It was a beautiful, sunny day in downtown Toronto, and I found myself settling down at a park bench across the street from a conference I had been attending.

We were on a lunch break, and I was judiciously trying to unwrap a saucy poke bowl I had purchased from the food court inside the PATH.

For those who are not familiar with poke bowls, they are a deliciously crafted mishmash of fresh, raw ingredients with savory sauces that blend Polynesian roots with Japanese inspiration for a uniquely epicurean food experience. This blog article on the origins of Poke covers things quite well.

Equipped only with chopsticks, I was challenged to eat through the contents without returning to the conference with Rorschach-eqsue soy blots on my shirt and blazer.

As I pondered my regret over the choice of opting for on-the-go poke bowl eating, the idea dawned on me:

What if I tried changing my perspective by rotating the bowl, and reframing my eating method from how I had initially started [by mixing the rice in with the sauce]?

Hurray! That ended up working out well!

I was now confidently eating through the bowl without a worry, and ready to return to the day of learning at the conference.

Ultimately, this whole experience allowed me to get re-acquainted with the powerfulness of the Problem Reframing Method.

This is a practice that I have often resorted to leveraging when faced with deep managerial challenges I have participated in that are inherently systemic across departments, and more often based on the team/organizational culture.

Problem Reframing is a Mindset, Not Just a Framework

This article explores the concept in loving detail, and I highly recommend a read-through if interested to learn the basics.

Essentially, the problem reframing method is a structure that allows organizations to approach these systemic challenges they face in a new light, instead of falling into the trap of wasting resources towards solving the wrong problems.

This is because most businesses fail to uncover what their actual problems are — or where their genuine opportunities lie, and they excel at cracking through the problems they do uncover, largely because it taps into their existing base of knowledge, experience, and skills.

Reframing consists of not only finding the root cause and asking, “Why is this problem existing?” Reframing engulfs questions such as “What problem are we trying to solve?” and “Is this the right problem to solve?” Reframing is more about exploring the bigger picture and thinking of the problem from different ‘hats’ or angles. Reframing is not about finding the real problem but finding a better problem to solve.

From my perspective, the problem-reframing method is more than a framework, it is a mindset. It involves a commitment to yourself in being honest and consistent in its use.

Where And How to Apply the Problem Reframing Method

I have found the method to be particularly useful in scenarios relating to organizational agile process development and product delivery. Often, I have encountered teams, and management wanting to move forward with a more nimble approach to their digital delivery of products, so as to benefit from cost and resource efficiencies. The common and consistent challenges I have encountered have been around failed top-down approaches to agile education and adoption.

By utilizing the reframing method, I have seen gains in reframing the problem to be centered around the people doing the work rather than management.

Reframing the problem of agile adoption to be centered around people rather than process and maintaining a certain degree of flexibility in applying the core principles of Scrum/Agile through a well-thought-out community of practice allowed management to reward thinking outside the box.

Building intrinsic motivation in agile adoption ultimately resulted in people requiring less supervision on their agile journey, and more coaching. This meant more time for leaders to concentrate on looking ahead and rewarding team progress in agile, rather than managing corrective individual performance actions and extrinsic motivational incentives.

Eventually, all those KPIs and performance metrics rose, resulting in happier, more engaged teams wanting to genuinely make an impact within their team.

Any agilists and software/product leads truly passionate about the cause should have this method be part of their toolbox, so that they can effectively build the right solution for the right problem.

And, What is the Right Way to Eat a Poke Bowl, You Ask?

Much like in agile adoption, there is no right way to eat a Poke Bowl. The challenge, and the fun of it all, is in making the most of the experience and adapting it to what is uniquely your situation.

Here are some tips to consider when you try to leverage the problem-reframing method in your next project or challenge:

• Establish legitimacy by creating the conversational ‘safe’ space necessary within your team to employ reframing. Share articles on the topic or find a problem that is relatable to everyone.
• Avoid building wrong solutions or products by directly jumping into solution thinking and not empathizing with the problem first. Think of the problem from a different person’s role or ‘hat’, or bring outsiders into the discussion.
• Try different reframing practices and methods, such as examining bright spots or looking in the mirror; there is not a one-size-fits-all approach. More on this here.

If anything, I hope that this read will inspire you in your next adventure in the realm of Poke bowls.

If you’d like to get in touch to share your experiences on agile or Poke bowls, feel free to reach out!