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12 Best Problem Solving Books to Read

By: Angela Robinson | Updated: June 30, 2023

You found our list of top problem solving books .

Problem solving books are guides that improve critical thinking capability and the ability to resolve issues in the workplace. These works cover topics like bias and logical fallacies, problem prevention, and prioritizing. The purpose of these books is to help workers remain calm under pressure and come up with solutions more quickly.

These guides are similar to decision making books , negotiation books , and conflict resolution books . To improve competency in this area, one can also play problem solving games .

This list includes:

• problem solving books for adults
• creative problem solving books
• business problem solving books
• problem solving books for programmers

Here we go!

List of problem solving books

Here is a list of books to improve problem solving skills in the workplace.

1. Fixed: How to Perfect the Fine Art of Problem Solving by Amy E Herman

Fixed is one of the most useful new books on problem solving. The book calls for problem solvers to look beyond instinctual and obvious answers and provides a framework for more creative thinking. While most folks think about problem solving in terms of logic, reason, and disciplines like math and science, this book shows the role that art and imagination play in the process. Amy Herman consulted on leadership training with Silicon Valley companies and military organizations and brings this expertise into the text to train readers on how to adopt a more innovative critical thinking approach.

Notable Quote: “Working through problems is critical for productivity, profit, and peace. Our problem-solving skills, however, have been short-circuited by our complicated, technology-reliant world.”

Read Fixed .

2. Cracked it!: How to solve big problems and sell solutions like top strategy consultants by Bernard Garrette, Corey Phelps, and Olivier Sibony

Cracked it! is one of the best creative problem solving books. Drawing inspiration from the tactics of consultants, this guide is a practical playbook for approaching business problems. The authors outline a “4S” method– State – Structure – Solve – Sell– to tackle obstacles and get support from stakeholders. While many problem solving books simply focus on how to think through issues, this guide also demonstrates how to gain approval for ideas and get others onboard with the solution. The book explains how to best use these techniques, and presents case studies that show the theories in action. Cracked it! is a handy reference for any professional that faces tough challenges on the regular.

Notable Quote: “If you want to know how a lion hunts, don’t go to a zoo. Go to the jungle.”

Read Cracked it!

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3. Upstream: The Quest to Solve Problems Before They Happen by Dan Heath

Upstream takes a proactive approach to problem solving. The book urges readers to not only be responsive to issues, but also try to prevent obstacles from occurring. The guide opens with an exploration of “problem blindness,” and the psychological factors that cause folks to be oblivious to issues, along with a reminder that many problems are more controllable and avoidable than first assumed. The pages that follow outline a series of questions leaders can ask to fine-tune the system and steer clear of major headaches, for instance, “How Will You Unite the Right People?” and “How Will You Avoid Doing Harm?” Upstream is full of real world examples of how minor tweaks achieved major results and allowed organizations to sidestep serious holdups.

Notable Quote: “The postmortem for a problem can be the preamble to a solution.”

Read Upstream .

4. Problem Solving 101: A Simple Book for Smart People by Ken Watanabe

Problem Solving 101 is one of the most fun problem solving books for adults. Written by Ken Watanabe, the guide draws on Japanese philosophy as well as the author’s experience as a consultant at McKinsey to help readers understand and approach problems in productive ways. The pages provide blueprints for problem-solving methods such as logic trees and matrixes, and include scenarios and illustrations that help readers visualize the process more clearly. Problem Solving 101 breaks down the problem solving procedure into the most basic parts and lays out step-by-step instructions for choosing the best action in any situation.

Notable Quote: “When you do take action, every result is an opportunity to reflect and learn valuable lessons. Even if what you take away from your assessment seems to be of small consequence, all of these small improvements taken together make a huge difference in the long term.”

Read Problem Solving 101 .

5. What’s Your Problem?: To Solve Your Toughest Problems, Change the Problems You Solve by Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg

What’s Your Problem? insists that the most important step in the problem solving process is to start by honing in on the correct problem. The root of much frustration and wasted efforts is that professionals often pick the wrong points to focus on. This book teaches readers how to reframe and approach issues from a different perspective. The guide outlines a repeatable three step process “Frame, Reframe, and Move Forward” to ensure that workers prioritize effectively and stay on track to achieve desired results. What’s Your Problem? teaches professionals of all levels how to be less rigid and more results-focused and adopt a more agile approach to fixing issues.

Notable Quote: “The problems we’re trained on in school are often quite different from the ones we encounter in real life.”

Read What’s Your Problem?

6. Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days by Jake Knapp, John Zeratsky, et al

Sprint is one of the best problem solving books for programmers. The authors are the creators of the five-day-process at Google. This guide describes best practices for conducting sprints and solving problems in limited timeframes. The book provides a day-by-day breakdown of tasks for each day of the workweek, with the final steps being designing a prototype and a plan for implementation. Though this idea originated in the tech world and is most widely used in the software industry, this problem-solving and product design approach can be useful for any position that needs to find fixes in a time crunch.

Notable Quote: “We’ve found that magic happens when we use big whiteboards to solve problems. As humans, our short-term memory is not all that good, but our spatial memory is awesome. A sprint room, plastered with notes, diagrams, printouts, and more, takes advantage of that spatial memory. The room itself becomes a sort of shared brain for the team.”

Read Sprint , and check out this guide to virtual hackathons and this list of product design books .

7. Think Like a Rocket Scientist: Simple Strategies You Can Use to Make Giant Leaps in Work and Life by Ozan Varol

Think Like a Rocket Scientist lays out formulas and instructions for thinking more strategically. The guide reveals common problem solving approaches used by rocket scientists when exploring the unknown and testing new technology. The book is split into three sections– launch, accelerate, and achieve– with deep dives into concepts such as moonshot thinking and overcoming failure. The anecdotes revolve around space exploration and rocket science yet the methods can be applied to more commonplace and less complex problems as well. Think Like a Rocket Scientist proves that one does not need to be a genius to be a genius problem solver and lets readers learn tricks from one of the most complex professions on the planet.

