CREATIVITY

AND
INNOVATION

PROBLEM DEFINITION
 What is PROBLEM..?
A matter or situation regarded as
unwelcome or harmful and
needing to be deal with and
overcome.
A thing difficult to achieve or
accomplish

Activity:
Discuss with your friend in 3 minutes.
 Problem Definition

It is worth spending an
appropriate amount of time
making sure that you have
defined the problem properly
BEFORE you set out on an
project.
 Problem definition

No matter how clever we

are at coming up with
solutions to problems, if we
are working on the wrong
problems in the first place
we are wasting our time
Troubleshooting skill
Problem Definition
"The question is more
important than the answer"
Edward Deming
 Types of Problem
Presented Problem:
- problems which come to us, or
are given to us, or happen to us.
- problems are presented to us by
outside world [J. R. Hayes]
Examples
Machinery breaking down
A target set is by somebody else
Being stuck in a traffic jam
 Types of Problem
Constructed Problem ( we want it..!):
- problems that we make for ourselves.
- There may not be anything specifically
wrong but we are interested in the
possibility of improvement, or change, or
doing something different.
Examples
Gaining a qualification, master, PhD
Innovating a new product
Improving an existing procedure or
service