A Guide to problem levels and how we should handle it like a Pro

Understanding the problem level before actually tackling the problem

Anthony Cheung
4 min readJun 5, 2022
Photo by Simone Secci on Unsplash

When we deal with problems, we can sort them into levels/degrees of difficulties for us to be more concise about how to deal with them.

Recently, I picked up a theory of the “Cynefin Framework” that helps to digest problems and difficulties into levels. For that, we can be more prepared to deal with problems and situations in terms of a theoretical level.

The Cynefin Framework consists of essentially 4 levels of them,

  • Novel — this is new to us, it’s not well understood by anyone in the team.
  • Emerging — we are trying this out, it’s something we can begin to explain to each other
  • Good — we are getting to grips with this, we know there is room for improvement and can improve it in our context
  • Best — we’ve nailed it. It’s a practice we’ve established in the team and might not even mention in a retrospective

And the last step is when we know the degree of problems, so what about it? Let’s take a closer look!

The Degree of Problems’ Difficulties

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Anthony Cheung

I write about personal experiences, rides and bumps throughout my career life. — while inspiring others of empathy and work ethics