Notable Quote: “Critical thinking and creativity don’t come naturally to us. We’re hesitant to think big, reluctant to dance with uncertainty, and afraid of failure. These were necessary during the Paleolithic Period, keeping us safe from poisonous foods and predators. But here in the information age, they’re bugs.”

Read Think Like a Rocket Scientist .

8. Bulletproof Problem Solving: The One Skill That Changes Everything by Charles Conn and Robert McLean

Bulletproof Problem Solving is one of the best business problem solving books. This workbook-style-guide breaks down a “bulletproof” method of problem solving favored by consultants at McKinsey. The authors distill the process into seven simple steps–define the problem, disaggregate, prioritize, workplan, analyze, synthesize, and communicate– and give numerous examples of how to follow this cycle with different dilemmas. The chapters explore each stage in depth and outline the importance and finer points of each phase. The book also provides practical tools for readers to build skills, including an appendix with exercise worksheets.

Notable Quote: “Problem solving doesn’t stop at the point of reaching conclusions from individual analyses. Findings have to be assembled into a logical structure to test validity and then synthesized in a way that convinces others that you have a good solution. Great team processes are also important at this stage.”

Read Bulletproof Problem Solving .

9. Think Like a Programmer: An Introduction to Creative Problem Solving by by V. Anton Spraul

Think Like a Programmer is one of the top problem solving books for programmers. The guide lays out methods for finding and fixing bugs and creating clean, workable code. The text emphasizes that programming is not merely a matter of being competent in the language, but also knowing how to troubleshoot and respond to unexpected occurrences. The chapters present examples of problems and puzzles and work through the answers to help strengthen professional competencies. The book provides an introductory crash course and practical toolkit for beginning coders, with a focus on C++. Yet since the text outlines general theory and approach, the book is also helpful for dealing with other programming languages, or for solving problems in non-tech industries as well. The point of the text is to provide a proper mindset and attitude for reacting to these developments, and the book can be a benefit for folks in any field.

Notable Quote: “Don’t Get Frustrated The final technique isn’t so much a technique, but a maxim: Don’t get frustrated. When you are frustrated, you won’t think as clearly, you won’t work as efficiently, and everything will take longer and seem harder. Even worse, frustration tends to feed on itself, so that what begins as mild irritation ends as outright anger.”

Read Think Like a Programmer .

10. The Founder’s Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup by by Noam Wasserman

The Founder’s Dilemmas lays out the most common problems entrepreneurs face and gives advice on how to avoid or solve these issues. The book tackles topics such as managing relationships, hiring, and rewarding or correcting employees. The chapters outline the mistakes inexperienced leaders often make and offer strategies for handling these tough situations with more smarts and skill. By reading this book, founders can learn from predecessors and avoid making obvious and avoidable errors in judgment. The Founder’s Dilemmas is a problem-solving resource for startup leaders and team members who lack more traditional guidance.

Notable Quote: “Ideas are cheap; execution is dear.”

Read The Founder’s Dilemmas , and check out more entrepreneurial books .

11. The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don’t by Julia Galef

The Scout Mindset challenges readers to move beyond gut reactions and preconceptions and rethink problems. The book offers instructions for overcoming bias and central beliefs to gather more objective data. Julia Galef encourages readers to act more like scouts than soldiers and gather information without judging to make more informed decisions. The text outlines the common reasons folks jump to conclusions and offers advice on how to avoid incorrect assumptions and conduct level-headed analyses. The Scout Mindset is a call to action for objectivity and an instruction manual for breaking away from unhelpful mental patterns that can lead to poor choices.

Notable Quote: “Discovering you were wrong is an update, not a failure, and your worldview is a living document meant to be revised.”

Read The Scout Mindset .

12. Super Thinking: The Big Book of Mental Models by Gabriel Weinberg and Lauren McCann

Super Thinking is a comprehensive resource that explains various mental models for problem solving. The book identifies logical fallacies and shows readers how to avoid these pitfalls. The pages also lay out appropriate strategies, tools, techniques to use in different situations, such as matrices, pointed questions, and philosophies. The point of the guide is to teach readers how to evaluate information and make quick yet accurate judgements. The guide helps readers decide the best approach to use for each circumstance. Though packed with information, the pages also contain images and humor that prevent the material from getting too dry. Super Thinking is the ultimate cheat sheet for thinking rationally and acting with intention.

Notable Quote: “Unfortunately, people often make the mistake of doing way too much work before testing assumptions in the real world.”

Read Super Thinking .

Final Thoughts

Problem solving is one of the most essential skills for modern industry. With the breakneck pace at which the current business world changes, there is no shortage of new developments that professionals must contend with on a daily basis. Operating the same way for years at a time is impossible, and it is almost guaranteed that workers at every level will have issues to unravel at some point in their careers.

Books about problem solving help professionals predict, prevent, and overcome issues and find more viable and sustainable solutions. These guides not only provide skills, but also methods for survival in a highly competitive business landscape. These texts show workers that they are more capable than may first appear and that sometimes, seemingly insurmountable obstacles are beatable with a combination of creativity, teamwork, and proper process.

For more ways to beat the odds, check out this list of books on innovation and this list of books on business strategy .

We also have a list of the best communication books .

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FAQ: Problem solving books

Here are answers to common questions about problem solving books.

What are problem solving books?

Problem solving books are guides that teach critical thinking skills and strategies for resolving issues. The purpose of these works is to help professionals be more creative and strategic in problem solving approaches.

What are some good problem solving books for work?

Some good problem solving books for work include Sprint by Jake Knapp, John Zeratsky, et al, Upstream by Dan Heath, and Think Like a Rocket Scientist by Ozan Varol.

Author: Angela Robinson

Marketing Coordinator at teambuilding.com. Angela has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and worked as a community manager with Yelp to plan events for businesses.

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Marketing Coordinator at teambuilding.com.

Angela has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and worked as a community manager with Yelp to plan events for businesses.

