I would start taking an online class about it, or find a book to read. And create a routine, some scheduled time during the week when I work on it. Because I'm not going to figure out big things like that by just mulling them over in my head. Somebody else spent a lifetime doing that to contribute to a chapter in a textbook that we have now. If I tried to spend all my time on that I would be lucky to reach some of the same conclusions, when I could just read about them and start there.
Ask HN: How do you work through large ideas?
71–80 of 87 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do you work through large ideas?
#72Mind mapping on a tablet
Re: Ask HN: How do you work through large ideas?
#73Large problems reveal an interconnected web of dependant problems, solve each of these and the large problem might be solved.
> "what is the best way to organize a liberal democracy of >100"
Start by solving sub problems in the situation, e.g; best way to manage property, and then determine effects this solution will have on other sub problems.
This iterative approach will you arrive at an optimal solution much like gradient descent.
Re: Ask HN: How do you work through large ideas?
#74Start with principles. What’s goal of a liberal democracy? What are key values for such an institution?
Then dig into the issues. Where do principles get challenged? Ignored? The interesting answers are in the conflicts.
Re: Ask HN: How do you work through large ideas?
#75Primal Grow Pro
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Re: Ask HN: How do you work through large ideas?
#76> What is the best way to organize a liberal democracy of >100M citizens?
I like to take working examples from nature or existing problems. The email spam filter was discovered by applying how viruses work. Road Traffic problems have a lot of common ground with Computer Networking.
Break the problem into elements and study working solutions, examples of those. For example, to learn social media marketing, I have been learning network science, work of A Barabási
- Find an inspiration around your or nature.
Re: Ask HN: How do you work through large ideas?
#77As a consultant, breakdown the problem into to its constituent pieces ensuring that each part mutually exclusive, completely exhaustive (MECE) this approach helps to make sure the entire solution set is covered, nothing should be missed out or overlap. Of course this can be difficult when the solution set is extremely open ended or broad,but it's good for organising ideas
Hiring McKinsey to run the country sounds like the logical and chilling conclusion to this line of thought.
Re: Ask HN: How do you work through large ideas?
#78I think a useful reference here is the idea of "wicked problems", which is a kind of problem where the structure of the problem makes it hard to solve - because you cannot even know what a solution is until you make your problem statement more precise (but by that point, you have already determined a solution). This is not the case for all "large" problems, but it's definitely a case for organizing a liberal democrac…
I think this is an excellent point. There’s a big difference between large problems and wicked problems. Large problems often benefit from being broken down; wicked problems may not. They may need to remain a system and often require a wide variety of expertise.
I think you also have to consider why you are working on the problem. Is it genuinely to “solve” it? Or is it to think it through so you understand your own position? Is it so you can advocate and work within or against a system?
All of those have different tools. As a side note, almost all start with research.
The example question has a lot of effort put towards it. From philosophers, government think tanks, NGOs, novelists, etc.
And a lot of applicable real life situations — from Brazil remaking their currency to stop rampant inflation [0] to Chile’s efforts to rewrite their constitution [1] to the UN’s nation building work in Somalia [2].
With all that in mind, my personal efforts at this kind of thinking often revolve around building a defensible point of view with the goal of meaningful participation. I start by collecting and reading material, using progressive summarization, and once I get to a point of view, I try to find and join allies.
And then I see what comes next.
[0] https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2010/10/04/130329523/how-...
[1] https://www.vox.com/21534338/chile-constitution-plebiscite-v...
[2] https://peacekeeping.un.org/mission/past/unosom1backgr2.html
Re: Ask HN: How do you work through large ideas?
#79You start by breaking it down, a lot. Into smaller problems. Analyze, and break those down too. Find edge cases. Wash, rinse, repeat.
For example: "what is the best way to organize a liberal democracy of >100M citizens?"
- How can you tell than an organization is better than another? (i.e. what does best mean)
-- This implies a set of comparison criteria, find those
-- which criteria is more important
-- do you get a total order or a partial order?
- Who is a citizen?
- What liberties (i.e. rights) does your democracy grant?
-- Under what circumstances?
-- Is there a hierarchy of rights? (i.e. if two conflict, which one is more important)
-- What happens when there are not enough resources to grant those rights?
And so on...
You could spend rivers of ink writing about those. And the interactions between sub-problems can get mind boggling, but you just make a note, and make a call and keep going.
In problems that involve other people, you have to include them. Ask how the look at the problem, try strategies of communication, etc.
At some point, you just need to do something about one of the sub problems. The one you deem most impactful right now. It will hopefully take you closer to your end game.
As you move, the problem space will move.
And you'll have to revisit all your assumptions again and again.
Each action you take, will have unintended consequences. Some problems will be solved, some new ones will pop up. Things that weren't important are now urgent, and things that seemed essential are really not.
You deal with those as they come, but keep moving.
Re: Ask HN: How do you work through large ideas?
#80As a consultant, breakdown the problem into to its constituent pieces ensuring that each part mutually exclusive, completely exhaustive (MECE) this approach helps to make sure the entire solution set is covered, nothing should be missed out or overlap. Of course this can be difficult when the solution set is extremely open ended or broad,but it's good for organising ideas
Hiring McKinsey to run the country sounds like the logical and chilling conclusion to this line of thought.
But the slides would look very nice.