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Home Courses Creative Problem Solving and Decision making Course materials Lectures Application of technique step 4

Application of technique step 4

Course subject(s) Step 4. Alternative analysis

Problem diagram and alternatives

During this course you practice the content by applying it to a case, either your own case or one of the cases we provided.

A problem diagram provides an overview of the analyses so far. It is a clear and easy to communicate picture of the problem. We invite you to construct the diagram using the action points Elianne provided you in the video. Also bear in mind the pitfalls she discussed. As a wrap up we have listed the action points and pitfalls below.

ACTION POINTS

  1. Construct a problem diagram
    Design a problem diagram for your complex problem situation. Make sure everything is in there. Start from the actors, their criteria and the causal diagram. Identify the external factors. Also, show how potential alternatives influence at least one factor in the diagram each.
  2. How to use this with your client?
    When your diagram is finished, do you have any ideas on how exactly you are going to use it? Discussing about it with your actors, talking to your supervisors, presenting it to your client? Let us know, as there are many possibilities.

PITFALLS

  • Incosistent problem diagram due to inconsistent analyses
  • The zero-option is missing
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Based on a work at https://ocw.tudelft.nl/courses/creative-problem-solving-and-decision-making/.
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