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Strategic Thinking in Complex Problem Solving

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Strategic Thinking in Complex Problem Solving provides a framework and practical tools to help the reader solve problems. In our personal and professional lives, we are required to solve problems that are not clearly defined and have moving and interdependent parts. Successful resolution requires us to be T-shaped, having both depth and breadth of knowledge and skills. This book focuses on the latter part, the knowledge and skills that can be beneficial in solving any complex problem. Integrating findings from many disciplines as well as conclusions from practitioners, this book provides concrete guidelines. It breaks the resolution process down into four steps—framing the problem (identifying what needs to be done), diagnosing it (identifying why there is a problem or why it has not been solved yet), identifying and selecting potential solutions (identifying how to solve the problem), and implementing and monitoring the solution (resolving the problem, the do ). For each of these four steps—what, why, how, do—the book explains techniques that can promote success and demonstrates how to apply them on a case study and in additional examples. The case study—that of a lost dog that may have been kidnapped—guides the reader through the resolution process, illustrates how the concepts apply, and creates a concrete image to facilitate the recollection. Relying on theoretical and empirical evidence but using simple, accessible language, it enables the reader to learn not just about problem solving but how to actually solve complex problems.

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Solvable is a brilliant book: hands-on, humorous, deeply researched, well written, and stuffed to the brim with memorable stories and real-world cases. Read this if you want to become a world-class problem solver at work and in life.

The authors provide a useful and straight forward framework for approaching complex problem solving, whether in business or more broadly in life. But the real added value for me, are the real world examples from corporations, governments and individuals around the world, struggling as they face urgent, complex challenges.

Strong problem solving capabilities are essential, especially when you confront complex problems that have a profound and long-lasting impact on your organizations. Solvable provides a thorough-yet-accessible approach to help you elevate your complex problem solving game.

Problem solving skills are in high demand, yet we’re not taught how to develop and apply these skills appropriately.  Solvable  offers a simple solution with a 3 -step process—Frame, Explore, Decide—and concrete tools that you can use to become a better problem solver and successfully engage relevant people, whatever the challenge you face.

Discover a three-step process for complex problem solving: Frame, Explore, Decide

• Find practical, concrete tools that managers and executives can use to become better problem solvers in any situation
• Build high in-demand problem-solving skills that employers are looking for
• Learn evidence-based skills built from management, psychology, medicine, engineering, and design research

A 3-step process for solving complex problems of any kind.

Try the free online problem solving tool- The DragonMaster app guides you through the 3-step process so you can solve your problem online.

Research Information & Knowledge Hub  for additional information on IMD publications

You can also buy the book on Barnes & Nobles, Book Depository, Orell Füssli and Routledge.

Professor of Strategy

Arnaud Chevallier helps executives solve complex problems and make better decisions under uncertainty. His research, teaching and consulting draw on empirical findings from diverse disciplines to provide concrete tools…

Professor of Strategy and Innovation

Albrecht Enders’ work focuses on strategic decision making. Through his teaching, consulting and writing, he helps companies make important strategic choices, and provides guidance on how to ensure that decision making…

Arnaud Chevallier helps executives solve complex problems and make better decisions under uncertainty. His research, teaching and consulting draw on empirical findings from diverse disciplines to provide concrete tools that prepare executives to manage the strategic challenges they face in today’s dynamic global marketplace.

Effective problem solvers are T-shaped – they are both generalists and specialists, combining depth and breadth of knowledge. Although traditional education and training cultivate specialist skills, they pay much less attention to the acquisition of generalist skills, including strategic thinking. Executives can use Chevallier’s tools to improve on the breadth dimension.

His initial 2016 book Strategic Thinking in Complex Problem Solving , published by Oxford University Press, is now followed by his latest title, Solvable: A Simple Solution to Complex Problems , co-authored with Albrecht Enders. This book synthesizes the strategic thinking needed for complex problem solving into a simple three-step process: frame, explore, decide. It also shows practitioners how to follow these steps using highly applicable, concrete tools.

He has helped numerous organizations to identify breakthrough solutions to complex problems, including Shell, SAP, Lenovo, Cisco, Novo Nordisk, Statkraft and the United Nations. He recently helped the International Committee of the Red Cross identify innovative funding sources and assisted Gavi the Vaccine Alliance in its drive to have greater impact. He also helped Swiss company Agathon to make decisions under high uncertainty during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, and supported Tetra Pak in improving its decision-making processes through the optimal engagement of stakeholders.

At IMD he is Director of the Global Management Foundations (GMF) program and the Master of Science in Sustainable Management and Technology (SMT) program offered jointly by IMD, the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), and the University of Lausanne. He is also Co-Director of IMD’s Complex Problem Solving (CPS) program.

Before joining IMD in 2018, Chevallier served as Associate Vice Provost for Academic Affairs at Rice University in Houston, Texas, where he taught strategic thinking in the engineering school. He was previously graduate dean of the University of Monterrey in Mexico, teaching engineering and business. He trained in mechanical engineering and his PhD from Rice focused on nonlinear stochastic mechanics. He then worked in Accenture’s strategy and business architecture division before joining academia.

Selected publications

Don’t let the AI hype undermine good decision making (Management and Business Review, 2022 forthcoming)

Solvable: A Simple Solution to Complex Problems (Pearson, 2022 forthcoming)

Strategic Thinking in Complex Problem Solving (Oxford University Press, 2016)

Oil and gas well drilling: A vibrations perspective (The Shock and Vibration Digest, 2003)

Nonlinear stochastic drill-string vibrations (The Journal of Vibration and Acoustics, 2002)

BS (Mechanical Engineering)

Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines

MS (Mechanical Engineering)

Rice University

PhD (Mechanical Engineering)

Albrecht Enders’ work focuses on strategic decision making. Through his teaching, consulting and writing, he helps companies make important strategic choices, and provides guidance on how to ensure that decision making is effective, and pitfalls are avoided.

He says leaders often fall into the trap of separating decision making from engaging with their stakeholders, only communicating, and seeking to bring stakeholders on board once they have made key strategic choices. Instead, they need to involve key stakeholders throughout the decision-making process, as this can often lead to better choices and create a sense of fair process for the people they lead.

