Visual Problem Solving

Tom Wujec is a Fellow at Autodesk, the world’s leader in 2D & 3D design software.  He has brought several software applications to market, including SketchBook Pro, PortfolioWall, and Maya which won an Academy Award for its contribution to the film industry.  Given Tom’s expertise with technology and software, some might find it surprising to learn that he is also a pioneer in the use of simple, interactive visuals to help teams solve problems.  Using images, sketches, and animations, Tom and his team make complex ideas understandable by making them visible and tangible.

So why should Tom’s work at Autodesk be of interest to you?  As I have written before, neuroscientists have discovered that we don’t actually “see the world as it is.”  Rather, our brain filters the information it receives based on past experiences to create the view of the world we have around us.  As Tom describes it, our brains conduct a “visual interrogation” of everything we see by asking a series of questions and creating a mental model based upon the answers.  The depth and variety of questions our brains ask (where, how, location, number, why, color, when, shape, size, what) is dictated by the richness of the images it encounters.  The richer and more diverse the images, the more of the brain’s three primary regions are utilized in processing the image to create meaning.

Since one of our goals as leaders is to improve the effectiveness of our organizational problem solving, Tom’s work provides us with a couple of interesting lessons:

First, make problem solving more visual.  Rather than merely using data points and words to describe, analyze and solve problems, use images.  Images help the brain clarify ideas, identify underlying patterns of logic, and create meaning.  As opposed to numbers and words, a good visual invites the eyes to dart around and engage the entire brain to create a visual logic and make sense of the information to which it is being exposed.  The more fully the brain is engaged in the act of analyzing and creating meaning, the richer the outcome of the problem solving activities will be.

Second, make your problem solving more interactive.  The act of creating a visual narrative of the problem solving process is critical to the team’s ownership of the problem as well as their engagement in finding a solution.  The more the team creates the visual logic used to tell the story of the problem and what caused it, the more vested they will be in the outcome.

Creating a culture of continuous improvement requires both engaging people in the process of identifying and solving problems as well as providing them with the tools to do so.  Most traditional approaches to problem solving fail to inspire people and generate creative solutions.  They lack both a visual component to kick the entire brain into action as well as a sufficient level of interactivity to create ownership between the team and the problem.  By challenging teams to use images to identify underlying patterns and create meaning, you just might be surprised at the improvement in both the quality of thought as well as improvement ideas.

The Golden Hour

“There is a golden hour between life and death. If you are critically injured you have less than 60 minutes to survive. You might not die right then; it may be three days or two weeks later, but something has happened in your body that is irreparable.” – Dr. R Adams Cowley

The R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center is a free standing trauma hospital in Baltimore, MD and is part of the University of Maryland Medical Center.  Founded by R Adams Cowley, it was the first facility in the world to treat shock and now admits over 7,500 critically injured patients per year.  More amazingly, while many of the patients are near death when arriving at the center, more 97% of the 7,700 patients seen last year survived.

At the core of the center’s success is the shared belief that they can save every patient.  This almost obsessive pursuit of an “impossible” goal connects the team to a larger purpose and creates a never give up attitude in each member of the staff.  However, a never give up attitude alone is not enough to generate the trauma center’s impressive results.  Many organizations create inspiring visions and believe they are capable of accomplishing great things.  What they lack is a work environment structured to allow each individual to translate the vision into actionable daily events through simple, repeatable processes.

The mechanism the trauma center uses to create of this type of environment is the concept of the “Golden Hour.”  The golden hour refers to the sixty minute window after people are critically injured when what happens will determine whether they survive and what the quality of their lives will be.  This concept drives everything the center does and has guided each decision about how the center will manage the flow of patients and information, what equipment and technology will be used, and the make up and training of the staff.

So what does the concept of the golden hour have to do with continuous improvement?  Everything.  At the heart of continuous improvement is creating an environment where each individual identifies and solves problems.  Like a patient, what happens in the first 60 minutes after a problem has occurred dictates whether the problem is effectively solved as well as the quality of the new process going forward.  Unlike the trauma center however, few organizations create daily processes to ensure that each problem is identified, understood and solved during this critical window.

To effectively create an environment with daily problem solving at its core, management should take away three lessons from the trauma center.  First, it is critical to set expectations for each process so that there is a shared understanding of what constitutes a problem.  Second, we need to create systems which allow everyone to see problems in real time.  Finally, through a combination of an inspiring vision and effective training, we must provide the motivation and skills to solve problems in real time.

Creating Space for Change

Welcome to the Grand Cafe in Oxford, England.  The Grand Cafe was one of the first coffee houses to open in England in 1650.  With the replacement of alcohol as the daytime drink of choice, the English coffee house blossomed into a locus of learning and was crucial to the development and the spread of “The Enlightenment.”  The open layout and informal atmosphere of the 17th century coffee house gave rise to “penny universities” where virtuosi from different backgrounds and specialities came together and “conducted research” without the formality of the university setting.  “The coffeehouse was a place for like-minded scholars to congregate to read, as well as learn from and to debate with each other…” (Bryan Cowan).  Many of the innovations that developed during this period in world history have a coffee house somewhere in their story.

Like the english coffee house, the use of space in organizations can play a critical role in creating a environment which facilitates daily process innovation.  From the layout of the physical work area to the design of systems which expose problems in real time, leaders would be wise to pay attention to the flow of work, people and information when establishing expectations for rapid change.

When designing your space, let the flow of work drive the location of people and materials.  Seek to open up the space and make it easier for everyone to see the entire process at a glance as well as communicate in real time without physical barriers.  Create opportunities for people to “bump” into each other throughout the day and have spontaneous interactions.  Design collaboration zones in close proximity to the work where teams have the room and the raw materials to experiment with new solutions to daily process problems.

Above all, demand more from your work area than just a place to house computers and cubicles.  There is a magic dynamic which occurs when people are able to connect with their process and engage with other in collaborative activities.  The more successful you are at using space to help drive these behaviors, the more surprised you will be at the rate and impact of the changes that will result.