About this Presentation
Mirta Fagundes dos Santos uses a concise story from a 2010 competition to show that success can depend less on generating more answers and more on framing the right question. The story begins with the competition, difficult odds, and the need to decide how to approach the challenge. Rather than jumping immediately to solutions, the work moves through TOC Thinking Process tools: a Prerequisite Tree and an Evaporating Cloud are used to clarify the problem and think through the criteria, including flavor, name, and image. The process produces 16 submissions rather than the expected 100, followed by finalists and an interview. The deck illustrates the finalist stage with Bluebird snack packages and keeps the focus on how disciplined thinking helped narrow and structure the effort. Fagundes dos Santos closes with three practical disciplines that apply well beyond the original competition: understand the problem, define the goal, and ask the right question. In the TOCx format, the message is deliberately simple and direct. Before investing time and energy in solutions, make sure the question being answered is the one that matters for the goal.
What Will You Learn
To help you get the most value from this session, we’ve highlighted a few key points. These takeaways capture the main ideas and practical insights from the presentation, making it easier for you to review, reflect, and apply what you’ve learned.
Why effective problem solving should begin by understanding the problem and defining the goal before generating a large number of possible solutions.
How a Prerequisite Tree can help structure the conditions or obstacles that must be addressed on the way to a goal.
How an Evaporating Cloud can support clearer thinking when criteria, choices, or assumptions create an apparent conflict.
Why asking the right question can be the highest-leverage move: it focuses effort on what actually matters instead of optimizing answers to the wrong problem.
Instructor(s)
Mirta Fagundes dos Santos
Mirta Fagundes is a longtime Theory of Constraints (TOC) practitioner and behavioral science enthusiast with extensive experience applying TOC thinking to organizational improvement.
She previously served as Managing Director of ViAGO, a management consulting firm specializing in the Theory of Constraints Thinking Processes.
Mirta currently serves as Team Leader of Artificial Intelligence at WiseTech Global, a leading provider of software solutions to the global logistics industry. In this role, she focuses on the application of artificial intelligence to process automation.
She brings together deep expertise in TOC, behavioral science, and artificial intelligence to help organizations improve decision-making, streamline processes, and achieve better outcomes.