Enders is the co-author with Arnaud Chevallier of Solvable: A Simple Solution to Complex Problems, which proposes a simple three-step process for the strategic thinking needed for complex problem solving: frame, explore, decide. They argue that it is important to avoid jumping to solutions and to work through each step of this process instead.

Framing consists of clearly specifying what the problem is and what it is not. Exploring involves an analysis of the full breadth of potential solutions, including innovative responses beyond those that are immediately obvious. And deciding then entails choosing the best available solution after weighing up all of the trade-offs involved.

In addition, Enders has been actively involved in Pathbuilder programs in which a diverse group of employees act as a sort of “shadow cabinet” and present top teams with new ideas for organizational transformation. This approach has been deployed at companies like Stora Enso and has led to impactful solutions, such as Stora Enso’s Eco School concept .

Enders has worked with a range of clients from different industries, including ABB, Agathon, Deloitte, Deutsche Bank, EHL, Siemens, Douglas Holding, Honda, ICBC, Novartis, MTR HongKong, Roland Berger, Safran, Skanska, Telenor, Thyssen Krupp, TUI, Vodafone and VTT.

He is also Co-Director of IMD’s Transition to Business Leadership (TBL) open program , served as IMD Dean of Programs and Innovation until 2020 and previously directed the Advanced Strategic Management program, precursor to the current Advanced Management Program (AMP) .

His research has appeared in leading academic journals such as Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review and Research Policy and practitioner-oriented outlets including Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review and the Financial Times.

He has also authored numerous case studies on companies such as Nestlé, Tesco, Nordea, XING and SonyBMG, and his research and case writing have been recognized by awards from the Business Policy and Strategy division of the Academy of Management, the Society for Information Management, European Foundation for Management Development and European Case Clearing House.

He is a board member of Swiss precision tool company Agathon and a founding member of the executive committee of the Enterprise for Society (E4S) sustainability initiative launched by IMD,

the University of Lausanne, HEC Lausanne and EPFL.

Before joining IMD in 2009, Enders spent three years as a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group where he worked on projects relating to strategy development, reorganization and efficiency improvement in the financial services, energy and industrial goods sectors.

Solvable: A Simple Solution to Complex Problems (Pearson, 2022)

Silver bullet or ricochet? CEOs’ use of metaphorical communication and infomediaries’ evaluations (Academy of Management Journal, 2018)

How the world’s oldest company reinvented itself (Harvard Business Review, 2018)

Stop jumping to solutions! (MIT Sloan Management Review, 2016)

CEO narcissism, audience engagement, and organizational adoption of technological discontinuities (Administrative Science Quarterly, 2013)

The family innovator’s dilemma: How family influence affects the adoption of discontinuous technologies by incumbent firms (Academy of Management Review, 2013)

Strategies for E-business: Creating Value Through Electronic and Mobile Commerce (Pearson, 2005)

Recognition

EFMD Excellence in Practice Gold Award (2014)

Academy of Management Business Policy and Strategy Division Glueck Best Paper Award (2011 and 2013)

Academy of Management Business Policy and Strategy Division Distinguished Paper Award (2012)

Society for Information Management International Paper Competition First Prize (2005 and 2008)

BA (Economics)

Dartmouth College, USA

Master’s degree

Leipzig Graduate School of Management

PhD (Strategic Management)

Habilitation (Strategic Management)

University of Nuremberg

Discover the tools managers can use to become better problem solvers in their professional and personal life

As leaders, problem solving is pretty much what we do all day, every day. But it’s also one of the skills that can be tricky.

When faced with a strategic challenge, executives often treat the symptoms of the problem rather than the underlying pain.

Problem solving is bridging the gap between where you are and where you want to be. It requires designing a strategy—which includes making decisions—and putting it into action. This sounds easy. But problems come in all…

Whether you plan to stay in your current role or change your career, it’s important to be ready for anything

Too many great ideas are silenced by organisational hierarchies. Professor Arnaud Chevallier reveals how to create a culture where people speak up.

Effective decision-making is a vital skill for CX professionals. And with the right techniques, these problem-solving skills can help their companies thrive.

So, you’ve got a big decision to make or a problem to solve. Are you endlessly dithering over your options, paralysed by the fear of making a misstep? We’ve got two bits of good news for you.

Problem-solving is a vital skill for any entrepreneur. In fact, it’s one of the most sought-after abilities in today’s workplace. So why are we so rarely taught how to do it properly?

Leadership is never easy. But, generally speaking, it’s easier to lead when things are going well. So, what can we learn from the leaders who overcome serious adversity to bring their teams out the other side?

Executives who can learn the secret to solving complex problems have got it made, writes Professor Albrecht Enders.

You’re settled on the sofa, dinner on your lap, when the remote gets chucked your way – and a load of pressure with it.

Solvable: A Simple Solution to Complex Problems by Arnaud Chevallier & Albrecht Enders (FT Publishing International)

For further information, an interview with Arnaud Chevallier and Albrecht Enders, a guest article or a review copy of   Solvable ,  please contact us:  [email protected]

1st Edition

Complex Problem Solving Principles and Mechanisms

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Description

Although complex problem solving has emerged as a field of psychology in its own right, the literature is, for the most part, widely scattered, and often so technical that it is inaccessible to non-experts. This unique book provides a comprehensive, in-depth, and accessible introduction to the field of complex problem solving. Chapter authors -- experts in their selected domains -- deliver systematic, thought-provoking analyses generally written from an information-processing point of view. Areas addressed include politics, electronics, and computers.

Table of Contents

Robert J. Sternberg, Peter A. Frensch

Critics' Reviews

"...succeeds in providing readable introductions...a major accomplishment. It is very easy to overwhelm readers with the complexity of the tasks and the complexity of the models designed to describe performance on the tasks. Add to this the unfamiliarity of the tasks to many readers and the authors have a major challenge on their hands. They clearly meet the challenge....useful for researchers working within the domain of problem solving as well as for people seeking a basic understanding of this topic." — Contemporary Psychology "...strengthens psychology's claim to new domains and methods in the study of problem solving....if you have been wondering what has been happening recently in the higher end of cognitive psychology, then this book is well worth reading." — American Journal of Psychology "...contains chapters of uniformly high quality that illustrate how cognitive psychology is coming to understand complex problem solving in a wide range of human endeavors. There is a rich offering of methods, findings, and research problems in the areas of reading, writing, and calculation through to problem solving in electronics, legal reasoning, and international relations....Students of problem solving will appreciate the change that this book represents from the earlier experimental work on simple laboratory tasks." — Robert Glaser University of Pittsburgh

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The 5 Best Books on Problem Solving (in 2024)

If you are looking for the best books on problem-solving, you’ve come to the right place.

