Monthly Archives: June 2025

My Learning on Thinking

Posted in My Learning by

As a young kid, when I encountered problems, my father nudged me to think what can be done. During early school days, teachers presented patterns and made us think what might come next. In Sainik School, the officers gave us situation assessment tests, to prepare for the SSB. As a software tester, I learnt thinking is a crucial skill. Strong thinking skills are learnable. Just like a muscle, your brain’s ability to reason, analyze, and strategize can be strengthened with consistent practice.

Why Deliberate Thinking Matters

Better thinking reduces mistakes, speeds up decision-making, improves collaboration, and uncovers opportunities others miss. It helps you:

  • Identify the real problem, not just the symptoms.
  • Ask sharper questions and find better answers.
  • Make decisions that stand up to scrutiny.
  • Anticipate second-order effects and trade-offs.
  • Communicate clearly and persuade more effectively.

You can find my visual collection of mental models on my Pinterest Board, but let’s dive into the core details below.

1. Critical Thinking: The Skill of Sound Judgment

This is the ability to evaluate claims and evidence objectively and reach well-founded conclusions. It’s about asking why and how.

Methods/ToolsDescription
Challenge AssumptionsAsk: “What’s the evidence? What’s the source? What would change my mind?” Test your own deeply held beliefs.
Verify SourcesCross-reference information. Look for biases, vested interests, and logical fallacies (e.g. ad hominem or appeal to emotion).
Consider CounterargumentsSeek the strongest opposing view to stress-test your position.
The 5 ChecksBefore finalizing a judgment, run these checks: Source Credibility, Data Quality, Logical Consistency, Alternative Explanations, and Implications.
Socratic MethodAsk deeply probing questions: clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, and logic.

2. Analytical Thinking: Deconstruct the Complex

Break complex problems into parts to understand and improve them.

ToolsHow to use
DecompositionWhen faced with a big problem, break it down. For example, a business goal like “Increase Market Share” can be broken into “Improve Product,” “Enhance Marketing,” and “Optimize Distribution.”
MECE PrincipleUse Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive buckets to avoid overlap and blind spots.
Root Cause Analysis (The 5 Whys)Ask “Why?” repeatedly until you reach the fundamental cause.
System MappingIdentify components and relationships; understand flows and handoffs.
Data InterpretationRead charts and stats; spot patterns, trends, and outliers.
First PrinciplesRebuild solutions from basic truths (physics, economics, logic), not precedent.

3. Strategic Thinking: Plan for the Future

See the big picture, anticipate change, and sequence actions to achieve long-term goals.

PrincipleStrategic Application
Long-Term FocusDon’t just solve the current fire. Ask: “Where do I want to be in 5 years, and what steps today will ensure I get there?”
Scenario PlanningFor any major decision, write three future scenarios (e.g., Best-Case, Worst-Case, Most-Likely). Prepare contingency plans for each.
SWOT AnalysisAssess strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats regularly.
Prioritization (Eisenhower Matrix)Work on high-value, important tasks—not just urgent busywork.
Trade-off AwarenessRecognize that every choice involves giving up something else. Identify and manage second-order effects before they become problems.
Premortem AnalysisAssume the project has failed miserably. List the reasons why it failed, and turn those reasons into immediate mitigation actions and checklists.

4. Creative Thinking: Useful Ideas, Novel Solutions

Creativity is the engine of innovation—it’s the balance between generating many ideas (divergent) and selecting and refining the best ones (convergent).

TechniquesDescription
SCAMPER TechniqueUse prompts (Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to use, Eliminate, Reverse) to force new perspectives on an existing product or process.
Constraint PromptsImpose a challenging rule (e.g., “Solve this with zero budget” or “Use only recycled materials”) to force your brain out of its comfort zone and generate novel approaches.
Vary Your InputsActively seek out information and stimuli from outside your normal domain to cross-pollinate ideas.

5. Systems Thinking: Understand Interdependencies

Map how parts interact, including feedback loops, delays, and unintended consequences.

ConceptApplication
Causal Loop DiagramsDraw a diagram showing a recurring issue. Identify reinforcing loops (where A causes more B, which causes more A) and balancing loops (which seek to return the system to equilibrium).
Stock and FlowDifferentiate between stocks (things that accumulate over time, e.g., trust, technical debt, backlogs) and flows (inflows/outflows that change the stock).
Second-Order EffectsWhen proposing a fix for Problem A, ask: “What is the consequence of that fix?” and then, “What is the consequence of that consequence?”

Draw a simple causal loop diagram for a recurring issue. Ask: “If we fix X, what shifts elsewhere?”
Bottleneck IdentificationDetermine the single component that limits the output of the entire system. Focusing effort here yields the greatest return.

The best thinkers treat their mind like an athlete treats their body. Here are some techniques to sharpen our thinking skills.

  • Mindfulness/Meditation: Clear mental clutter; improve focus for deeper thought.
  • Read Widely: Expand vocabularies, mental models, and logical structures.
  • Teach and Explain: The best way to test your understanding of a concept is to teach it to someone else. If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t fully understand it.
  • Embrace Discomfort: Seek hard problems and puzzles; growth comes from struggle.
  • Red Team Review: Invite a colleague to critique your plan. Ask for weak points, hidden assumptions, and risk scenarios.
  • Culture of challenge: Normalize respectful dissent. Reward good questions, not just quick answers. Take diverse inputs.
  • One-Page Problem Frame: Define the problem, why it matters, what success looks like, constraints, 3 hypotheses, next step.
  • The Two Perspectives Rule: Write the strongest case both for and against a proposal before deciding.
  • Premortem: Imagine your project failed miserably. List reasons. Turn each into a mitigation action.
  • Build a Thinking-Friendly Environment. Protect quiet thinking time. Schedule “deep work” and “synthesis” blocks each week.
  • 80/20 Analysis: Identify the 20% of effort that drives 80% of your results.
  • Decision Trees: Map choices, probabilities, and payoffs. Useful for uncertainty and sequential decisions.
  • The Decision Log: In a journal, record key decisions with context, options considered, rationale, risks, and outcomes. Review monthly to spot patterns in your misjudgments.

Traps

  • Confirmation bias: Only seeing evidence that supports your current belief.
    • Counter with “disconfirming evidence” or run a Red Team Review.
  • Availability bias: Overweighting vivid or recent examples examples..
    • Counter with historical base rates and broader statistical data.
  • Anchoring: Over-relying on the first number or piece of information presented.
    • Counter by generating multiple independent estimates.
  • Overfitting: Overcomplicating analysis.
    • Counter with simpler models and out-of-sample tests.
  • Action bias: Doing something fast vs. the right thing.
    • Counter with a short pause and a minimum viable analysis.

Thinking skills compound. Start with just one habit this week—perhaps a Decision Log or a Premortem—and see how it shifts your perspective. Which of these techniques will you try first?

Please click & expand for a wealth of resources & the references

*This blog post was refined using Gemini & ChatGPT