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first-principles

Skill3 starsChanged 6 months agoMITView on GitHub

Use first principles thinking to break complex problems into fundamental truths and rebuild solutions from the basics. Use when assumptions need challenging or innovative solutions are needed.

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SKILL.md

First Principles

Overview

  • Category: Problem Solving Tool
  • Purpose: Break down complex problems into basic elements to create innovative solutions

Description

First principles thinking is a problem-solving approach that involves:

  • Identifying fundamental truths about a problem
  • Breaking down complex issues into their most basic components
  • Rebuilding solutions from those core principles

How to Use

Two Key Steps

  1. Break down the problem to its most basic truths
  2. Rebuild a solution from those fundamental principles

Techniques for Discovering First Principles

The Five Whys

  • Repeatedly ask "why" to uncover root causes
  • Typically five questions are sufficient to discover core principles

Socratic Questioning

Six types of questions to dig deeper:

  1. Clarification
  2. Probing assumptions
  3. Probing reasons/evidence
  4. Exploring implications and consequences
  5. Considering different viewpoints
  6. Questioning the original question

Practical Example

Wes O'Haire (Dropbox designer) demonstrates first-principles thinking by:

  • Starting with a problem statement
  • Breaking it down into fundamental parts
  • Addressing each part
  • Reconstructing an innovative solution

Sources

Source: https://untools.co/first-principles/

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