In this article, we will cover the top 5 books on problem-solving that you can use to help you solve problems faster, easier, and better. I have personally read each one and recommend them.

The 5 Best Books on Problem-Solving

1. stop guessing: the 9 behaviors of great problem solvers by nat greene.

Stop Guessing teaches 9 main actions you need to take when solving problems. It doesn’t teach a problem-solving “method”, but steps you need to take to be able to solve the right problem and solve it well.

The 9 behaviors/actions are:

• Stop guessing
• Smell the problem
• Embrace your ignorance
• Know what problem you’re solving
• Dig into the fundamentals
• Don’t rely on experts
• Believe in a simple solution
• Make fact-based decisions
• Stay on target

I personally enjoyed this book and found it very informative. If you aren’t necessarily looking for a method but the steps you need to take to solve problems more effectively, this book is for you.

You can get it on Amazon here .

(Note: The links for Amazon are affiliate links. Thanks!)

Read More: The 5 Best Books on Decision Making 

2. Think Smarter: Critical Thinking to Improve Problem-Solving and Decision-Making Skills by Michael Kallet

As the title says, Think Smarter is about using critical thinking to improve your problem-solving and decision-making .

What sometimes hurts us in our problem-solving is that we don’t really take the time to think critically. Kallet gives 3 main steps for solving problems and making a decision:

• Conclusions

If you want to learn more about critical thinking when it comes to problem-solving and steps to take to really clarify your problem and come to better conclusions, and ultimately decisions, this is a good book for you.

3. Problem Solving 101: A Simple Book for Smart People by Ken Watanabe

Problem Solving 101 is a neat little book on problem-solving. It was originally meant for a younger audience, but it has taken widespread appeal to all ages for people who want to solve problems better.

In the book, through some simple examples, Watanabe teaches how to find the root cause, how to set and test hypotheses, how to make better choices, how to use a logic tree, and more.

If you want a simple, easy book on problem-solving for yourself and/or your kids, this one is for you.

4. The Thinker’s Toolkit: 14 Powerful Techniques for Problem-Solving by Morgan D. Jones

In The Thinkers Toolkit , the author gives detailed information on methods you can use to solve problems better and make better decisions.

Too often we use “trial and error” to try to solve problems, and that is incredibly ineffective. Jones teaches about the errors we often have when solving problems, how our brain sometimes works against us, and 14 techniques we can use to solve our problems better.

If you want a detailed guide on how we often do it wrong and the different methods you can use to solve problems better, this book is for you.

You can get it on Amazon here.

5. Systematic Problem-Solving and Decision-Making by Sandy Pokras

Systematic Problem-Solving and Decision-Making is an old book (published in 1989); however, it is still chock full of great information.

In the book, Pokras goes over, step by step, the steps you can take in your organization to solve problems.

She discusses not only the steps to do it but how to do it together as a group so that everyone is on board with what the problem is and how to solve it.

There are 6 main steps she recommends that she dives into:

• Step 1: Problem recognition
• Step 2: Problem Labeling
• Step 3: Problem-Cause Analysis
• Step 4: Optional Solutions
• Step 5: Decision Making
• Step 6: Action Planning

If you are looking for a step-by-step guide on how to solve problems within an organization (and even by yourself), this book is a great resource.

Why Not?: How to Use Everyday Ingenuity to Solve Problems Big And Small by Barry Nalebuff and Ian Ayres

Why Not? is, as the title suggests, how to use everyday ingenuity to solve problems.

The authors dive into different methods and tools you can use to help solve problems, including:

• Asking what Croesus would do
• Feeling others pain
• Looking where else it would work
• And flipping it

You can get the book here on Amazon .

Which decision-making book will you choose?

We’ve covered 5…err..6 books on problem-solving. I personally have read each one and recommend them.

I’d also recommend checking out books on decision-making , as the topics are intertwined and related.

Now to you: What do you think? Have you read any of these? Are there any we are missing?

About The Author

Thomas R. Harris

Related posts, book summary: eat that frog by brian tracy.

Book Summary: Time Management from the Inside Out by Julie Morgenstern

The 7 Best Time Management Books (In 2024)

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This volume presents a state-of-the-science review of the most promising current European research -- and its historic roots of research -- on complex problem solving (CPS) in Europe. It is an attempt to close the knowledge gap among American scholars regarding the European approach to understanding CPS. Although most of the American researchers are well aware of the fact that CPS has been a very active research area in Europe for quite some time, they do not know any specifics about even the most important research. Part of the reason for this lack of knowledge is undoubtedly the fact that European researchers -- for the most part -- have been rather reluctant to publish their work in English-language journals. The book concentrates on European research because the basic approach European scholars have taken to studying CPS is very different from one taken by North American researchers. Traditionally, American scholars have been studying CPS in "natural" domains -- physics, reading, writing, and chess playing -- concentrating primarily on exploring novice-expert differences and the acquisition of a complex skill. European scholars, in contrast, have been primarily concerned with problem solving behavior in artificially generated, mostly computerized, complex systems. While the American approach has the advantage of high external validity, the European approach has the advantage of system variables that can be systematically manipulated to reveal the effects of system parameters on CPS behavior. The two approaches are thus best viewed as complementing each other. This volume contains contributions from four European countries -- Sweden, Switzerland, Great Britain, and Germany. As such, it accurately represents the bulk of empirical research on CPS which has been conducted in Europe. An international cooperation started two years ago with the goal of bringing the European research on complex problem solving to the awareness of American scholars. A direct result of that effort, the contributions to this book are both informative and comprehensive.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Part 1 | 99  pages, introduction, chapter 1 | 23  pages, definitions, traditions, and a general framework for understanding complex problem solving, chapter 2 | 37  pages, basic topics and approaches to the study of complex problem solving, chapter 3 | 35  pages, complex problem solving: toward a (computersimulated) theory, part 2 | 73  pages, general topics in the study of complex problem solving, chapter 4 | 28  pages, feedback delays in complex dynamic decision tasks, chapter 5 | 20  pages, implicit learning in the control of complex systems, chapter 6 | 23  pages, complex problem solving as multistage decision making, part 3 | 66  pages, the differential approach to complex problem solving, chapter 7 | 24  pages, complex problem solving, intelligence, and learning ability, chapter 8 | 18  pages, cognitive flexibility and complex problem solving, chapter 9 | 22  pages, using complex problem solving tasks in personnel selection and training, part 4 | 51  pages, methdological issues in research on complex problem solving, chapter 10 | 26  pages, experimental research on complex problem solving, chapter 11 | 23  pages, single case studies and models of complex problem solving, part 5 | 29  pages, conclusions, chapter 12 | 27  pages, expertise in complex problem solving: a comparison of alternative conceptions.

