Here's how you can sharpen problem solving skills in Enterprise Software through real-world scenarios.

Before solving a problem, you want to establish the importance of the problem, both in terms of value and who it is a problem for. Once you understand the nature of the problem, and why it truly matters then work out the value of the outcome. Low value problem solving is not valuable, so work on problems that are worth you time. Business problems and technical problems are two different things, sometimes you will have a technical problem that your business dost not really benefit from solving, and sometimes you have a business problem that a technical problem cannot solve. So understand the problem, and the value you derive by solving it before wasting your time.

Sharpening problem-solving skills, starts with understanding the basics. begin by grasping the fundamental concepts and principles of the software you're working with. which helps to immerse yourself in practical situations where these concepts are applied. engage in hands-on exercises that mimic real-world challenges faced in your industry. by gaining a solid understanding of the software's basics and how they apply to actual scenarios, you'll develop the ability to identify issues, analyze them effectively and devise solutions efficiently, enhancing your problem-solving skills.

Ahead of problem-solving there should be problem finding. A lot of software work gets overshadowed by 'solution infatuation', something which looks like the right widget may solve for the immediate need but often doesn't tackle the real problem. It is fundamental to run discovery (despite the obvious delays this may cause) to solve for the right problem.

To excel in enterprise software, start with a solid understanding of the basics. Enterprise software is complex, with integrated systems like databases, application servers, and user interfaces. Knowing how these elements interact is crucial for troubleshooting and solution design. However, technical knowledge alone isn’t enough. Proficiency comes from understanding the business processes you support. Much time is wasted building the wrong thing or in lengthy discussions. Immerse yourself in your customer’s world—know their job, challenges, and goals. Aligning technical expertise with business needs will sharpen your problem-solving skills and create more valuable solutions.

Engaging with real-world scenarios is a powerful way to enhance your problem-solving skills. Imagine your CRM system isn’t updating records correctly. By tackling this issue, you learn to check data flows, inspect integration points, and verify database transactions. One of the first steps in any enterprise software project is laying out the business objectives. When documenting a real-world scenario, ensure you fully understand the actors, their objectives, pain points with the existing system, and any requirements. This clarity helps you design solutions that address real needs, making your software truly valuable.

One thing I have learned is keeping up with change. My favorite saying is the only thing constant in life is change. ERP evolves so much that keeping up with the technology while running a business is an extreme challenge. Find the experts for your needs, test them to ensure they have the right skills. Accept you can’t know everything, but you can control your outcomes with the right technology and people!

If its a technical problem it should be easy because all technical problems are generally quite easy to quantify. If however, its a people problem, quite possibly being caused by a product/technical/implementation problem, then you need to see what is happening that leads to poor updates. User guidance, either by training or by adding better guide rails to the product to help the user do the things needed to get more reliable updates can be solutions. The key here is to be observant, and endlessly curious to seek out root causes.

Collaboration is crucial in enterprise software environments, but the most effective solutions come from those who truly understand the problems and requirements. Engage with colleagues to gather diverse insights, but ensure you have a deep understanding of the business objectives and technical details. For instance, when addressing an ERP performance issue, consult with a database admin for query efficiency and a network engineer for bandwidth concerns. By combining their expertise with your comprehensive understanding of the project, you can craft the most effective solutions.

Be curious, endlessly curious, you can never ask too many questions to help you build a picture. Questions lead to interactions and information exchanges, you goal, like a detective, is to uncover the root causes of the problems you are seeking. Do this well and you will see things others miss

The solution to any problem should always lead with "what can be done to ensure this cannot happen again", and work back to the actual solution from there. In other words, imagine the best outcome, then solve to meet that outcome

Apart from the fact you will likely not get everything right first time, be prepared to iterate, this is known as continuous improvement, observe, learn, plan, do, and keep on doing that until there is no longer a problem of value to solve