Abstraction

#14 - Jul.2021

The complexity of design and engineering challenges is usually driven by the fact that analyzing only concrete facts is not enough to find a simple solution.

Some of the most common frameworks for problem-solving - first principles, mental models, diverge & converge - rely on the same thinking approach: Abstraction.

Abstract thinking takes you from focusing on concrete facts - heavily based on "what" questions and specific steps - to understand how things relate to each other, the bigger picture, trends...

Both concrete and abstract thinking are useful in different moments of your design journey but is through abstraction that you can identify patterns, ask foundational questions on "why" things work certain ways, and reframing problems to find solutions in other disciplines.

Want a practical way for starting using abstraction? Ask more "why" questions. Use analogies to explain things. Apply more metaphors. Make thought experiments. Rely more on storytelling. Transform "what" into "what-if" questions.