Solving Problems by Leveraging Photography

The essence of photographyAt its essence photography is driven by three variablesFraming What the photographer decides to focus on how the camera is angled and positioned relative to the subject and what is left in and left out of the viewfinderExposureLighting This is a combination of aperture shutter speed and how sensitive to light the film is ISO speedEditing Once upon a time with analog film only professionals had the tools of editing darkrooms chemicals and papers but today with digital capabilities of our phones we all can preedit by taking several test shots give ourselves lots of editing options by taking a lot of pictures and then later with easytouse tools sculpt our pictures to our liking by cropping and filtering and moreThe essence of problem solvingThe best problem solvers tend to be good at three factorsFraming the problem by asking the right question They want to know whether one is solving the right problemGetting the right inputdatafacts so they can throw as much light on the problem Can one get as much illumination as one canInterrogating and iterating the answer The first answers tend to be somewhat right and often lead to additional questions or additional finetuning before one reaches a more robust solutionLeveraging the principles of photography to improve decision makingFraming the problem Three simple questions to ask before you address a problem or challengeFocus on the right problem Often organizations and teams spin their wheels on either the wrong problem or do not frame their problem in the right context timehorizon or challenger setThe US auto industry thought their problem was to enhance the quality of their hardware against the Japanese or design their exteriors and interiors to drive desire for their product against the German luxury brands when the real existential challenge was to become adept at electric and software vs Tesla and address a decline in a desire for auto ownership due to rise of Uber and LyftEnsure differing points of view It is critical to look at a problem from the right angle and ensure different viewpoints are included in problem definition One reason companies miss the forest for the trees is they fail to have diverse voices and backgrounds involved in strategic problem solving Diversity is not just critical for ideation but to understand what the issues areToo many traditional publications failed to adapt to digital in part due to not having technical folks and younger folks who were comfortable using digital media having a voice in the room where decisions were framed As boards become more diverse it is critical that they ensure that there is diversity of voices and backgrounds and not only a diversity of facesChoosing what problems to look at and what not to tackle The best photographs often result from tight framing and often the best solutions come from the tight definition of the problemMany times we might try to solve problems that are so broad that they are never solved because either they require too many people or too many resources or too much time2 Ensuring the right exposure In the world of problem solving the aperture is how much data you decide to look at shutter speed is how much time you allocate before a decision must be made and ISO is how much leeway graininess is acceptableQuantity and Quality of Data If the inputs are not correct or valid then it is unlikely the outputs will be After framing a problem correctly it is key to ensure that as much valid data input and learning is brought to the solutionOne reason the original We Work imploded was that the key data they overlooked were from the industry they really were in realestate leasing Rather they focused on the ones that were not relevant software luxury experiences in how they valued themselves and raised moneySpeed of decision making So often problems do not get solved since there is a demand for more information more data and more input Delay and dithering should be avoided by putting tight deadlines on decision makingToo many organizations spend time ingesting lots of inputs and look at their colon in many ways but end up with no real outputIn another vernacular to solve a problem one must sooner or later emit or get off the potSometimes though one rushes too fast Hurried decisions to make deadlines can also hurt an organizationSensitivity of impact of solution If one is not going to be blowing up a photograph one really does not care about graininess and can use high ISOs to capture night views On the other hand if one is planning to print something on a large wall at an exhibition one must ensure much less graininess and therefore much more time and care needs to be takenJeff Bezos has often noted the difference between revolving doorand shutdoor decisions If a decision can be revoked or changed without significant damage one needs less input and time But if a decision is difficult to undo and has longlasting or wideranging impact then one must need to be more circumspect and speedier in decision makingIt is important that before one begins to solve a problem one understands the sensitivity of the solution How often have we procrastinated and processdriven a decision to death or run up huge costs in amp8220studying a problemamp8221 when just saying quotyesquot or quotnoquot would have been smarter3 Editing the solution The initial or first answers to a problem are not picture perfect and require three forms of editingCropping Sometimes the solution is correct for a smaller subset of people or geography or clients and thus some honing and exceptions need to be made before announcingFiltering This requires involving different people to look at the solution to get diversity of perspectives interrogating the solution and particularly the inputs to ensure they were correct and interpolating with other wisdom and experienceDisplaying and Sharing How when and where one shares the solution will determine how it will be evaluated and accepted Too often the best of solutions goes awry because the right folks were not brought into the loop before the announcement or the announcement was made without the right sensitivities or tone of voiceNext time we solve a problem we may want to look at what makes a great photographer or photograph and think about how we frame the problem how we determine the process of how much data how much time and how sensitive the impact of the solution will be and then be ready to edit and hone the solution to maximize the impactClick the social buttons to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Solving Problems by Leveraging Photography

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Rishad Tobaccowala

FEMA and the Ad Council Encourage AANHPI Communities to Enhance Disaster Preparedness in New PSAs - Ad Council InSites

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Rishad Tobaccowala

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