Thinking framework is your organized approach to thoughts. It consists of your mental model and a set of tools you can use to analyze, understand and solve puzzles efficiently. Most people have it in some form. If you've never thought of your framework intentionally, I invite you to do so now.
Noticing
Your experience is the primary source for the framework. The only thing is that experience alone doesn't lead you to learning. Self-reflection does. Pay attention to your workflow over the week, and you'll notice patterns you repeat daily. Examine them closely and think if you keep solving some of them over and over again. Once identified, try to remember what worked well in the past or decide how you want to approach them moving forward. Document this!
You can find patterns everywhere: from the way you organize and name files to the problem-solving strategies you tend to apply.
Retrospective
Reflect on results to improve your mental model. If you have just finished a body of work, resist the urge to immediately jump to the next one. Give yourself a minute.
- What went well? Why?
- Can you do more of this?
- What could have been better? Why?
- What can you learn from this?
Use of time
Frameworks deal with the burden of routine and win your time back. The best advice I can give: invest this time in iterations. More iterations lead to more ideas, which in turn contribute to a stronger solution.
Start simple and keep your framework flexible. It will speed up your process, remove common obstacles, and, perhaps most importantly, help you learn from your success and mistakes.