that require our attention now (urgent), but don’t help
us achieve our goals or fulfill our mission (not important). Most Q3 tasks are
interruptions from other people and often involve helping them meet their own goals
and fulfill their own priorities.

Here are some specific examples of Quadrant 3 activities:

▪ Phone calls
▪ Text messages
▪ Most emails (some emails could be urgent and important)
Quadrant 4: Not Urgent and Not
Important Tasks
Quadrant 4 activities aren’t urgent and aren’t important. They’re what I like to call
“dicking around” activities. Q4 activities aren’t pressing nor do they help you achieve
long-term goals or fulfill your mission as a man. They’re primarily distractions.

Specific examples of Not Urgent and Not Important Tasks include:

▪ Watching TV
▪ Mindlessly surfing the web

Pareto Analysis (a.k.a., the 80/20 rule)

The 80/20 rule is a technique created by the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto. It’s the
idea that 20% of actions are responsible for 80% of outcomes. The goal of Pareto
analysis is to help you prioritize tasks that are most effective at solving problems.

How it works:

1. List some of the problems you are facing. For example, maybe your grades are
slipping.
2. Identify the root cause of each problem. Maybe your grades are slipping
because you spend too much time on social media or any other sort
of distraction.
3. Assign a score to each problem: Assign higher numbers to more important
problems
4. Group problems together by cause: Group together all the problems caused by
spending too much time on social media.
5. Add up the score of each group: The group with the highest score is the issue
you should work on first.
6. Take action.

Types of people who will benefit from Pareto Analysis:

• Problem solvers
• Analytical thinkers
2. Pomodoro Technique

The Pomodoro Technique was created by entrepreneur and author Francesco Cirillo.
This technique uses a timer to break down your work into intervals. Each interval is
known as a Pomodoro, named after the tomato-shaped timer that Cirillo created.

How it works:

1. Choose a task you need to get done.

2. Set a timer (e.g., for 25 mins).
3. Focus on the task at hand.
4. When the timer rings, put a checkmark on a piece of paper.
5. Take a short break: Take a break for about three to five minutes. Go for
a walk, grab a cup of coffee, do something non-work-related to give your
brain a break.
6. Repeat steps two to five: Once you have completed this process four
times, you can begin to take longer breaks (20–30 mins).

Types of people that will benefit from the Pomodoro Technique:

• Creative thinkers
• Those who feel burnt out from work/school

Eisenhower Matrix

Before Dwight Eisenhower became president in 1953, he served in the U.S. Army as
an Allied Forces Commander during World War II. He was faced with difficult
decisions every day that led him to invent what is now called the Eisenhower matrix,
or the urgent-important matrix.

How it works:

Organize your tasks into four separate quadrants, sorting them by important vs.
unimportant and urgent vs. not urgent, as shown in the graphic below. Urgent tasks
are those we feel need to get done immediately. Important tasks are those that
contribute to your long-term goals or values. Ideally, you should only work on tasks
in the top two quadrants—the other tasks, you should delegate or delete.
Types of people who will benefit from the Eisenhower Matrix:

• People in leadership positions

• Critical thinkers
Getting Things Done (GTD) Method

Created by author David Allen, this process helps you get things done by recording
tasks on paper and then breaking them down into actionable work items.

How it works:

1. Capture the actions that have your attention: These actions are tasks that can
relate to anything from work to school to your personal life.
2. Clarify what they mean: Decide whether the tasks that have your attention are
actionable or not. If an item is not actionable, ignore it for now. If the item is
actionable, do it, delegate it, or set it aside.
3. Organize your actions: Prioritize your list according to what you need to get
done when.
4. Reflect: Review your list of actions frequently to determine your next priority.
Cross off tasks you have accomplished and update your list.
5. Engage: Take the actions you can complete right now.

Types of people who will benefit from the GTD method:

• People who struggle to focus on one thing at a time

• People who feel overwhelmed in their daily lives

Eat That Frog Technique

This technique is named after a Mark Twain quote: “Eat a live frog the first thing in
the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” Start your day
by doing the most onerous tasks first and getting them out of the way.

How it works:

1. Get clear on a goal. What do you want to achieve most?

2. Write it down.
3. Set a deadline.
4. Compile a list of things you need to do to achieve your goal.
5. Organize this list in order of priority. The most important items are probably
the most difficult. These are your “frogs.”
6. Take action. If you have more than one frog on your plate, eat the nastiest one
first.
7. Repeat this cycle every day so that you’re always doing something that will
push you toward your goal.
Types of people who will benefit from the Eat That Frog technique:

• Abstract thinkers
• People with long-term goals

Pickle Jar Theory

This theory helps you figure out what is useful and what is not useful in your daily
life. It allows you to plan tasks with time to spare and set priorities for your day.

How it works:

Imagine a pickle jar full of sand, pebbles, and rocks. The sand is at the bottom and the
rocks sit at the top.

