Hey all, I found some more information regarding the “so what?” framework if you all are interested. According to mindtools.com, the framework is actually called ‘Appreciation.’
- Appreciation helps us uncover factors that we might have ordinarily missed
- Originally developed by the military to help commanders gain a comprehensive understanding of any fact, problem or situation that it was faced with in battle
- You use Appreciation by asking “So What” repeatedly. This helps you to extract all important information implied by a fact.
- What are the implications of that fact?
- Why is this fact important?
- Word of caution:
- Can restrict you to one line of thinking. For instance, once you’ve answered your first “So what?” question, you might follow a single line of inquiry to its conclusion. To avoid this, repeat the appreciation process several times over to make sure that you’ve covered all bases. Alternatively, consider using other problem solving techniques in conjunction with this one to ensure a broad-based approach
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_01.htm
Hey Joe, great post. This concept, ‘so-what’ or ‘appreciation,’ is very similar to the concept of ‘the 5 why’s’ that are a key part of lean engineering. The concept is that if you ask ‘why’ five times, you will almost always get to the root of the problem and ensure that you are not just looking at a symptom of the core problem.