“Everything’s a problem, or nothing is.” I confess that I do object to the term “problem solving” for all sorts of reasons. I’m not in the buzz-phrase business, but my interest is in “outcome optimization” in the context of “organizational change”. The “problem” is the rationale for the “change” and the “solution” is what we choose to “optimize” within the post-change “outcome”.

Real-world outcomes are always multi-dimensional, and the general rule is that improving the outcome in one dimension tends to result in a lesser improvement or a deterioration in another dimension, or other dimensions. Consequently, a trade-off across objective-dimensions is implicit. Explicit modelling of the trade-offs, in what I call an “objective function”, seems more or less impracticable for all but the simplest of scenarios, bearing in mind that the Law of Diminishing Returns applies independently to each objective-dimension (and differently for each stakeholder).

Oh dear, I’m in danger of saying too much and too little at one and the same time! The destination I was heading for is that the objective-function is, in large part, common to a range of actual and plausible scenarios within the same context (reflecting, as it does, the stakeholders’ values). It can therefore be considered “solution independent”. What happens in the Garbage Can, or, as I prefer to think of it, the Compost Bin, is that the abstract objective-function is increasingly well understood (tacitly, as a rule) and the innate, non-conscious creative-critic within the individuals involved is able to conceive of more promising ideas for less sub-optimal scenarios (no, seriously!).

Good luck with your paper!

You should be teaching at a university. Perhaps a university that would allow people to explain what problem solving really is to students… the phrase you used (which I am paraphrasing!) is that we exchange one set of problems for another group we are happy with, or that focusing on that which we can settle straightaway is a kind of genius to me. Perhaps it’s because I am yet to work out the meaning of my own research or my life experience is still low. As a matter of fact I think changing my definition of problem solving to problem exchanging is a really good idea… I should write a paper on that. Somebody may read it. What an excellent idea.

My own experience of course of working with a senior manager one time was that he was convinced that his business needed more exposure. Then one day it happened by accident. This particular business hasn’t looked back really. All because of a happy accident. This attention gave him ideas for marketing that he didn’t know existed. It made me realise that problem solving is really a matter of thinking about how to solve the problem and the reasons why we think it’s a problem and how best to frame it. Which sounds counter-intuitive to me but as you say, solving stuff now that can be solved leads to better solutions later. I have found the same thing in designing programs and basically being a fairly mediocre academic (so far). This lends itself to the idea, from my academic perspective anyway, that problems even though we interpret them as such, are more like learning opportunities that we should take even though failure is an absolute certainty in most cases. The thing that got me thinking about the challenge was am I up to it? Or as you say is this the right time for the challenge or to wait?

Sorry for the long comment but it reminds me of the Garbage Can model of decision making too. Problems float around for a while in our mind until an opportunity comes along to solve them and make a decision about it. They also float around in our business and we notice the pain they cause (I read a great book on this once). The pain stays we don’t change the problem or whatever it is that’s cycling around until we have reached a point where we have to or can’t. It’s an interesting thing to study… but I should move on or grow to something serious like ‘strategy’.
Thanks as always Alan.

Luke

My first boss, in the days before there were PCs in the department, briefed me on my first assignment: “The solution is a green button. Your job is to sort out the details.” Needless to say, the solution was never going to be any kind of button of any colour; but it was good advice nonetheless. Excellent solutions are all but invisible.

“It’s not too hard, it’s too early.” And that, I’m sure, is a good thing. My point is that it’s far too easy to get bogged down in all the constraints and issues, politics, barriers to change, and what-have-you. These are not as unavoidable as they seem but, in any event, if you can’t or won’t do anything about them today, what are you going to do? The wise thing to do is something that it is not too early to do, even if that is only enumerating the reasons why it is too early to do anything else.

“What’s the problem exchange-rate?” The aging cynic in me is inclined to the view that a “solution” to a well understood problem is a new set of poorly understood problems. What I really want to hear from a stakeholder is what they would like their new problems to be. You can imagine that the direct approach is not one I’ve often dared to take. But when you can have a serious discussion about whole-world priorities, it always sheds new light on the particular “problem” we’re supposed to be solving. What we want is a solution that is woven into the fabric of the post-solution world.

“And then a miracle occurs!” Perhaps you know the cartoon? There is a perceived risk that we might put too much effort into nibbling around the edges of a problem and somehow forget to solve the problem itself. I’ve never come close to this scenario because focusing on things we can settle straightaway does lead to the discovery of a solution or, at least, a preferable set of problems that, understanding the circumstances, we decide we can live with.

“We can dream, can’t we?” You are living in the post-solution world, recalling this comment. With the benefit of hindsight, the foresight seems remarkable! For now you do indeed have pretty much exactly the problems you anticipated and accepted you would have. And this is how we define success!