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| Groupthink, usually frowned upon, can be a productive venue when critical thinking is used |
| Understanding and maintaining the critical path of a project will lead to more reliable schedules |
| Use this free tool to have AI engines be your thinking coach |
| Understanding the dynamics behind change allows you to manage it. Here are seven ideas. |
| Avoid over thinking or under thinking and strive for Goldilocks thinking |
| The best way to address bad information is to learn to evaluate it |
| We look as several ways you can use Artificial Intelligence to enhance your Critical Thinking |
| We anticipate the future, but what do you do when you can't |
| These two skills complement each other |
| Critical Thinking also includes Critical Listening |
| Just to understand |
| Soon isn't all that precise |
| What does critical thinking have to do with our Gut feeling, Intuition and what your Heart tells you? |
| Understand the imbalance in order to achieve a balance |
| Use Assumptions, Why, Anticipatory Thinking, What If and Preeminent Metrics |
| The solution exists. You ask the right question to reveal it. |
| Use the Emotional ROI to drive your determination to get a Want done. |
| Five parts : What, How, Why, Experience and Process |
Critical Path - the longest sequence of events in order to complete a project |
Confirmation Bias - Can't get away from it, but can minimize it with some critical thinking |
Follow these three steps and you'll accomplish the reason to be more productive |
When the road to your destination is blocked, is a Detour, Alternative, Revised or New Strategy is warranted. |
What is influencing, how to do it, and Influencing from Within |
We can plan for the expected, but what about the unexpected? |
Strategic Thinkers use these two words all the time. |
Fear and Anxiety - Anticipatory Thinking, Downside, Ignore the Statistical downslide and Control |
Necessity forces Adaptation which creates opportunity |
It's not the triage but the transition to and management of the stable stage when leadership is most important. |
Use Facts, Need and Assumptions in a Crises |
Second Guessing is all about Confidence |
Heuristic Thinking is about making decisions from "rules of thumb" |
Improving processes, without Thinking improvement, is no longer sufficient in today's environment. |
There is often confusion as to the role people have when solving a problem. |
If you want critical thinking to become part of your organization, do these things. |
Two common errors when implementing a new system |
| Design Thinking is a methodology with stages, Critical Thinking is a toolset you can use withing each stage. |
Getting it right means understanding what right is, planning for it, and a culture for it. |
The world we live in is more about picking the "Best" answer, not the "Right" answer. |
Being proactive isn't about making the time, it's about knowing how to do it. |
Are you using a critical thinking lenses to make sure you interpreting information correctly. |
Make your To-Do list a better and more dynamic list. |
Thinking outside-the-box first requires you to understand what the box is, then you can ask these questions. |
It doesn't take a lot of time to ask a few questions as you call a meeting or get invited to one. |
Classify Discoveries; Measure Frequency and Set Thresholds. |
Procrastination has a serious downside, but you can implement a strategy to minimize it. |
Highly effective Problem Solving starts with an unwavering belief that a satisfactory solution exists |
How Deductive and Inductive reasoning play a role in decision making |
Invention requires; Need, Knowledge, Association and Critical Thinking |
Critical Thinking ... a way of "Thinking Smarter" and how it's done. |
Fast Cycle leads to Out Cycling your competition |
So What?; gets people thinking about what data they are collecting and what it means |
"Thought" experiments save a lot of time and money |
Key metrics should give you the time to change an outcome they predict. |
A way to find a solution with indirect measurements and predictions |
Thinking through to "Done" |
Analyzing the data |
A fatal phenomena that occurs in nearly every software company or IT department |
Changing the equation is when breakthroughs occur. |
Waiting for requirements? Go out and get them instead. |
Thinking about a broader problems are when solutions that make a huge difference are created |
Finding the "Because!!" frees you to start solution building |
How to improve on the accuracy of this answer |
Anticipating what's next changes how think about the present. |
When is better not good enough? |
It's the return on the investment that's important |
Predicting an outcome based on an understanding |
Make sure your critical thinking is not conducted in your fragmented schedule |
Sampling can answer which way to go, or what the issue might be, or what might be wrong. |
Knowing when you're "Ready" is critical when you want consistent quality. |
You have an amazing ability to Trend. Tap into it. |
Decisions and Conclusions are related to assumptions and beliefs. These vary from person to person. |
Thinking Outside "The Box" means that there is something that bounds a Box. What is that? |
Selected Quotations about Thinking |
There is another component of logic beyond Deduction and Induction. This one is the foundation for Creativity. |
Your mind has an ability to fill in blanks and make things fit into what makes sense. This isn't always good. |
Is it possible that listening to music can help your creativity? |
A few tips about Inductive Reasoning to get you started |
Leading people to "think" and not just "do" can make a huge difference in performance and quality |
When in a crisis, critical thinking is important. A few tips to use for a strategy during this time. |
The "who", "what" and "when" about making decisions. |
Fuzzy thinking and how to deal with it using Critical Thinking |
Priority lists .. Are yours a gate or a tool for managing change? |
Strategies for maintenance on equipment or your own health are also useful for customer retention. |
Random events are not common. If it's not random, it's predictable. Can you predict your business outcomes? |
Learning how to learn is a skill more valuable than anything in particular you can learn. |
With the current economy, there has never been a more important time to innovate ... and to Think! |
Lots of changes coming in 2009. Are you preparing for them? Ask these 4 questions. |
Load up with facts, opinions and ideas and then let it "stew" for awhile for that background thinking to work. |
Like your heart and the rest of your body, your brain needs exercise ... But a different kind. |
A critical thinking perspective on change with two ideas to help you cope and manage change. |
We like to "DO". Here are 3 reasons why we don't like to Think even though the benefits are huge. |
