Problem-Solving: Leaning on New Thinking Skills

Description

Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents Preface Author 1 The Nature of Problem-Solving Five Large-Scale Problems Predatory Pricing Getting Through College The Climate Issue Cybersecurity The Crisis in IT (Information Technology) Problems from the Author’s Experience Problems for the Systems Engineer Top Department of Defense (DoD) Management Problems Overall Concept of This Treatise Generic Stepwise Approach to Problem-Solving Solving Problems is Our Primary Focus; Thinking Supports Exercises References 2 Thinking as a Corporate Culture Thinking as Necessary in Problem-Solving The Learning Organization Moving on to Hewlett-Packard Design Thinking – Change by Design Annual Reports Xerox Amazon Microsoft SAS (Institute) Northrop Grumman Alphabet (Google) Intel Lockheed Martin Apple General Dynamics Raytheon Leidos Themes Exercises References 3 The Power of the Idea Innovation Revisited Better Idea Stories Netflix IBM: Watson, Sr. and Jr Xerox Apple Amazon Facebook Google (Alphabet) Oracle SAS FedEx A Group of Generic “Problems” and “Solutions” Blockbuster and Netflix Industry and the DoD What Business Are We In? IBM and Microsoft Dr. Deming and Japan and the US Xerox PARC and Steve Jobs Saul Steinberg and Leasco Coke/Classic Coke, Old Taste Good Idea, Failed Follow-Through Acronym for the Individual with Potentially Better Idea Exercises References 4 Approaches to Problem-Solving The “N step” Disciplines Technical Decomposition/Reductionist Modeling and Simulation Lateral Thinking and (Lateral) Problem-Solving Total Systems Intervention Generalized/Systems Approach Design Approach Expert Systems Definitive Mathematics and Statistics-Based Methods Statistics-Based Approach DoD-Suggested How is That for Out-of-the-Box Thinking? Decision Support Systems Cost-Effectiveness Analysis Exercises References 5 Think Tanks and Problem-Solving Federally Funded R&D Centers Systems Engineering Research Centers The MITRE Corporation MITRE Awards over the Years The Aerospace Corporation The RAND Corporation ANSER IDA CNA Energy National Labs Exercises References 6 Specific Problems and Their Solutions The Coin Weighing Problem Types of Algorithms The Kalman Filter The Minimum Computer Step Problem The Matchstick Problem The Efficient Message Coding Problem The River-Crossing Problem Parameter Dependency Diagramming The National Aviation System A Radar Submodel An Optimal Search Laplace and Fourier Transforms Lagrange Multipliers Allocation of Requirements Errors A Walk in the Park The Bottom Line Exercises References 7 Great Thinkers and Problem-Solvers Selected Thinkers and Problem-Solvers and How They Thought Da Vinci Einstein Newton Descartes Feynman Edison Russell Hawking Franklin Jefferson Socrates Saint Augustine Aristotle Plato Darwin The Bottom Line References 8 Artificial Intelligence The DoD Artificial Intelligence Center The JAIC and AI Technology Seeing the Forest and the Trees Overview of Expert Systems The State of AI in the Enterprise A Research Agenda The Future of AI Exercises References 9 Group Problem-Solving GroupThink The DoD and Group Thinking Group Decision Support Systems (Software) Commercial Decision Support Systems Collaborative Software Systems Self-organizing and High-Performance Groups Exercises References 10 Miscellany Innovation Innovation in Colleges and Companies Fordham Survey America’s Innovation Strategy Problem-Solving Strategies Vision 2030 DARPA The Eight Disciplines The Lemelson Center Military Design Thinking Appreciative Inquiry Grounded Theory Morphological Analysis The 2 × 2 Matrix Synectics Problem-Solving and Re-engineering Cost Effectiveness Cost Assessment Data Enterprise Measures of Effectiveness MOEs for a Communications System MOEs for a Transportation System Leontief Model Commentary on Systems of Systems Problem-Solving by Reduced Clock Speed George Washington University Class Using “Thinking” as Textbook Courses Meet via Blackboard Collaborate Ultra Exercises References 11 Summary Twelve Problem-Solving Approaches Twelve Thinking Approaches Another Twelve Thinking Approaches Exercises References Appendix A: A Dozen Additional Ways of Thinking Appendix B: Acronyms Index