Problem Solving · Lesson 3 of 4

First principles and generating alternatives

Generate first, judge second. Doing both at once reliably produces two options and no insight.

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First-principles thinking strips a problem back to what you actually know is true, rather than reasoning from how it is currently done. It is expensive and slow, which is why it is worth reserving for problems where the conventional answer keeps failing.

Generating alternatives is a separate activity from evaluating them, and doing both at once is what produces two mediocre options. Set a number before you start — five, seven — and reach it before judging any of them, including the ones you already know are bad. The bad ones are often what makes the fifth one possible.

A useful forcing move: write the option you would take if your current favourite were forbidden. It is frequently better than the favourite, and it never arrives if you stop at two.

See it happen

You want to learn a language and the course you want costs more than you have.

The read that arrives on its own

Wait until I can afford it, or find a cheaper course.

The same situation, with this idea

What does learning a language actually require? Repeated exposure, someone to correct you, and a reason to use it. The course bundles all three. They can be unbundled: a podcast, a weekly conversation exchange, and one thing you want to read in it.

What changed

The course was one packaging of the requirements, not the requirements. Going back to what is actually needed is what put four more options on the table.

The takeaway

Generate first, judge second. Doing both at once reliably produces two options and no insight.

Easy to take the wrong way

Generating and judging in the same breath. Every option you kill as you produce it stops the next three from arriving. Produce first, judge after.

Try this

On a decision you face, list seven options before evaluating any. Include the ridiculous ones.