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Here's an example of how someone might explore a work problem by breaking it down into its Thinktrix actions.

You have had trouble getting your work done. A co-worker doesn't seem to be fulfilling responsibilities. You're overloaded and frustrated.

What are the easy things to do, without thinking critically (or thinking much at all)? Blow up; lay into the person and tell them that you are fed up. Tattle to your supervisor behind the person's back. If you are in a supervisory position, reprimand or even fire the person yourself. Keep quiet and stew about it until you can't even think about anything else.

Take a longer but much better road. Here's one way to think critically through this problem, using a particular set of made-up circumstances and details.

First look at the problem itself. Recall the facts of the situation: You and this person have been working together for three months. You have been on the road for five weeks of that time. You both have been extremely busy. This person is a new parent and has to work flex-time in order to fulfill parenting responsibilities. What could be the causes of the problem? Lack of time on the job itself. Lack of opportunity for the two of you to touch base. Lack of effort/time to get to know each other's styles and needs. Effects right now? Work piling up. Resentment. Overwork for both people. Extra time put in for you. Perhaps confusion or frustration on the part of your co-worker. This problem has to be solved.

Come up with solutions; use Thinktrix actions to figure out what options might combat the causes of the problem. Start to consider possible solutions by thinking of similar situations. Perhaps someone else you know used to work flex time. They compensated by bringing work home. Maybe someone else stayed later on their work days. What's different about this situation than others you know of? You don't have an established rapport with this person. You have stress in your personal life right now. Your travel schedule is heavy.

Brainstorm solutions: go idea to example. If you start with the idea that there must be a way that a flex time person can get more work done, then examples might be a friend who works while commuting by train, a peer who telecommutes on home days with phone and fax, a supervisor who takes on certain responsibilities over the weekend, a department that permits smaller workloads but redistributes work accordingly. Or conversely, if any of those examples of how to get work done were to pop into your mind first, they may produce a principle or idea which is the key to a solution to the problem -- in that case you would be working example to idea.

Evaluate the positive and negative effects (pros and cons) of the potential solutions you generate. Here are two possible solutions, based on knowledge of the problem's causes that came up with earlier brainstorming. Potential effects are noted.

One: Your co-worker agrees to telecommute two days in exchange for an extra day at home, thereby coming into the office two days a week. Positive effects: more even distribution of work, less pressure for you, less resentment on your part, more time at home for the co-worker. Negative effects: more factors to juggle and potentially less time to parent for your co-worker, less direct connection between the two of you which could result in less efficient working together.

Two: You and the co-worker meet to get a sense of each other's needs, systems, and responsibilities. Flex-time days are adjusted to try to match his/her office days with your heaviest work days. Positive effects: Better relationships due to open lines of communication. No additional work for flex person on home days. More work balance on days when you both are in. Negative effects: Still no guarantee of less work for you on the flex person's off days. Could generate scheduling problems when someone can't adjust to the needs of the other.

Then, you choose. Thinking critically, you consider every angle and map out the plan which gives you the best possible chance of solving the problem. In today's teamwork-dependent workplace, everyone benefits from building brain power through critical thinking. It's a win-win situation.

Steps of the Thinktrix Process

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From Keys to Success, by Carol Carter and Sarah Lyman Kravits, adapted for Tripod by the authors. Copyright (c) 1996 by Prentice-Hall, Inc., a Simon & Schuster Company.