How the CIA define problems & plan solutions: The Phoenix Checklist
1st June 10
Posted in awesomeness, process
In a recent BBH Labs post (Wind Tunnel Marketing, The Sequel: On the Need for Divergent Insight) that talked about the need for divergent thinking and stimulus in approaching problem solving (& creative ideation), Chaz Wigley, the Chairman of BBH in Asia Pacific, mentioned how the CIA‘s (I’ve always wanted to link to the CIA) Problem Definition Checklist provoked precisely this kind of approach; rounded, many-faceted, flexible.
These questions are known as “context-free questions” and are designed “to encourage agents to look at a challenge from many different angles. Using Phoenix is like holding your challenge in your hand. You can turn it, look at it from underneath, see it from one view, hold it up to another position, imagine solutions, and really be in control of it” (see the excellent, if chewy, paper on Exploring Exploratory Testing, for more here).
We now have from Chaz not only the list of questions the CIA use to define problems, but also (thanks to Iqbal Mohammed) the follow-up list they use to develop the plan. Which seems kind of important too.
My personal favourite question in the problem definition list is the somewhat open-ended: ‘what isn’t the problem?’.
Enjoy.
–
THE PROBLEM
Why is it necessary to solve the problem?
What benefits will you receive by solving the problem?
What is the unknown?
What is it you don’t yet understand?
What is the information you have?
What isn’t the problem?
Is the information sufficient? Or is it insufficient? Or redundant? Or contradictory?
Should you draw a diagram of the problem? A figure?
Where are the boundaries of the problem?
Can you separate the various parts of the problem? Can you write them down? What are the relationships of 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 having the same or a similar unknown
Suppose you find a problem related to yours that has already been solved. Can you use it? Can you use its method?
Can you restate your problem? How many different ways can you restate it? More general? More specific? Can the rules be changed?
What are the best, worst and most probable cases you can imagine?
THE PLAN
Can you solve the whole problem? Part of the problem?
What would you like the resolution to be? Can you picture it?
How much of the unknown can you determine?
Can you derive something useful from the information you have?
Have you used all the information?
Have you taken into account all essential notions in the problem?
Can you separate the steps in the problem-solving process? Can you determine the correctness of each step?
What creative thinking techniques can you use to generate ideas? How many different techniques?
Can you see the result? How many different kinds of results 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 check 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 at this time?
Who will be responsible for what?
Can you use this problem to solve some other problem?
What is the unique set of qualities that makes this problem what it is and none other?
What milestones can best mark your progress?
How will you know when you are successful?
Great stuff! Thanks for sharing this.
[...] How the CIA define problems & plan solutions: The Phoenix Checklist Published: May 31, 2010 Source: BBH Labs In a recent BBH Labs post (Wind Tunnel Marketing, The Sequel: On the Need for Divergent Insight) that talked about the need for divergent thinking and stimulus in approaching problem solving ( creative ideatio… [...]
[...] Auch wenn Dale Cooper (Twin Peaks) ein FBI und kein CIA Agent war, kann einem die folgende “Phoenix-Checkliste” des CIA bestimmt helfen, um in seine Fußstapfen zu treten. — Vielen Dank an BBH Labs aus London, die diese Liste auf ihrem Blog veröffentlicht haben. [...]
[...] week, Ben Malbon from BBH Labs wrote a very interesting post about how How the CIA define problems & plan solutions: The Phoenix Checklist . In the post, he outlines 16 problem framing questions that they use, such as, “why is it [...]
[...] week, Ben Malbon from BBH Labs wrote a very interesting post about how How the CIA define problems & plan solutions: The Phoenix Checklist . In the post, he outlines 16 problem framing questions that they use, such as, "why is it [...]
[...] tit og ofte er det svært at få at vide hvad det reelle problem er. BBH Labs beskriver hvordan CIA arbejder med “context free questions”, der kan hjælpe deres agenter med at definere og løse problemer. Vi har netop prøvet at starte [...]
Awesome! The CIA gets a lot of criticism at times, but here they’re spot on. I just wish other parts of government would use this checklist. Heck, I even think it should be taught in our schools (along with critical thinking).
If it works for the CIA then it should work for me in my average life.
As a former military intelligence analyst (21 years), I found this http://tinyurl.com/2aev4fm very helpful. It is a list of 15 Axioms for Intelligence Analysts. and the axioms could easily be carried over to civilian endeavors as well.
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