The 12 "puzzle pieces" of the Technidigm-2000 solution system are shown below. When all 12 pieces are in place and understood, you are ready to solve the problem or establish a program to address the problem systematically over a period of time.
This puzzle-like picture of the key elements of Technidigm-2000 will become central to your problem solving for now on. You will be able to recall each of the 12 parts readily as you deal with any situation. The pieces are arranged in specific locations that help you learn and recall them.
The foundation piece of this puzzle, being on-the-level, is probably the most important Technidigm-2000 concept. Personal integrity and honesty are required for those people who are on-the-level, so the left side of the puzzle is held up by character and principles. Similar but different is the pillar on the right side, objectives. Most of us associate principles with honesty and integrity, but a person can have principles without being honorable. If they do not have honorable objectives, principles have no real meaning. Once an individual is on-the-level, however, chances are that his or her principles are the right kind of principles, and they will naturally pursue honorable objectives.
The fourth most important part of Technidigm-2000 is found at the top of the 12-part solution picture. After we are sure we are on-the-level and that we are using the right principles to pursue the right objectives, it is also important to be using the right context. Most people understand that facts taken out of context can cause more problems than they solve. Unless we are using the right context as we solve our problems, it does not matter much whether we are honest and have good intentions. Solving problems in the right context requires the application of knowledge, and knowledge is the cumulative result of education and experience. Thus, it is more likely that a problem is being resolved in context when leaders and decision makers are properly educated and experienced.
In particular, the "root cause" of a problem will escape us unless we understand context. Even with the general context identified, part of the solution process is to ensure that we have identified the specific context needed for a more applicable solution. One of the primary defects in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations is that generic rules are derived from one set of specific contexts and then applied to another set of specific contexts. OSHA inspectors are simply not prepared to assess the overall safety of diverse industrial plants, but they have no problem identifying hundreds or thousands of potentially safety-related defects. They can cause a safe factory or plant to be shut down because they are not able to assess the in-context impact of potential defects.
Keep in mind that context changes with time. Time is a central element of Technidigm-2000 since it impacts (1) context as well as (2) the achievement of solutions or programs through resources, components, and feedback. The cyclical social and progressive technical changes that have occurred over the past two centuries have been dramatic. Yet time's relationship to context is what created the need for this book on technical common sense in the first place. Technology changes during the past 50 years have occurred so quickly that we have had little time to evaluate their impact on society and society's constant cycles from good-and-heavenly to bad-and-devilish. But time seems to be running out, and we have to plan for the future, as did our own forefathers. The 12 Technidigm-2000 elements will play an important role in that future, but it is up to us to understand and apply them.
These two key concepts, levels and systems, multiply their effectiveness when used together -- they are synergistic. Levels and systems form the insides of the Technidigm-2000 framework, creating a logical input arena (levels) but constrained output arena (systems) for problem solving.
As powerful as these key concepts are, levels and systems are useless unless the four bounding pieces are in place -- being on-the-level, applying principles consistently in achieving objectives, and getting things into the proper context of time and place. Each of these four bounding pieces is addressed in more detail in the next chapter. Again, the approach I have taken is to provide a lot of reinforcement so that you can learn the 12 elements so thoroughly that they will become a normal part of your thinking -- your native tongue rather than a foreign language!