Framing refers to the particular perspective we give to the context in which a choice will be made. Every time we make a choice or pose a problem, we frame it in a particular way—and that framing impacts the potential solutions we might consider. This is particularly true of an [[Ill-structured Problem]]. Much of the work of framing ill-structured problems is precisely in framing it; how we frame it has a big impact on how we might solve it, because framing an ill-structured problem *structures* the problem. So I need to know how to frame and reframe problems, including how to explore alternate framings, and how each alternate frame impacts the solution space. Questions I can ask: 1. Is the problem well or ill-structured? 2. If it's ill-structured, what are alternative framings? 3. How do each of these framings impact the solution space? 4. Which framing will help me best reach a solution? I want to emphasize, for myself and others, *how important alternative framings are*. It's huge! ## Reference Sebesta, Bryan. [[2024-07-10]]. Journal entry about me reframing a change management problem at Select Health. Torres, Teresa. Continuous Discovery Habits: Discover Products that Create Customer Value and Business Value (pp. 27-28). Product Talk LLC. Kindle Edition. > Finding the best path to your desired outcome is what researchers call an “ill-structured problem”—also commonly called a “wicked problem.” Ill-structured problems are defined by having many solutions. There are no right or wrong answers, only better or worse ones. ==Much of the work when tackling an ill-structured problem is framing the problem itself. How we frame a problem has a big impact on how we might solve it.== For example, in the Wells Fargo story, their leadership, whether implicitly or explicitly, had framed the problem as “grow customer accounts at all costs.” This framing opened the door to cheating. If, on the other hand, Wells Fargo had framed the problem as “create customers who want to open more accounts,” bankers would have been less likely to cheat... > > ... David Jonassen, an educational psychologist from the University of Missouri, studied ill-structured problem-solving and highlights the importance of problem framing. How we frame an ill-structured problem impacts how we might solve it. Additionally, Jonassen suggests that we can’t simply start with one framing. Instead, he argues, good problem-solvers try out many framings, exploring how each impacts the solution space. Mark, Gloria. "Attention Span" > How do we get caught up in such patterns of behavior where we feel we have lost control of our attention? It starts with how we frame our choices of what actions to take. Framing refers to the particular perspective you give to the context in which your choice will be made. For example, say you have a pressing deadline coming up at work and your friend calls to invite you to take a weekend getaway at a nice resort. You could frame the choice of taking the weekend getaway in a positive way, as taking a break and relaxing to help you perform better during the week, or else you might frame the choice more negatively, as taking time away from working towards that deadline. > > When you make a conscious decision to do something, you likely frame your choice, but you probably don't realize you are doing so. (At other times we react automatically to stimuli like clicking on a notification, and we don't have time to frame our choice.) ... Burnett, Bill; Evans, Dave. Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life . Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. > Reframing is one of the most important mind-sets of a designer. Many great innovations get started in a reframe. In design thinking we always say, “Don’t start with the problem, start with the people, start with empathy.” Once we have empathy for the people who will be using our products, we define our point of view, brainstorm, and start prototyping to discover what we don’t yet know about the problem. This typically results in a reframe, sometimes also called a pivot. A reframe is when we take new information about the problem, restate our point of view, and start thinking and prototyping again. You start out thinking you are designing a product (a new coffee blend and new kind of coffee machine) and reframe when you realize you are actually redesigning the coffee experience (Starbucks). Or, in an attempt to make an impact on poverty, you stop lending money to the wealthy class in a country (as the World Bank does) and start lending money to people considered too poor to pay it back (micro-lending and the Grameen Bank). Or the team at Apple comes up with the iPad, a complete reframe of what the portable computing experience is about. > > In life design, we reframe a lot. The biggest reframe is that your life can’t be perfectly planned, that there isn’t just one solution to your life, and that that’s a good thing. There are many designs for your life, all filled with hope for the kind of creative and unfolding reality that makes life worth living into. Your life is not a thing, it’s an experience; the fun comes from designing and enjoying the experience. > > The reframe for the question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” is this: “Who or what do you want to grow into?” Life is all about growth and change. It’s not static. It’s not about some destination. It’s not about answering the question once and for all and then it’s all done. Nobody really knows what he or she wants to be. Even those who checked a box for doctor, lawyer, or engineer. These are just vague directions on a life path. There are so many questions that persist at every step of the way. What people need is a process—a design process—for figuring out what they want, whom they want to grow into, and how to create a life they love.