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Solving Problems Through Systems Thinking

• Systems thinking in business education encourages decision-making within a broader context, exclusive of a single disciplinary approach.
• Employers need agile graduates capable of solving problems that exist in confusing systems and often alongside concurrent challenges.
• Some traditional educational methods can hinder a more integrated approach to addressing complex issues.

Peter Møllgaard [00:15]: OK, so systems thinking is very important for business education today because we have all these polycrises, we have complex settings. So businesses need to take decisions acknowledging that there is a wider context. And if you ignore that, then you will suboptimize. The decisions that businesses will take would not be the right decisions.

And we need, of course, to take that into the classroom to make sure that our students, our graduates, will not suboptimize, will actually understand that they are part of a, that what they do is part of a bigger system.

Whatever that system might be depends on the concrete situation. So this way of looking at an issue at hand with a number of different, from a number of different perspectives is exactly what we need our students to learn.

We need to make sure that our students, our graduates, will actually understand that what they do is part of a bigger system.

[01:13]: When I talk to employers, what they are facing are a number of different crises that happen simultaneously: geopolitical crisis, climate change, whatnot. So there are lots of different things going on. And employers need to be agile. They need to operate in that very confusing system, really.

And in that confusing system, they need to have graduates out of business schools that can actually deal with that and can also engage in multidisciplinary, multigenerational teams that will solve these things.

So I think if you look at it from a very abstract point of view, this agility and the systems thinking are very well connected and would solve the issues that employers need to have solved these days.

So one example could be if you want to change the waterways in Ghana.

[02:10]: So we have a development problem, a Danish development project in Ghana, and you could think that you can just take solutions from Denmark and plug them in Ghana.

Of course, that would ignore the very different society that you are. The system is different. Simply, it’s a different legal system. There’s a lot less legal control. It’s a different behavior.

So, for example, in Ghana, people regularly just plug into the water pipes and say, well, I need water. So that would be illegal, but nobody cares, and they do that.

So if we want to take our solutions from Denmark, we need to understand that the behavior and the legal system is different, and only then can you become efficient in providing solutions to the Ghanaian society.

So in the classroom, we incorporate anthropology. So you need to understand behavior and actually observe behavior.

You need to be able to integrate the different disciplines in one solution. And so, if you get too hardcore into one discipline, then there’s a chance that you don’t open up.

[03:07]: What are they actually doing? Not what you think they should do or could do. We have legal aspects, we have globalization aspects, cultural aspects—a lot of different aspects to cover the system.

And of course, the ultimate aim is that you integrate all those different aspects, when you look at the problem at hand, for example, improving water pipes in Ghana, which is a hugely valuable thing to do in Ghana. 

Traditional ways of teaching can get in the way because what we need is that there is an interface with other disciplines, right?

So that’s what I call integrative thinking—that you need to be able to integrate the different disciplines in one solution. And so, if you get too hardcore into one discipline, then there’s a chance that you don’t open up.

[03:57]: You get religious with that particular methodology. And that’s not good when you need to be able to work in multidisciplinary teams or just apply a systems thinking in your own head.

I’m not sure we have challenges that we can’t solve ourselves, but there are often … a certain conservatism when it comes to changing curricula. And I think that’s something we need to work with, but that’s our own system. We should be able to work with that.

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Flexible Mindsets in Schools: Channelling Brain Power for Critical Thinking, Complex Problem-Solving and Creativity 1st Edition

Flexible Mindsets in Schools abandons painstaking evolution in favour of a bold, transformative revolution. It blends research and easily implementable practice to drive solutions that give learners and educators the freedom to become self-directed: to unleash questioning, problem-solving and creativity.

This key text explores how to blend existing and new practices and unlock the potential of student agency as the pathway towards resilience and adaptation. The Flexible Mindsets Model fuses three components that rely on each other to drive self-directed learning: metacognition, "I CAN" mindset messages and executive function processes. This book presents a roadmap for how to create an environment and culture where learners are aware of what works when, feel safe to take learning-related risks, believe that they are capable and have the tools they need to learn.

Flexible Mindsets in Schools will give educators hope that there is a way to revolutionise education to meet the needs of students during these uncertain times by taking small, manageable steps.

• ISBN-10 1032069767
• ISBN-13 978-1032069760
• Edition 1st
• Publisher Routledge
• Publication date November 30, 2021
• Language English
• Dimensions 7 x 0.75 x 9.75 inches
• Print length 174 pages
• See all details

Editorial Reviews

About the author.

Julie Dunstan is a developmental psychologist and the Founding Director of reFLEXions®, an initiative designed to develop Flexible Mindsets for self-directed learning.

Susannah Cole is an executive function coach and Managing Director of reFLEXions®.

