Think about the time you had to really deliberate over a decision. What was that process like? What steps did you take to reach your final decision? I’m fairly certain that you used subconscious critical thinking to get to the end result. If we go by the definition, critical thinking is fundamentally “the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgement”. With Critical thinking, we’re able to

• Dissect a lot of information logically
• Break it down into understandable buckets
• Analyse effectively to reach a sound conclusion.

Why is Critical Thinking important?

The biggest benefits of having a critical thinking mindset is

1. A better understanding of nuances. The information available today is not as simple as it appears and can’t be taken at face value. It’s convoluted with implicit assumptions and context that’s unknown. To understand that, a real effort of questioning the logic behind it needs to be made to be able to positively contribute to the process. The more questions you ask when dealing with a problem, the more hidden reasoning and logic you can uncover. And this is a pure goldmine when it comes to making effective decisions.
2. Promotes thinking in all directions. When you’re asking fundamental questions, you actually end up thinking non-linearly about the problem, developing a 360* view of the problem. Having that view increases your thinking horizon and a lot of the time sparks creativity that usually does not strike. It encourages independent and creative thinking which is necessary for innovation and progress in various fields.

How to become better at Critical Thinking?

Personally, the best way to become better at Critical Thinking is to let go of existing biases and preconceived notions. They are probably the biggest inhibitors of thinking critically. A lot of the time biases are based on older learnings and can also be true in some cases, but it’s best to detach yourself from the situation and address the problem

Let me give you an example. When thinking about what elements to call out on our Flock website homepage, we believed that calling out features was a better idea - as it quickly tells them about the product and helps them make a decision. When we launched that iteration of the homepage, we saw conversions go down and a greater increase in support conversations with the question, What is Flock? The exact opposite of what we wanted to achieve. We went back, spoke to our customers and realised that features were not as much of a pull for them, but explaining how Flock solved certain problems, easier group communication, more secure conversations etc made them convert. Because they could clearly see their problem being addressed. So we changed the homepage accordingly and created a higher-converting homepage.

The point I want to drive with this example is that had we not spoken to more customers and understood why they chose Flock, we would have been unable to create something customers really wanted. Our biases clouded our judgement and made us believe that customers care more about the feature than the outcome, which was not entirely true.

When deciding what to build, you almost always need to not think about how this will benefit you. You’re never the main beneficiary of the decision you make, it’s someone else. Similarly, whenever you’re thinking about a problem, to solve it more effectively, keep your biases on the side. Draw logical arguments from your biases but never make it the reason for your decisions.

A Simple Process to Think Critically

These 4 steps seem extremely obvious, but a lot of times we tend to ignore the obvious just to get a result faster. Following them and using them as a framework to approach problems can help us better contextualize the problem and view it from a completely new lens.

1. Analyse information objectively ****by identifying biases, assumptions, and fallacies and asking questions to gain a deeper understanding of the problem or situation.
2. Evaluate evidence and arguments by examining the validity, reliability, and credibility of the sources.
3. Consider alternative perspectives and viewpoints to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the issue.
4. Decide using logic and reasoning and arrive at a conclusion.

Some Basic Examples of Critical Thinking in Action: