Tips for being a better critical thinker

Being able to think critically and adapt quickly opens up so many doors in engineering. But do you know how to get even better at critical thinking? Here are a few tips:

Find your purpose. The most important thing shouldn’t be what you are doing, but why you are doing it. Once you are able to identify your purpose, an effective decision process should come easily. With critical thinking, it is important to go beyond just gathering basic information.

Question assumptions. If you make an unfounded assumption about something, you are failing to see all sides of the issue. Judgments take time and a considered treatment of the facts, so don’t take the lazy way out with assumptions.

Know your biases. When looking at a problem it is easy to see only your own viewpoint and overlook others, such a those of your boss or coworkers. If you only work from your viewpoint, it could be detrimental to teamwork and achieving the overall goal. Make an effort to get to know what other people are thinking and don’t allow your biases to affect your decisions.

Learn from others. When evaluating any type of problem, it is important to look at what has been done in the past. It’s not a bad thing to not have to start from scratch and be able to learn from others. However, it is crucial to ask the following questions when looking at past work: Who gathered the evidence, why and how did they gather it?