The First Step Nobody Teaches
I've watched seasoned quality engineers spend two weeks fixing a defect that wasn't the real problem. Smart people. Real data. Completely wrong.
It happened because nobody stopped to precisely state the problem before jumping to solutions. A vague problem statement is a permission slip to waste time.
It happens at your kid's desk every night.
The first step of the SOLVED method is S — State the Problem. Not describe it. State it with precision. A stated problem answers four things: what is happening, where and when it happens, and how big it actually is in measurable terms.
"My grade is bad" is not a stated problem.
"My quiz scores in Chapter 4 dropped from B to D over three weeks, but my homework grades stayed the same" — that's a stated problem. Now you have something to work with.
The engineers eventually found the real defect. It took another week after they rewrote the problem statement. Everything before that was wasted motion.
Teach your kid to state it first. Everything else follows.
SOLVED: The Kid's Guide walks through every step of the S module with worksheets and examples any 10-year-old can run. Available at solved360.com.