1. The sand: This represents disrupting elements of your day, such as phone calls,
text messages, emails, social media, etc.
2. The pebbles: This represents tasks that need to be completed, but can be done
on another day or by someone else.
3. The rocks: These are the most important tasks that need to get done today.

Begin by thinking about how your tasks for the day would fit into the above
categories. Then make a task list starting with the rocks and ending with sand (if time
permits). Include an honest time estimate next to each. Try not to plan more than six
hours of an eight-hour working day. This will leave buffer time for the pebbles and
sand.

Types of people who will benefit from the Pickle Jar theory:

• Visual people
• Concrete thinkers

Rapid Planning Method (RPM)

“RPM” stands for “rapid planning method” or “result, purpose, and massive action
plan.” It was developed by motivational speaker Tony Robbins as a way to train your
brain to focus on a vision of what you want so you can make it real.

How it works:
 1. Capturing: Write down all the tasks you need to accomplish this week.
2. Chunking: “Chunk” your tasks together by commonalities. Which items are
personal? School-related? Career-focused?
3. Create your own RPM blocks: On the top of a new sheet of paper, make three
columns: the task, the result you want from completing that task, and your
purpose for completing it. Next, list the actions you can take to get there.
4. Create an empowering role for yourself: If you’re a student, you might call
yourself the “Study Queen.” Anything that will get you jazzed about completing
your goal.

Types of people who will benefit from the RPM:

• Working students or parents

• People who have long-term goals

Time Blocking Method

Inventor Elon Musk is known for being productive. He manages his time so efficiently
that he can work over 80 hours a week and still make time for himself. What’s his
secret? Time blocking.

How it works:

From the moment you wake up, assign each time block in your day to a task. These
tasks can be anything from eating breakfast to studying for a test. Below are the steps
Elon Musk uses to block his time:

1. Divide a piece of paper into two columns. On the left, write down each hour of
the day and create blocks of time such as half-hour or hour chunks.
2. Estimate the time it’s going to take to complete each of your tasks and fit them
into your time blocks.
3. Add buffer times in between each time block to allow for adjustments during
the day.

Types of people this works for:

• Working students or parents

• Analytical thinkers
Parkinson’s Law

British historian Cyril Northcote Parkinson became famous for the phrase “work
expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” In other words, the amount
of time you give yourself to complete a task is the amount of time it will take you to
complete that task.

How it works:

This is not a time management technique per se. It’s a law that, when understood, can
be applied as one of the most beneficial time management methods out there—but
you will have to put in the work. That means working more efficiently in shorter
bursts of time. Here are some tips:

• Try working without a computer charger. This will force you to finish a project
before your computer dies.
• Get it done early. Instead of finishing an essay by midnight, try to get it done
by noon.
• Set a deadline. Give yourself a set time to do something—and then cut it in half.
• Limit time for tasks. Give yourself only 20 minutes in the morning to answer
emails.

Types of people this works for:

• Procrastinators
• People who work well under pressure

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Conceiving innovative ideas

The first and by far the most important step towards creativity and
innovation is the conception of a new idea. If there is no new idea, there
cannot be any innovation or breakthrough. Furthermore, the idea has to be
not only new/fresh but also useful. In order for an idea to be both fresh and
useful, prior knowledge of problems that need to be solved as well as possible
solutions is required. Even though there are no significant resources
required for the conception of a new idea, this step contributes largely to the
overall innovation/creation,
The second and very important step is the exploration of the idea. This
step shows whether the original idea can or cannot ‘work’. Unlike the first
step of conceiving the idea, this second step requires significant effort and
resources. An idea can be explored either by private funding (if it is a
corporate-related idea) or by employing EU and/or national funding. In
either case, the funding will provide the necessary resources (manpower,
infrastructure, consumables, etc.) for exploring the idea further. The idea
exploration includes research/studies related to the proof of concept,
experimentation, scaling-up to industrial/commercial scale, techno-
economic feasibility, etc. It is estimated that the exploration step is the
second important step (Figure 1) in the overall innovation value from
conceiving to materializing a new idea. Nevertheless, it should be noted that
the more an idea is explored, the less the risks of failure during the third and
last step of exploitation. Therefore, significant effort should be foreseen and
dedicated in order to thoroughly explore the initial ideal.

The third and last step towards innovation is the exploitation of the idea
towards its implementation. The exploitation step will allow the
materialization of the original idea into a successful business step, utilizing
the findings of the exploration step. The idea exploitation ensures the
competitiveness of the final product/service/technology. In order for the
exploitation step to be successful, careful business planning as well as
technology licensing and patents are required. Even though this last step is
the most straightforward step and with potential to provide high profit
margins, its value is the lowest as related to the overall innovation value, as
shown in Figure 1, as compared to the preceding conception and exploration
steps.