How to Solve Problems and

Have a Good Idea

for ALAF Career Day

25 March 2021
Simple!
Follow two principles
If I only had 1 hour to
save the world,
I would spend 55
minutes defining the
problem
and only 5 minutes
finding the solution.
Albert Einstein

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Principle #1:
Understand the problem
OUR CHALLENGE TODAY

How Might We
make learning math
more fun for young teenagers?

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ACTIVITY

•“What’s not working?” 20 minutes

•Clustering 10 minutes
•How Might We 10 minutes

How Might We
make learning math
more fun for young teenagers?
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HOW MIGHT WE QUESTIONS

How The ‘how’ part assumes there are solutions out

there — it provides creative confidence.

Might ‘Might’ says we can put ideas out there that

might work or might not — either way, it’s OK.

We The ‘we’ part says we’re going to do it together

and build on each other’s ideas.
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HOW MIGHT WE EXAMPLES

Challenge: Amp up the good: HMW use the kids’ energy

Improve the to entertain fellow passenger?
airport experience
at the gate for Remove the bad: HMW separate the kids
mothers with from fellow passengers?
young children

Explore the opposite: HMW make the wait

the most exciting part of the trip?

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HOW MIGHT WE EXAMPLES

Challenge: Question an assumption: HMW entirely

remove the wait time at the airport?
Improve the
airport experience
at the gate for Go after adjectives: HMW we make the rush
mothers with refreshing instead of harrying? ID
young children unexpected resources: HMW leverage free
time of fellow passengers to share the load?

Identify unexpected treasures: HMW leverage

free time of fellow passengers to share the
load?

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HOW MIGHT WE EXAMPLES

Challenge: Play against the challenge: HMW make the

Improve the airport a place that kids want to go?
airport experience
at the gate for Change a status quo: HMW make playful,
mothers with loud kids less annoying?
young children

Break POV into pieces: HMW entertain kids?

HMW slow a mom down? HMW mollify
delayed passengers?

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 The best way
to have a good
idea is to have lots
of ideas.
Linus Pauling

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Principle #2:
Have a lot of ideas
ACTIVITY

•Brainstorm 20 minutes
•Voting 10 minutes

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BRAINSTORMING RULES

1. Defer Judgment
2. Encourage Wild Ideas
3. Build On The Ideas Of Others
4. Stay Focused On Topic
5. One Conversation At A Time
6. Be Visual
7. Go For Quantity

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You just creatively solved a problem!
 “We see teams that excel at understanding
their customers are 11% more likely to achieve
business objectives than teams that do not.”

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 “Organizations that explore or iterate
five or more solutions see their success rates
increase by 42%.”

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