What is Risk and how do we take that into account when we are making decisions? |
Here are 5 suggestions to think about the impossible and maybe even to make it possible. |
Sometimes only having 5 minutes to come up with a solution can really deliver some exciting results |
Some situations can't be described by just language. Use some of your "standard" and cerebral senses. |
Asking "What else?" can lead to new ideas and prevent just picking the first one that comes along. |
Critical Thinking can be used beyond business. Try these simple tips with your kids. |
When creating solutions, and perhaps a "one-off", consider the repeatability of the problem |
A few simple ideas to remember when you're tasked with a goal without a clear path to get ther |
You think about the future and make predictions automatically. Now try this with Manual Thinking |
We present two ideas about the thinking of changing quickly |
When you create a goal or challenge that is so outrageous, new ideas are generated. |
Just because you have a good Plan A, maybe have a Plan B that will prepare you if A doesn't work. |
After a project is complete, don't just look back at what went right or wrong, but how the thinking was done. |
Only fix things that are broken? ... we think not. |
Thinking can be inefficient, especially when you are thinking about the same thing more than once |
Decisions are made and employees react, and sometimes there is a great Disconnect |
This doesn't come from thinking too much, but because of not thinking about the right thing |
Emotions are a part of all decisions. Critical Thinking enables you to be aware of how they influence you |
Seek out knowledge .. go Prowling |
Track metrics that not only tell you about the future but give you the time to change it. |
Are you looking to validate your belief, or are you open to information you may not want to hear? |
Sometimes ideas and solutions just pop up. When this happens reverse the critical thinking process |
There are "v-Thinkers" and "^-Thinkers". There's a time and each, and a bad time for each |
Balance isn't about how to balance things, it's about dealing with the imbalance of things |
Are your Facts really Facts or just "facts" |
Critical Thinking includes Critical Listening |
Being a Thinking Coach helps others generate ideas and solve problems. Here are 10 rules |
GET - one of the most common HeadScratchers. How do you "get" them to do do this. |
Asking why? can help distinguish the real problem from the one that might just be only the starting point |
Massive productivity gains can be obtained by just using a little Critical Thinking in these two areas |
You can't always know when something will be done, or for that matter, which option to choose. Here is a tip. |
Speed up and increase the quality of Decisions by understanding the Assumptions being used |
It's not just Thinking that's important, but Communicating the result. |
Plans sometime go bad, or better. Set Threshold conditions to monitor and make adjustments |
"Need" is important in Critical Thinking. Look for the Need to create a great team and quality thinking. |
Use Discovery to find out what you don't know and need to. |
We use "we" but do the people in "we" know they are part of "we", what to do, etc? |
How do we know what we are observing (being told, read, etc.) is information we can rely on? |
Like the memory of Twinkies, your memories of past projects can play a crucial role in the current projects. |
If you don't put energy into your business, then entropy will take over. Things will become disorganized |
We take a look at what common sense is and how we can better utilize it. |
Two questions to always ask when "strategic thinking" comes up. |
How do you teach someone to be able to Abstract from a specific situation to another? |
"Not Thinking" isn't about not thinking, but thinking with the operator "Not". Includes process of elimination |
Wasting Time ... not what you think. |
There is a reason, an explanation for everything that happens. Sometimes finding it takes time. |
Solving and Resolving are different. Know when to use them. |
Persistence is an important step in Critical Thinking |
Knowledge comes from being formally taught or teaching yourself, and experience. These differ |
Having a checklist, a criteria for making a decision will go a long way towards faster decision making. |
Root Cause is the cause of a problem. Ask Why? What Else? and "Possible" to find it. |
Concrete and Abstract Thinking. Very different ways to look at things. Teaching |
Critical Thinking is all about asking questions. Here's 100 of my favorite ones to celebrate this 100th Edition ! |
Knowledge is Power and gives you choices. It's important to identify what you don't have and how to get it. |
Time machines ... impossible? Check out these that can be used at work. |
Distinguish between being Finished with something and being Done with it. |
A bridge between other people who collectively can solve a problem. |
I Care, My Considerations, Thinking Process and Check-in are four factors people use for Delegating. |
Understand your to-do's and if they are a Need or a Want |
We have emotions, driven by our values. Critical Thinking includes these too. |
Aha moments are reserved for those giant leaps but for everyday learning |
Empowerment is more than just giving permission. |
Ask So What?, the two most powerful words. |
Excite, Educate , Support and Sustain |
Are you both socially and intellectually aware of the situation and the consequences of your actions? |
Critically Thinking about doing something over |
Even with critical thinking, you can sometimes be wrong. Ask the question. |
What happens when you get "I don't know" when you ask why? Now what? |
There's setting priorities and managing them. Here are some thoughts about both |
When you don't have a lot of time, there are two questions that are still critical to ask. |
Sustainment thinking is all about thinking about how to maintain the value you originally obtained. |
Confidence in decision making is all about the Premise |
Critical Thinking plays a role beyond just coming up with a good idea. You have to "sell it" |
When opportunity knocks you have to be ready |
Your context switch interval affects both your time and the quality of your thinking. |
Are you constraining your thinking right from the start? |
Transitioning from Individual to Manager requires a transition from Content to Context |
While it may be impossible, ask these five questions before you declare it's impossible. |
T.O.P. -- Thinking, Organization and People skills are required for managers and leaders |
There are steps you can take to avoid "worry" |
Many surprises are avoidable, but you have to ask the right question to avoid them. |
One is a tool, the other is an activity. |
When you want to innovate, ask these questions. |
Facts can be both true and false ! |
Understanding a Tolerance Level allows you to implement a plan of action when it is reached. |
