To Solve a Tough Problem, Reframe It
Harvard Business Review · 2024
"Many 'unsolvable' problems are actually poorly framed ones — changing the question you're asking often surfaces a solution that was invisible under the original framing, making reframing a higher-leverage move than harder analysis of the original question."
Teams spend weeks grinding on a problem's original framing when the actual unlock was asking a different question entirely.
The article's core method: treat your initial problem statement as a hypothesis, not a fixed fact. Before searching for solutions, deliberately generate multiple alternative framings of the same underlying issue — a 'sales are down' problem might reframe as a retention problem, a positioning problem, or a pricing problem, each pointing toward completely different solution spaces. The framing you start with quietly constrains every solution you'll consider afterward.
According to this reframing approach, why is a team's initial problem statement risky to treat as fixed?
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- To Solve a Tough Problem, Reframe ItHarvard Business Review
Expected Value
"Choose the option whose average outcome, weighted by probability, is highest."