Tag Archives: Problem Solving

Oracles and Interlocutors, Revisited (Why the way small organizations use AI matters more than whether they use it at all)

Posted on June 18, 2026 by Eugene Ivanov

A while back, I argued that there are two ways to put AI to work. You can treat it as an oracle — an answer machine you query and obey — or as an interlocutor, a thinking partner that sharpens … Continue reading →

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When Grant Writing Isn’t the Problem

Posted on June 10, 2026 by Eugene Ivanov

Earlier this spring, I wrote about the structural pressures bearing down on the nonprofit sector. The numbers are not comfortable. According to the State of Nonprofits 2026 report, a national survey of 380 nonprofit leaders published by the Center for … Continue reading →

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When Confidence Becomes the Problem: The Most Dangerous Step in Problem Solving

Posted on June 2, 2026 by Eugene Ivanov

A few years ago, a large Midwest-based paint and coatings manufacturer asked me to help them crowdsource a redesign of a new industrial pump. The new pump worked beautifully in the lab, but clogged constantly when used outdoors. The engineers … Continue reading →

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A Way Through (What structured problem-solving offers the nonprofit sector)

Posted on May 23, 2026 by Eugene Ivanov

Three articles in, the picture is not a comfortable one. A sector under compounding pressure — rising demand, shrinking capacity, exhausted leadership. Three structural problems that make the crisis so difficult to escape: the double bind that tightens with every … Continue reading →

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The AI Paradox (Why the most powerful tool in the room isn’t enough)

Posted on May 19, 2026 by Eugene Ivanov

There is a moment in many conversations about the nonprofit crisis when someone says, “But what about AI?” The question is reasonable. Technology is real, the capabilities are growing fast, and the appeal to resource-stretched organizations is obvious. If AI … Continue reading →

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Three Problems Hiding Inside One Crisis (Why good diagnosis matters more than ever)

Posted on May 15, 2026 by Eugene Ivanov

The previous article drew on a Massachusetts white paper describing a workforce crisis in the human services sector: vacancy rates four to six times the state average, wages running $17,000 below the median, capacity shrinking as demand rises. A legitimate … Continue reading →

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A Sector Under Pressure (On nonprofits, rising need, and a widening gap)

Posted on May 12, 2026 by Eugene Ivanov

In April 2026, the Providers’ Council, a Massachusetts human services membership association, and the UMass Donahue Institute published a white paper. It is titled Stretched to Capacity: The Workforce Crisis in Human Services. The title is not a metaphor. It … Continue reading →

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From Process to Practice: Who Runs It and How

Posted on April 27, 2026 by Eugene Ivanov

This is the fifth and final post in the series “Problem First: AI-Assisted Problem Solving for Organizations That Can’t Afford to Get It Wrong.” After I published the second post in this series, the one laying out a five-stage problem-solving … Continue reading →

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AI as Problem-Solving Partner: Doing It Right

Posted on April 22, 2026 by Eugene Ivanov

This is the fourth post in the series “Problem First: AI-Assisted Problem Solving for Organizations That Can’t Afford to Get It Wrong.” I ended the previous post with a claim that deserves scrutiny: that the real value of AI for … Continue reading →

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The Organizations That Need Problem Solving Most Are the Ones Doing It Least

Posted on April 13, 2026 by Eugene Ivanov

This is the third post in the series “Problem First: AI-Assisted Problem Solving for Organizations That Can’t Afford to Get It Wrong.” The first two posts in this series made a general case. Organizations are bad at defining problems. They … Continue reading →

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