A.15.11:1 - Problem frame

Use this pattern when a useful way of working repeatedly goes unused because the practitioner or agent does not recognize an occasion for it. Use it also to introduce a promising possibility into successful work: a failure need not occur before a better way becomes worth considering.

A colleague can know how to compare alternatives yet estimate a proposed addition without asking whether it is worth making. An assistant can retrieve an applicable method when asked while never offering it at the moment it would help. A learner can recognize a difficulty after a teacher points it out but overlook it during the whole task.

The subject is the arrangement that brings a potentially useful method into consideration during work. It connects an occasion, a recognizable relation to the work, and access to the needed operation. A cue is something encountered that makes that relation available: a question in a working document, a contrasting case, a colleague’s agreed intervention or an event in a tool.

The first useful result is a method considered at the point where it could help, followed by use, a named unresolved condition or dismissal. Someone arranging the opportunity needs a method that may help, or a specific question about a missed opportunity. The recipient need not already have diagnosed the omission.

When no useful method or meaningful question has yet been identified, B.5.PI helps bring ongoing work into inquiry. Arranging a reminder for a known method does not supply that preceding contribution. The cue arranged here can make that inquiry method available at an ordinary handover or demonstration, without anticipating the particular difficulty it may reveal.

If the useful method is already being considered, continue with selection or application directly. If its description cannot be obtained, repair access. If the performer recognizes the need but cannot perform the operation, obtain that contribution or develop the capability. More reminders alone do not supply it.