Books
The books are anchors of the thinking work behind our practice.
They have grown out of teaching, research, guidance, design work, sessions and collaboration with people who had to work with real questions.
Some books are practical and workbook-like. Others are more reflective in tone. Together they show different lines in the thinking behind Living Motion: Problem Solving, strategy, leadership, learning and development, and careful work with questions that do not become clear by themselves.
Problem Solving
Problem Solving forms the methodological basis under much of Living Motion’s work.
The English books Solving the Right Problem and The New Art of Problem Solving are about what a problem actually is, how problem formulations come into being, and why understanding should come before thoughtful action.
They are written for people who do not only want to come up with solutions faster, but want to learn how to work more carefully with situations that are not yet clear.
People who come to Living Motion through these books can find more about the books, the approach and possible ways to work with this thinking on the English Problem Solving page.
Solving the Right Problem
Solving the Right Problem is the most practical of the two current Problem Solving books.
It is written as a workbook for people who want to work with their own project, team question or professional issue. It helps readers avoid solution rush, explore perspectives, make assumptions visible, and choose more carefully what a next step could be.
This book fits readers who want to use the ideas in a hands-on way.
Worldwide available here.
The New Art of Problem Solving
The New Art of Problem Solving is more reflective in tone.
It explores how Problem Solving changes in a time when AI can increasingly think along, accelerate, summarise, organise or suggest alternatives. Precisely then, human judgement remains important: not to keep technology out, but to keep understanding what a situation asks before acting.
This book fits readers who first want to explore the way of looking behind Problem Solving.
Worldwide available here.
Learning and development
Ontwerpen voor leren en ontwikkelen grows out of our design practice.
The book develops how we look at learning and development questions under real conditions: when ambitions are large, time and space are limited, assessment and evaluation influence the design, and practice does not simply cooperate.
The book belongs to our work with organisations, teams and professionals who do not want to reduce learning to training, content, format or evaluation scores.
It will be published in Dutch in autumn 2026.
Strategy and leadership
Developing strategic capacity is an important domain within Living Motion’s work.
Here too, Problem Solving lies underneath the work. In questions around strategy and leadership, direction is often needed, while it is not yet clear enough what is really going on, which choices are needed, and how people can carry responsibility in practice.
Two books are growing out of this work: Strategie in beweging and Leiderschap zonder grote woorden.
Strategie in beweging explores how strategy can avoid staying above the work, and instead give direction to choices, collaboration, ownership and daily action.
Leiderschap zonder grote woorden grows from the need for accessible thinking frames, models and thinking skills for leaders who have to work with real situations. Not grand leadership language, but language and thinking tools that help people look more carefully, choose more thoughtfully and act more wisely.
Both Dutch books are in development and are expected in early 2027.
Earlier books
Earlier books form part of the foundation under much of the current work.
They are about complex problems, technical public administration, policy analysis, design-oriented work, and dealing with questions in which technology, organisation, human action and decision-making are intertwined.
Not all language from these earlier books is the language we would use today. But they do show where the work comes from: careful thinking about problems that do not fit neatly within one discipline or one solution.
Dealing with Complex System Problems
(2020)
Dealing with Complex System Problems was written as a workbook.
The book helps readers investigate and structure a complex question step by step, and connect it to their own case. It is meant to be written in, drawn on, adapted and used as a project record.
Many of the thinking skills in this book are still recognisable in our current work around Problem Solving.
Worldwide available here
Solving Complex Problems
(2010, updated 2014)
Solving Complex Problems was written with Pauline de Heer.
The book offers an introduction to structured techniques for professional group decision-making in complex situations. It includes analysis, creative idea generation and comparing options under uncertainty.
From the beginning, the book had a practical purpose: not as an academic exercise, but as support for people who wanted to work with methods in real questions.
Available via Publisher here
Inleiding Technische Bestuurskunde
(2008, Dutch)
Inleiding Technische Bestuurskunde is a Dutch foundational book on systematically working with multi-actor questions.
It offers a framework for questions in which technical, administrative, organisational and human aspects are intertwined.
The book forms an early foundation under much of the later work around complex problems, Problem Solving and professional action in situations with multiple parties.
Working with the thinking
The books can be read on their own.
They are also used in education, workshops, work sessions, learning groups, guidance and trajectories in which people work with their own questions.
People who want to work further with the thinking from a book can start with the domain pages on Problem Solving, learning and development, or strategic capacity.
Or ask a first question here.