While digital professionals tend to be very focused on new technologies, tools, and techniques, my view is that the biggest driver of success would be their problem-solving skills. That is the biggest differentiator between top digital professionals and average ones.
Digital tools and techniques applied mechanically and without sharp problem-solving rigor rarely get you great outcomes. The challenge is that problem-solving skills are not easy to build in a programmatic fashion. These skills are built through coaching and nurturing and require the right role models and enterprise culture. Problem-solving skills are also soft skills that will stay with you for the rest of your lives. These will not change with a change in new technologies. We need to establish and appreciate the need for a structured problem-solving approach, which is breaking down any problem into several small steps so you can quickly get to the depth of it and come up with solutions.
So, what is structured problem-solving, and what are the seven steps to breaking down any problem into actionable steps? Let’s dive in.