Solving a problem can take a few minutes, or demand an effort that stretches over years. Even worse, some problems never completely disappear, and the best we can do is mitigate their negative effects. Is there an optimal and universal method for solving problems? The Web attributes the creation of the Phoenix Checklist to the CIA, a roadmap supposedly designed to let agents analyze problems from different angles.
Personally, I believe no one has managed to verify beyond all doubt whether the Phoenix Checklist was created by the CIA, but I have noticed that many people take as source the book the book Tinkertoys by Michael Michalko, published in 1991. In essence, the list seeks to provoke and stimulate, placing pressure on different points that we might be ignoring because we keep all our attention on a single aspect of the problem that affects us. Honestly, I don't know if it will help you or not, but it's worth studying more closely. The complete version of the Phoenix Checklist is usually divided into two parts: Problem and Plan. Below is a humble translation.
The Problem
- Why is it necessary to solve the problem?
- What benefits will you receive by solving the problem?
- What is the unknown factor?
- What is it that you still don't understand?
- What information do you have?
- What is the problem NOT?
- Is the information sufficient? Insufficient? Redundant? Contradictory?
- Can you draw a diagram of the problem? A figure?
- Where are the boundaries of the problem?
- Can you separate the problem into parts? Write them down? What are the relationships between the parts of the problem? What are the constants of the problem?
- Have you seen this problem before?
- Have you seen this problem in a slightly different form? Do you know a related problem?
- Try to think of a familiar problem that has the same or similar unknown factor.
- Suppose you have found a problem related to yours that has already been solved. Can you use it? Can you use its method?
- Can you restate the problem? In how many different ways can you do it? More general? More specific? Can its rules be changed?
- What are the best, worst, and most likely cases you can imagine?
The Plan
- Can you solve the whole problem? Or part of the problem?
- How would you like its resolution to be? Can you visualize it?
- How much of the unknown factor can you determine?
- Can you obtain or deduce something useful from the information you have?
- Have you used all the information?
- Have you taken into account all the essential notions in the problem?
- Can you separate the steps in the resolution process? Can you determine how correct each step is?
- What creative thinking techniques can you use to generate ideas? How many?
- Can you see the outcome? How many different outcomes can you see?
- How many different ways have you tried to solve the problem?
- What have others done?
- Can you intuit the solution? Can you verify the result?
- What should be done?
- How should it be done?
- Where should it be done?
- When should it be done?
- Who should do it?
- What do you need to do right now?
- Who will be responsible?
- Can you use this problem to solve another problem?
- What is the group of qualities that make this problem what it is?
- What milestones can best record your progress?
- How will you know when you have succeeded?
