AIYING | LATERAL THOUGHT FOR THE DAY | #001
What If the Problem Is Not the Problem?
Sometimes the breakthrough is not a better answer, but a different question.
Inspired by the thinking principles of Edward de Bono
Today's Lateral Thought
Before asking, "How can I solve this problem?", ask:
"Is this the right problem to solve?"
We spend enormous amounts of time trying to solve problems. We analyse them, seek advice, work harder, and search for better solutions.
But there is something we rarely question: the way we have defined the problem itself.
What if the difficulty is not in finding a solution?
What if the difficulty is in the question we are trying to answer?
1. The Student Who Could Not Concentrate
Imagine a student preparing for an important examination.
She sits down with her books, determined to study for three hours.
After twenty minutes, her attention begins to wander. She checks her phone, returns to the textbook, and tries to force herself to concentrate.
She concludes that her problem is a lack of concentration.
So she asks:
How can I concentrate for three hours without interruption?
She searches for concentration techniques, motivational advice, and ways to eliminate distractions.
These approaches may help. But notice what she has already assumed.
She has assumed that effective studying requires three hours of continuous concentration.
What happens if we challenge that assumption?
2. The Hidden Assumption
The student's original question contains an invisible requirement:
Hidden assumption:
To study effectively, I must remain continuously focused for a long period.
That assumption may not be necessary.
The student may need to achieve a learning objective, not demonstrate an ability to sit with a textbook for three uninterrupted hours.
These are two different goals.
One focuses on the duration of concentration.
The other focuses on the quality of learning.
Once we distinguish them, a different problem begins to emerge.
3. The Lateral Turn
Instead of asking:
"How can I concentrate longer?"
Suppose the student asks:
"What if I do not need to concentrate for three hours continuously?"
This is not an instruction to avoid studying. It is a deliberate challenge to the assumption that learning must take one particular form.
New possibilities become visible:
- Divide study time into shorter, focused sessions.
- Use active recall instead of repeatedly rereading material.
- Explain a concept aloud as though teaching someone else.
- Alternate between different learning activities.
- Review difficult material at times when concentration is strongest.
- Measure what has been learned rather than only time spent studying.
Not every alternative will work equally well. Each must be tried and evaluated.
But something important has changed.
The student is no longer restricted to improving her ability to concentrate continuously.
She can redesign how she studies.
The discovery:
The original problem was framed as insufficient concentration.
The newly framed challenge is to design a more effective learning process.
4. What Edward de Bono Helps Us Understand
Edward de Bono's work on lateral thinking provides a useful foundation for understanding this shift.
In Lateral Thinking: A Textbook of Creativity, de Bono examines how established patterns of perception can influence the way we approach situations.
Once we recognise a familiar pattern, we tend to follow it.
That efficiency is useful in everyday life. But established patterns can also limit our ability to notice alternatives.
Lateral thinking deliberately explores other ways of organising information and perceiving a situation.
It does not simply mean choosing an unusual answer.
It involves moving away from an established line of thinking so that other possibilities can emerge.
From problem-solving to problem-framing
The student example illustrates an application of this principle.
The original framing directs attention toward concentration techniques.
The alternative framing directs attention toward the design of learning.
Changing the focus changes the possibilities we can explore.
De Bono also distinguishes the generation of ideas from their subsequent evaluation.
We need both.
First, create room for alternatives. Then use evidence, judgment, and practical testing to decide which alternatives are valuable.
Important distinction: The student illustration is an original contemporary example developed for this AIYING series. It is not presented as an example from de Bono's books.
5. Beyond the Classroom
The same thinking move can be useful in many areas of life.
At work
Original problem: How can we make our meetings shorter?
Lateral question: What if some decisions do not require meetings at all?
Possibility: Use shared documents, asynchronous reviews, or clear decision ownership for suitable tasks.
At home
Original problem: How can I finish all my household tasks faster?
Lateral question: Which tasks need not be done in the same way or at the same frequency?
Possibility: Redesign routines, redistribute responsibilities, or eliminate unnecessary work.
In business
Original problem: How can we respond to customer complaints faster?
Lateral question: What if customers rarely needed to complain?
Possibility: Identify recurring sources of frustration and redesign the service to prevent them.
In personal productivity
Original problem: How can I become better at managing my time?
Lateral question: What if the real challenge is deciding what deserves my time?
Possibility: Reconsider commitments and priorities before optimising the calendar.
These examples do not prove that the alternative framing is always superior.
They show how changing the question can reveal options that the original question conceals.
6. What Changes in the Age of AI?
Generative AI introduces an interesting new dimension to this discussion.
AI systems can help us produce answers, explanations, plans, and possible solutions quickly.
But a fast answer to a poorly framed question may still leave the underlying challenge unresolved.
Consider a professional who asks an AI assistant:
How can I write fifty emails every day more efficiently?
The AI might suggest templates, automation, scheduling, or drafting techniques.
These may be useful.
But a lateral question would be:
What if sending fifty emails is itself the problem?
This opens different possibilities:
- Reduce unnecessary communication.
- Replace repeated requests with shared information.
- Clarify responsibilities so fewer messages are needed.
- Use self-service workflows where appropriate.
- Consolidate communications around decisions rather than activity.
AI can help explore these alternatives, but the person using it must still examine assumptions and judge what is appropriate.
A practical AI prompt
Try this prompt:
"I am trying to solve the following problem: [describe your problem].
Identify five assumptions hidden in the way I have defined it.
Challenge each assumption and propose three alternative ways to frame the problem.
For each alternative, suggest one practical possibility.
Do not assume that my original problem definition is correct.
Finally, help me identify which reframing is worth testing first."
The value of this exercise is not that AI will necessarily discover the correct framing.
It is that AI can help us explore additional framings for human evaluation.
7. Today's Thinking Experiment
Five minutes to rethink one problem
Step 1 — Choose
Write down one problem you are currently trying to solve.
Step 2 — Expose
Ask: What am I assuming must remain unchanged?
Step 3 — Challenge
Imagine that one of those assumptions is no longer necessary.
Step 4 — Reframe
Write three different versions of the problem.
Step 5 — Explore
Identify one new possibility suggested by each version.
Step 6 — Test
Choose one promising possibility and design a small, low-risk experiment.
Do not rush to decide whether the new framing is correct.
First discover what it makes possible.
Then evaluate its usefulness.
8. The Thought to Carry Forward
We are often so busy searching for answers that we forget to examine the questions.
We assume that the problem as presented is the problem that must be solved.
But a problem is not always a fixed object.
It is also a way of looking at a situation.
And that way of looking can sometimes be changed.
Sometimes the breakthrough is not a better answer, but a different question.
Today's question for you:
What is one problem in your life that might look completely different if you questioned its underlying assumptions?
Share your alternative framing in the comments.
9. Sources and Attribution
This article is inspired by the following works of Edward de Bono:
- Lateral Thinking: A Textbook of Creativity — especially the discussions of dominant patterns, alternative entry points, restructuring, and challenging assumptions.
- Serious Creativity — deliberate creative thinking, focus, provocation, movement, and the development of possibilities.
- De Bono's Thinking Course — thinking as a skill, alternatives, perception, and practical thinking tools.
The student, workplace, home, business, and AI illustrations are original applications created for this series. They are not quotations or documented case studies from de Bono's books. Suggested techniques are possibilities to evaluate, not guaranteed outcomes.
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