Abstraction ladders provide a visual representation of different levels of thought. They help focus your approach to problem-solving, expressing an issue with varying amounts of abstraction arranged in a vertical ladder formation.

Starting with your core problem on the center rung, you would go up the ladder of abstraction toward more conceptual thinking—answering the somewhat nebulous question of “why?” Each step down the ladder moves you toward more concrete thinking—answering the logical question of “how?”

Abstraction ladder examples help your team choose the right scope of focus. It’s impossible to solve the problem if you’re not addressing the right problem in the first place. With an abstraction ladder, you can choose whether you want to fix the immediate problem or find a bigger picture solution. When your team is stuck, discussing the topic at varying levels of the ladder offers a new perspective.

Another key takeaway is the connection between the nitty-gritty and your overall vision as you move up and down the ladder, which can result in more creative thinking.

Begin with our abstraction laddering example template and a group of problem-solving peers. Write your central problem in the center rung—for example, “Not enough snacks in the office.”

Move up a rung by asking yourself, “Why?” Well, because your coworkers eat a lot of snacks. Because your coworkers are too busy to take an hour-long lunch break. Because your coworkers are feeling burnt out with their current workload—now you’re touching on the real overarching problem.

Similarly, you’ll move down the ladder, rung by rung, answering the question, “How am I going to fix this?” You could order more snacks, create a snack-buying schedule to prevent further snack outages, or buy healthier, more nutrient-dense snacks so that your coworkers don’t crash as quickly, thereby needing more snacks—these granular suggestions provide concrete, immediate solutions.