How do you do THIS?

There are three components to the ability to solve hard design problems. Knowledge of the tools at hand, the skill to combine them in novel ways to create solutions, and the ability to evaluate the results and select the best solution.

Knowledge of the tools at hand is the easy part, both in application and in identifying individuals who have this knowledge. Schools, training courses, books, conferences, websites, the list of resources available to improve in this area is long and varied.

It is not entirely clear how much inventiveness is a learned skill as opposed to an innate aptitude. There are large differences between individuals in this area but it also seems apparent that solving a lot of different problems can increase someones skill level.

The ability to evaluate the results is a very important part of solving hard problems. If there are metrics that can be used to compare results this component is not particularly difficult. However, that is a very large "if". In general this requires judgment, and good judgment is frequently associated with a history of burned fingers.