Get unstuck

For anyone circling the same problem and getting the same tired options back. The fix is two moves in order: change how the problem is stated, then generate ideas from the new framing. You do not run all six skills below. Pick one reframer, then one idea-generator that fits what you are stuck on. Each page is self-contained, so you can follow it with a pen or hand the steps to an agent.

The path

First, reframe. Choose the one move that matches why you are stuck.

1. Problem Restatement - Use this when the problem might be the wrong problem: it arrived as a symptom, as a pre-baked solution, or as one stakeholder’s view. It generates several genuinely different framings using distinct moves (change altitude, separate the goal from the implementation, shift stakeholder, invert, bound with is/is-not), then selects one working frame. The artifact is a problem frame set ending in a single chosen frame, plus a few “How Might We” angles.

2. Abstraction Laddering - Use this instead when the problem is at the wrong altitude rather than the wrong problem: stated as a bare solution with no stated purpose, or as a vague aspiration with no concrete handle. It moves the problem up (“why? to what end?”) and down (“how? what specifically?”) along one axis and marks one rung as the level to work at. The artifact is an abstraction ladder with a chosen working rung. Run Problem Restatement or Abstraction Laddering, not both; the output of either is your reframed problem.

Then generate options from the reframed problem. These three are alternative generators; pick the one that fits.

3. Question Burst - Use this when you are over-attached to one framing and need a better question before any answer. It generates a burst of questions about the reframed problem, questions only and no answers, ranks them by how much an answer would change your approach, and selects the single most catalytic one. The artifact is a ranked question set ending in one chosen next question.

4. Assumption Reversal - Use this when the obvious options all seem to share a hidden premise. It surfaces the load-bearing assumptions the reframed problem rests on, negates each, and generates ideas from the reversed world. The artifact is an assumptions-and-reversals sheet ending in a shortlist of non-obvious candidates to explore, not recommendations.

5. SCAMPER - Use this when you already have a seed idea, product, or process and need to push it past the obvious. It runs the seed through seven transformation lenses (substitute, combine, adapt, modify, put to other use, eliminate, reverse). The artifact is an expansion sheet ending in a shortlist. SCAMPER needs a seed to transform; it is not for the blank page.

6. Far-Analogy Ideation - Reach for this when near, obvious solutions are exhausted and you want genuinely original approaches. It states the problem’s deep relational structure, maps it to distant domains (nature, other industries, games), and transfers the mechanism rather than the surface. The artifact is a far-analogy transfer sheet of candidate mechanisms to adapt. It carries the strongest evidence of the generators here: distant analogies reliably produce more novel solutions than near ones, with the surface-matching failure mode built in as a guard.

What you will be able to do

You will have turned a stuck problem into a deliberately chosen framing and then a fresh option set the old framing was hiding. The first move sharpens or relocates the problem; the second generates from the new ground rather than the rut you started in. None of the generators promises the winning idea, and reframing does not guarantee a better solution. What the pair gives you is a problem stated on purpose and a shortlist of candidates worth testing, instead of the same few options you already rejected.