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  • How do you solve hard intellectual problems? What's your method?

    Alexey Shashkov
    15 replies
    Hello, fellow product makers! How do you solve hard intellectual problems? What's your method?

    Replies

    Andrii Kpyto
    🤷‍♀️ I starting to read. Analytics, cases, researches, solutions, problematic itself. Next stage: discussion, that helps to deeply understand the problem. If you can't explain "what's wrong" to non-expert, you don't catch the whole problem, or you using too specific point-of-view. Next steps depend on what you get after first one's :)
    Alexey Shashkov
    @kpyto Hi, Andrew. That's a cool method! Thanks for sharing. What's the most challenging part of that process?
    Daria
    First of all, I always open the Internet. I read articles with similar problems and write out the main points. I also try to understand all the background of the problem. Thus, I can understand possible solutions. If it doesn't work, I ask for advice from experts.
    Alexey Shashkov
    @daryakhmetova Hi, Daria! Got it. Makes sense. How do you organize gathered information?
    Daria
    @shashcoffe as for collected information, i usually organize it with the use of excel. I also use Reskript as a document editor.
    Alexey Shashkov
    @daryakhmetova Interesting! I’ve never heard about ReScript. Is that an alternative to MS Word?
    Daria
    @shashcoffe Yes, it is also a document editor. But in addition, it includes a lot of collaboration and project management functions.
    Alexey Shashkov
    @daryakhmetova So interesting! Daria, why did the founders of ReScript decide to work on this product when there are MS Word, Google Docs, Notion and Coda?
    Kamila Klavíková
    I think the basic framework doesn't differ much between people, but concrete steps and methods do. You need to have some idea what problem are you solving, but sometimes during research and analysis you realize that problem is somewhere else. 1️⃣ I research what other people did and I try to understand problem better. I organize collected information in OrgPad. 2️⃣ I analyze collected information and rephrase the problem. I look for connections, identify important parts and try to simplify it. I like to discuss it. For me writing and discussing are important part of the thinking. 3️⃣ If I'm stucked, I take a break and go for a walk or do something else. Then I go back to the problem. If this doesn't help, I'll try to find somebody more experienced. I have all information about the problem and a plan for solving it in one document.
    Alexey Shashkov
    @klavikova Hey Kamila! I'm really gald to you. Thank you for this actionable framework. I saved it to my artefacts.