The document discusses the complexities of problem-solving in various contexts, emphasizing four characteristics that define complex problems: multiple goals, interconnectedness, intransparency, and dynamics. It highlights the roles of facilitators, problem owners, and experts in addressing these challenges, and outlines pitfalls in problem-solving such as jumping to conclusions and reliance on vague information. Additionally, it addresses how the roles of facilitators and experts are evolving in response to increased complexity in organizational structures and technological environments.

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Complex Problem
Solving
You can’t solve complex problems
alone in the future, now what?

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Complex Problem Solving
World Economic Forum – Future Of Jobs

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Martijn Maas is facilitator, trainer en consultant bij CoThink.
Heeft ruim 20 jaar ervaring in ICT met o.a. Crisis/Major Incident
Management,
Problem Management,
Leadership Development,
LEAN trajecten & improvement programma's
Root Cause Analyse
Risico Analyse

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Also in the Netherlands
Also in the Netherlands companies recognize the
increasing complexity of problems
77%

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What makes a problem complex?
4 characteristics of a complex problem:
1. Polytelie (there are multiple goals)
2. Interconnectedness (the information points are connected to eachother)
3. Intransparency (the relation between information points is not clear)
4. Dynamics (the situation, information or goals change continually)
Scientific point of view
In a complex problem the relation between cause
and effect is not apparent and can only be deduced
in retrospect
Cynefin point of view

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What makes a problem complex?
• Multi vendor sourcing
• Virtualization
• Intransparency of 3rd party services
• Black boxes
• Decentralized organization
• Off shore, multi cultural
• Complex technology
• More dependencies
Practical point of view in ICT

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Pitfalls in problem solving
 Jumping to conclusions
 Jumping to solutions
 Assumptions
 “Alternative facts” and other vague information

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Facilitator
3 Roles in problem solving
Problem
OwnerExpert
 Knowledge
 Experience
 Information
 Method
 Logic
 System
 Means
 Authority
 Need

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Expert Role
 Higher level of specialization
 More experts needed to cover the scope of a complex problem
 Restricted domains & black boxes
 Cooperation between experts becomes even more important (social skills)
 Use big data and related tools to look for symptoms rather that causes
What is changing in the role of the expert in problem solving?

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Problem Owner role
Complex vs Simple? Pitfall!
 How many times can we jump?
Deciding on priority:
 Mitigating actions, reducing or removing the impact first?
 Solving actions, eliminating the root cause first?
 Investigative (invasive) actions, what are the risks?
 Multi party priority?
Making complex decisions

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Facilitator role
 Blended meetings online & offline
 Multi cultural meetings
 Complexity:
• More actions, more experts, more “jumping”?
• Freeze!
 Visualise technical and causal diagrams
 Ask the right questions and enable the team
to find: patterns, trends & correlation
What changes in the role of the facilitator?

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Thanks!
More info:
martijn.maas@cothink.nl
www.cothink.nl
+31 6 20 60 9663