DR. SUSAN L. STANSBERRY

At this point you should have a general idea of a solution to your problem. Through these activities, you will work to discover the best possible design for your solution. 

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Empathizing

To empathize is to identify with and understand somebody else's feelings or difficulties. This skill is important to problem solving, as we must put ourselves in other's shoes to consider all aspects of a possible solution. Root-Bernstein & Root-Bernstein (2000) recommend Stanislavsky's techniques for improving empathizing skills:

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• Practice "inner attention, which centers on things we see, hear, touch, and feel" in real and imaginary circumstances. This means observing your own responses to the world and also remembering physical and emotional memories of your responses. How does it feel to open a door? How is this related to the "script" by which the physicist describes the door opening? Actors in any field may exercise this inner attention by remembering and reenacting the feelings of their daily lives.

• Practice "external attention" to people and things outside yourself. Actors study other people and things closely. Stanislavsky made his students recall as many details as possible of objects seen once and then hidden. He himself learned to imitate exactly the physical habits he found interesting in others. This approach is beneficial whether one is describing or imitating the behavior of chimpanzees, clocks, or quarks. How would they respond to a particular situation or stimulus?

• Imagine what the object of your external attention is sensing and feeling: get close to it. Pretend that its world is your world, its sense organs or physical attributes yours. How would you feel, behave, respond if you were it? Find connections to sensations and emotions that exist in yourself. Even as this approach made Stanislavsky "feel akin to the character in the play and indeed made me one with him," so can it allow you to "feel" what the cell, the virus, or the carbon atom "wants to do." (p. 199)

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Think hard about the solution to your problem you are pursuing. Focus on what a "user" of this solution would feel and think as they experience it. This often leads to important design tweaks. 

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SCAMPER

Michalko (2015) came up with the SCAMPER process to transform a basic idea into a creative, innovative idea. The process starts by thinking about any subject from improving the paperclip to reorganizing your educational institution.  For our purposes, think of the solution you are designing to solve Your Problem. The SCAMPER acronym offers seven thinking steps Answer each of the following questions while thinking about your design: 

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     S = Substitute something?
    C = Combine your subject with something else?
    A = Adapt something to your subject?
    M = Magnify or modify — add to it or change it in some fashion?
    P = Put it to some other use?
    E = Eliminate something from it?
    R = Rearrange or reverse it?

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Ideally, you should be narrowed down to one solution design at this point, but keep notes of other possibilities, as they may be useful as you finalize your design in the next activity. 

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Synthesizing

When you engage in synthesizing, you are combining separate elements or substances to form a coherent whole. Everything that is learned during the process of problem finding, problem solving, and design comes together as you synthesize your idea. You may have multiple designs in mind that could solve Your Problem, and at this stage, you will evaluate each idea and synthesize the design into a whole that is ready to move forward into the development phase. 

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Answer the following questions about what you feel is your best solution design and finalize the design you will move into the development stage: 

• What are the solution idea’s advantages?

• In what situation could this solution idea be successful? 

• What resources are needed for this idea that you already have access to?

• How might others see the strength of this idea?

 

Questions to analyze the idea’s weaknesses:

• How can the solution idea be improved?

• What does the idea lack in term of experience, team and resources?

• What could prevent the idea from being a successful solution to Your Problem?

• How might others see the idea in terms of weaknesses?

 

Questions to analyze the idea’s opportunities:

• What opportunities does the idea have in the actual market?

• How can this idea specifically solve the problem you are addressing?

 

Questions to analyze the idea’s threats:

• What are the obstacles that face the idea?

• Do the idea weaknesses represent any thread to its success?

• What are the financial problem that may face the idea?

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