If, in a rural corner of the world, we observe a small boy leading a large ox or water buffalo, we may wonder at his fearlessness. Closer examination, however, may reveal a rope passing through a ring in the animal's nose. This is an example of getting a grip on the problem (in this case, literally). The boy has found an effective control point for the system.

The strategic problem solver also seeks to get a grip on the system, either to learn more about it or to manipulate and control it. It is not very useful simply to know trivia about a system if one cannot use these facts to some end. On the contrary, if one understands the key aspects of a problem such that one can solve the puzzle or manipulate the system, then the details are perhaps not so important. There are certain key dimensions of system behavior that are indicative of control points. For example, a tradeoff highlights a constraint and is inherently a control point for determining outcomes. A bottleneck is a control point governing throughput and is a critical point for system control. Information flow can also be manipulated to control a system. The feedback structure of a system can point to effective control strategies as well as illuminating fruitless ones. This section addresses these aspects of the overall process of problem finding and problem analysis, discussed above, and problem solution.