Quiz:
Q1. Relatives - A doctor in London had a brother in Manchester, who was a lawyer - but
the lawyer in Manchester did not have a brother in London who was a doctor. Why?
The doctor in London was his sister.
When we first look at the question our brains automatically tell us that the doctor is a male as the majority doctors in the world are males. It is then reenforced by the word brother which is male orientated. Thus throwing us off the tract and not thinking logically that the doctor could be a female.
Q2. Bottled Money - If you put a small coin piece in an empty bottle and replaced the
cork, how would you get the coin out of the bottle without taking out the cork or breaking
the bottle?
Push the cork all the way into the bottle then empty the coin out.
I could not figure out how to get the coin out. My mind was always focused on trying not to smash or break the bottle. I never thought about the cork at any stage. To focused on one point and not looking at the big picture.
Q3. The Restaurant Meal - Three women each have two daughters, and they all go into a
restaurant for a meal. There are only seven vacant seats in the restaurant, but each has
a seat for herself. How do they manage it?
1 Grandmother, Her 2 daughters who each had 2 daughters. 1+2+4=7
I came up with the answer straight away with this one. I knew that there were 7 seats and that all 7 seats would be filled. So if there were three ladies with two kids that would equal 9 which was to much so had to work it so that we lost two. The only way that this could be done is in layers, the grandmother at the top then her two daughters underneath then their two underneath them.
Challenging Assumptions EXERCISE 2
MIKE’S AUDITION
Have you ever been in Los Angeles freeway traffic? We were once in bumper‐to‐bumper traffic, trying
to get to the airport at 10:30 at night. I didn't know that there were traffic jams until late in the evening.
In any case, if you have had a similar experience, you can relate to the following problem, which will
show us how challenging assumptions leads to more creative solutions.
Mike had an audition for a movie role at eight the next morning. But it was in Hollywood, and he lived
on the other side of Los Angeles. He was notified of the audition late, and now it was one in the morning.
This was a problem, because it could take as much as four hours to get through the morning traffic, and
he needed time to shower and get ready. He would have to get up by a little after three that morning.
He thought about this. Just two hours of sleep, followed by hours on the freeway ‐ this might affect his
performance. This would be his first important role if he was hired, so his mind started scrambling for
solutions. Taking the bus might be faster than driving his van, but he didn't know the bus schedules, and
it was too late to find out. He looked at a map of the city, hoping for a better route, and he might have
found one, but it seemed dangerous to guess about routes he wasn't familiar with at this point.
He suddenly recalled a problem solving technique his friend Steve had told him about, and decided to
try it. He did the assumption‐challenging exercise, starting with a pen and piece of paper and writing a
list of assumptions.
1. What would be on your list of assumptions ‐ if you were Mike?
- It would take 4 hours in traffic the next morning.
- Needed time to get ready in the morning.
- That he would need to start driving early the next morning.
- Only get two hours sleep.
- That he should sleep first.
2. Challenge each item in the list and find a solution to Mike’s problem
- When would there be less traffic on the road. Early hours of the morning.
- Get there early with plenty of time to freshen up.
- Why not start driving now.
- If he drove thought the night he could sleep in Hollywood and get more than 2 hours sleep.
- Why not drive first then sleep after when he arrived.
.jpg)
