Freshman VS Grandmas

Diagrams, or descriptions of systems can be explicit or abstract. This degree of abstraction or explication lends itself better or worse to problem solving and problem finding. In order to see the differences, let's imagine two people making cookies:

Freshman cook: Follows a recipe

• explicitly defined
• uses measuring tools
• requires no expertise

The freshman has a very easy time making cookies if they have all the ingredients in their recipe, but if they are missing one, they cannot continue.

On the other hand,

Grandma: Follows a model for how food is made up

• Abstractly defined
• No measuring
• Flexible response to the context of the problem (missing ingredients)

But Grandma requires significant expertise to build up the model.

The type of diagram you choose to represent your problem space will similarly affect the types of responses and potential problems you can find. A more abstract conception of your problem will result in more varied, and open problem types.  Of course, the disadvantage is, like not cooking with a recipe, it's harder to learn.