A Collection of Thinking Tools

Some time ago, I came across a site called "Untools," which bills itself as a "[c]ollection of thinking tools and frameworks to help you solve problems, make decisions and understand systems."

Proprietor Adam Amran explains the site on an "About" page in part:

Image by Lachlan Donald, via Unsplash, license.

Eventually, I found plenty of these tools, but scattered around the web. My goal is to build a collection of tools and frameworks, covering areas like problem solving, systems thinking or decision making. I started building it for myself, but I hope it will be useful to many of you.

The result is an illustrated grid (that can be narrowed down by tool category) with tool names in bold, followed by summary descriptions. Clicking any of these leads to a more detailed explanation with examples.

Here is part of Amran's page on the inversion tool from the problem solving category:

Inversion is useful when you need to view the problem you're solving from a different angle. It can help you see a different perspective and imagine worst-case scenarios.

Following this brief definition are sections on how to use the technique (e.g., asking what could go wrong) and examples of its use in practice (e.g., the "pre-mortem"). Finally, there are links to sources.

The format seems well-suited for quick reference, exploration, and review. In fact, writing something like this seems like a good learning technique in and of itself, and reminds me a little of the blog tech guru Troy Hunt wrote as he was learning TeamCity.

However much I end up using this site, its implicit suggestion strikes me as quite valuable.

-- CAV