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Routledge; 1st edition (November 30, 2021)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 174 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1032069767
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1032069760
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.07 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7 x 0.75 x 9.75 inches

About the authors

C. julie dunstan-brewer phd.

Dr. Julie Dunstan is an educational psychologist and children’s author who has dedicated her career to strengthening children, families, professionals and helping organizations. Her expertise spans the fields of early childhood, general education and learning differences. Dr. Dunstan has lectured at both the undergraduate and graduate levels on topics related to psychology, education and organizational development. She has presented and been a panelist at several international conferences, including the Academy of Orton-Gillingham Practitioners & Educators, the Annual Learning Differences conference at Harvard and the International Academy for Research in Learning Disabilities. Julie’s quest is to discover the ways that we think about learning and the strategies we use to be successful. As a consulting psychologist with The Reading Clinic, Julie has conducted neuro-developmental assessments and school consultations for more than 25 years. She also founded the ICAN Math Programme for children with math learning differences. Julie then served for several years as the Clinic’s Executive Director and was instrumental in the development of the I PLAY Programme aimed at boosting early literacy skills. Julie believes that we are most resilient when we are flexible in solving problems. Julie’s current project is the creation of 8 children’s stories about the Pirates of Pondering and an educators’ guide. These resources help children acquire the tools to “Learn HOW to Learn” and to believe “I CAN” messages. This empowers them to become self-directed learners who focus mental energy and strategies on their goals, even when challenged.

Susannah Cole

Susannah Cole is co-author, along with Julie Dunstan, of Flexible Mindsets in Schools: Channelling Brain Power for Critical Thinking, Complex Problem-Solving and Creativity.

In her private practice as an executive function coach, she partners with students to explore systems, habits and mindsets that facilitate learning how to learn. As the managing director of reFLEXions®, she works alongside a team to provide resources, professional coaching and consultation to build Flexible Mindsets that help educators to reframe teaching as an equitable pathway towards building resilience and adaptability for all students.

Susannah holds a MEd in developmental psychology and has grown her expertise throughout the past 25 years working in the field of education. She has taught at all levels from preschool through college. For decades, she worked in educational settings as an early childhood educator, integrated middle school teacher, a specialised autism therapist, learning support teacher and college professor.

Her calling is to transform classrooms into spaces that centre responsiveness, relevance and curiosity and where we can bring all of ourselves to our learning.

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Blog MHCLG Digital

https://mhclgdigital.blog.gov.uk/2024/09/09/adaptive-funding-8-ways-to-make-funding-effective-in-solving-complex-problems/

Adaptive funding: 8 ways to make funding effective in solving complex problems

Complex problems  

Most of the problems that today’s governments are trying to address are complex. If they had a simple answer, they probably would have been solved by now.  

By ‘complex’, I mean that various factors interact in unpredictable ways to produce unpredictable outcomes, and we can therefore only understand why things happen in retrospect. As per Dave Snowden’s Cynefin framework, complex problems differ from ‘complicated’ problems, which also involve a wide range of factors, but once these are analysed, we can make reliable predictions and have confidence in our solutions. In Donald Rumsfeld’s words, complicated problems deal with “known unknowns”, whereas complex problems operate in the realm of “unknown unknowns”.  

As government programmes continue to tackle many complex challenges, there is an opportunity to evolve our delivery approaches to ensure they are optimally structured to deal with complexity.  

Complexity and the Agile mindset  

The more traditional ‘waterfall’ approach to project management, which puts more emphasis on sticking to long-term project plans with clearly defined boundaries and pre-planned timelines, can be an ideal way to manage complicated projects, because with the right expertise and analysis, you can clearly define the problem and build a solution that you are confident will solve it.   

But when you are dealing with complexity, this comparatively rigid approach often results in delays, overspend and solutions that you ultimately discover are not fit for purpose. That’s where ‘Agile’ comes in.  

In 2001, 17 software engineers met at a ski resort in Utah to discuss their approaches to software development. That meeting ultimately resulted in the publication of the ‘ Manifesto for Agile Software Development ’, which set out some of the values and principles they had adopted to deal with the complex problem of building software that meets user needs.   

The Manifesto set out 4 core values:  

• Individuals and interactions  over processes and tools  
• Working software  over comprehensive documentation  
• Customer collaboration  over contract negotiation
• Responding to change  over following a plan  

Agile and policy development  

Since the publication of the Agile Manifesto, this approach has been successfully applied in various other sectors, including government services. In 2009, Henry David Venema and John Drexhage made a case for public policies which embrace the Agile mindset in Creating Adaptive Policies :  

"Our world is more complex than ever – highly interconnected, owing to advances in communication and transportation; and highly dynamic, owing to the scale of impact of our collective actions… Policies that cannot perform effectively under dynamic and uncertain conditions run the risk of not achieving their intended purpose, and becoming a hindrance to the ability of individuals, communities and businesses to cope with – and adapt to – change. Far from serving the public good, these policies may actually get in the way."

This sentiment has been echoed in a recent paper, The Radical How , which advocates powerfully for an approach to delivering government programmes “that deliberately and specifically acknowledges complexity and uncertainty, and mitigates for both”.  

Adaptive funding  

One of the big ‘levers’ government has at its disposal is funding. Whether we are dealing with climate change, housing or healthcare, we can only go so far without fronting up some cash.   

But funding programmes tend to be delivered according to the waterfall approach to project management. With the upcoming Spending Review offering an opportunity to reset how government funding is delivered, the time is ripe for a shift towards a more adaptive approach.  

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), has already started to design funds to account for complexity and uncertainty. But, as far as I can tell, this has happened because different teams could see that the rigid approach previously in place may not be working, rather than because they were consciously trying to create Agile funding programmes.  

Adaptive funding is about building flexibility and adaptability into the design and delivery of funding programmes, to account for the complex and uncertain nature of the problems the funding is trying to solve. E mbracing the adaptive policy framework can help policymakers develop a coherent approach to programme design, which should help the government make progress against the complex missions it has set itself.  

8 ways to design and deliver adaptive funding  

Based loosely on Darren Swanson et al.’s 7 guidelines for crafting adaptive policies, and inspired by policy developments I have seen during my time within MHCLG, I have come up with 8 ways to design and deliver adaptive funding:  

1. Decentralise decision-making over funding and promote policy variation.  

The idea that central government knows best is rarely true, and usually leads to crude ‘one-size-fits-all’ policies. Different local manifestations of an issue add additional layers of complexity which make already complex problems even more difficult to solve. Local leaders often have a more detailed understanding of the problems in their areas than those in central government. Giving devolved institutions and local authorities greater flexibility to deliver funding according to local priorities and opportunities and allowing different places to come up with different solutions has the potential to increase the chance of success across many policy domains.  

2. Test risky assumptions and unknowns with users .   

Designing funding programmes based on assumptions that have not been tested with users can lead to huge costs if they turn out to be wrong. To set a programme up for success, policy teams should engage with users (for example, funding recipients or delivery organisations) to test their riskiest assumptions before funding is delivered. This will allow funding teams to refine the design of the programme before huge costs have been incurred.    

3. Deliver short, small-scale pilot funds or experiments to test specific hypotheses .   

Even if we test assumptions with users before launching a programme, in a complex environment there is always an element of uncertainty about how successful the programme will be. To reduce risk as much as possible, why not start small and scale up as you gain more confidence in each hypothesis? The authors of The Radical How are right, however, in cautioning against simply running lots of pilots. One problem is that pilots often test a whole policy solution rather than a specific hypothesis, which doesn’t always give you the nuanced understanding you need. To rectify this, pilots or experiments should be explicitly designed to test the specific hypotheses upon which the success of the programme depends. It’s also critical that, instead of waiting for a pilot to end before evaluating its success, we seek to learn throughout the pilot.  

4. Prioritise continuous learning alongside longer-term evaluations .   

Although HM Treasury recommends that government interventions should be evaluated during the intervention as well as after, most funding programmes tend to prioritise the latter. While these evaluations often provide invaluable insights, they usually come to light too late to influence the design of the programme. Conducting user testing will enable teams to iterate based on real-time feedback and correct any design features based on faulty assumptions. Departments should also monitor and evaluate the success of different local initiatives, to identify which solutions are working well, and which are not. By doing this, government can highlight, champion and encourage examples of good practice.  

5. Iterate during the course of the programme based on user feedback .   

Once a funding team identifies that an assumption is incorrect, or an element of the policy is not working, it’s important that the team is able to make iterations. This will not be possible in all cases (particularly if the fund has already been designed according to a waterfall approach), but where such changes do not cause significant disruption, in-flight course corrections can help to steer the programme in the right direction. For example, if a fund has multiple ‘bidding rounds’, amending the guidance between rounds may help to improve the quality or quantity of future applications.  

6. Do not expect funding recipients to set out detailed project plans at the start of a programme .   

As it is often difficult (or impossible) to predict what the best solution to a complex problem is, where possible, we should avoid requiring funding recipients to set out highly detailed plans from the outset. This does, of course, involve some risk, as a department would have limited assurance at the outset that the recipient will deliver what it wants (or at least what the department thinks it wants). But there is also significant risk in tying an organisation down to an overly specified plan which has not been tested. This approach might not be appropriate for all organisation types, but local and devolved authorities should be given the space to develop their plans as more becomes known.  

7. Give funding recipients flexibility to make changes to their plans.  

Linked to the above, government should give local leaders flexibility to make swift changes once it becomes clear that the original plan is no longer fit for purpose. For example, if private sector match funding ceases to be available, a project will need to be re-scoped. Providing trusted funding recipients with more autonomy to adapt their projects and programmes will enable them to respond nimbly to the risks and opportunities of a dynamic and ever-changing world.  

8. Simplify funding by adopting a ‘systems thinking’ approach .   

The difficulty of tackling a complex problem is often compounded by a complex system of government interventions. Taking a step back and adopting a ‘systems thinking’ approach can help to identify where government has made things unnecessarily difficult for external partners to navigate. Streamlining and simplifying the funding landscape can help to maximise impact by reducing duplicative and unnecessary administrative costs. Even if we cannot make the problem less complex, we can at least try to avoid compounding this complexity with byzantine ‘solutions’.  

Considerations and trade-offs  

If this adaptive approach is to be given the best chance of success, there are some foundations which should first be in place:  

• Central government should set specific outcomes that delivery partners are working towards . Those responsible for delivery will then have clarity on what they need to achieve, as well as the flexibility needed to respond effectively. 
• Delivery partners should have the necessary capacity and capability . Organisations need to be given the time, resources and skills they need if they are expected to solve complex problems.  
• Funding teams should be multi-disciplinary. By bringing together policy experts, delivery specialists, user researchers, content designers, service designers, analysts and data specialists, funding teams would be able to draw on the diverse perspectives needed to be effective in a complex environment.
• Good quality, timely and easily accessible data . To make improvements to funding programmes when things are not working, funding teams need up-to-date information that is consistent, findable and usable. This will allow teams to understand whether the programme is achieving its objectives and change course if needed.  

As with any policy approach, there will be trade-offs. For instance, an adaptive approach to funding policy may not provide delivery partners with the certainty they understandably crave. But by giving grant recipients flexibility in delivery, in-flight changes should not create so many issues, particularly if those changes respond to user feedback and are tested before roll-out.   

You might also argue that this approach will lead to more unequal outcomes across the country. It is true that giving places more flexibility will inevitably lead to some areas doing better than others. But if recipients are also encouraged to start small, test their hypotheses, and remain vigilant to approaches that are being tested elsewhere, more places should start to move in a positive direction. By embracing an adaptive approach to funding, we have a chance to reset how we work with public, private and third sector organisations, and give ourselves the best chance of achieving our missions. 

• Cynefin: a tool for situating the problem in a sense-making framework (2017), Annabelle Mark and Dave Snowden. In Applied Systems Thinking for Health Systems Research: a Methodological Handbook , ed, by Don de Savigny, Karl Blanchet and Taghreed Adam, 76-96.  
• Creating Adaptive Policies: A Guide for Policy-making in an Uncertain World (2009) , Edited by Darren Swanson and Suruchi Bhadwal, International Development Research Centre  
• The Radical How (2024), Andrew Greenway and Tom Loosemore, UK Options 2040  

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