You Can be Great If You Really Want To

How many times have you caught yourself saying that there could be no other solution to a problem – and that that problem leads to a dead end? How many times have you felt stumped knowing that the problem laying before you is one you cannot solve. No leads.  No options.  No solutions. 

Did it feel like you had exhausted all possible options and yet are still before the mountain – large, unconquerable, and impregnable? When encountering such enormous problems, you may feel like you’re hammering against a steel mountain. The pressure of having to solve such a problem may be overwhelming.

But rejoice! There might be some hope yet!

With some creative problem-solving techniques you may be able to look at your problem in a different light. And that light might just be the end of the tunnel that leads to possible solutions.

First of all, in the light of creative problem-solving, you must be open-minded to the fact that there may be more than just one solution to the problem. And, you must be open to the fact that there may be solutions to problems you thought were unsolvable.

Now, with this optimistic mindset, we can try to be a little bit more creative in solving our problems.

Number one; maybe the reason we cannot solve our problems is that we have not really taken a hard look at what the problem is. Here, trying to understanding the problem and having a concrete understanding of its workings is integral solving the problem. If you know how it works, what the problem is, then you have a better foundation towards solving the problem.

Not trying to make the simple statement of what problem is. Try to identify the participating entities and what their relationships with one another are. Take note of the things you stand to gain any stand to lose from the current problem. Now you have a simple statement of what the problem is.

Number two; try to take note of all of the constraints and assumptions you have the words of problem. Sometimes it is these assumptions that obstruct our view of possible solutions. You have to identify which assumptions are valid, in which assumptions need to be addressed.

Number three; try to solve the problem by parts. Solve it going from general view towards the more detailed parts of the problem. This is called the top-down approach. Write down the question, and then come up with a one-sentence solution to that from them. The solution should be a general statement of what will solve the problem. From here you can develop the solution further, and increase its complexity little by little.

Number four; although it helps to have critical thinking aboard as you solve a problem, you must also keep a creative, analytical voice at the back of your head. When someone comes up with a prospective solution, tried to think how you could make that solution work. Try to be creative. At the same time, look for chinks in the armor of that solution.

Number five; it pays to remember that there may be more than just one solution being developed at one time. Try to keep track of all the solutions and their developments. Remember, there may be more than just one solution to the problem.

Number six; remember that old adage,” two heads are better than one.” That one is truer than it sounds. Always be open to new ideas. You can only benefit from listening to all the ideas each person has. This is especially true when the person you’re talking to has had experience solving problems similar to yours.

You don’t have to be a gung-ho, solo hero to solve the problem. If you can organize collective thought on the subject, it would be much better.

Number seven; be patient. As long as you persevere, there is always a chance that a solution will present itself. Remember that no one was able to create an invention the first time around.

Creative thinking exercises can also help you in your quest be a more creative problems solver.

Here is one example.

Take a piece of paper and write any word that comes to mind at the center. Now look at that word then write the first two words that come to your mind. This can go on until you can build a tree of related words. This helps you build analogical skills, and fortify your creative processes.

So, next time you see a problem you think you can not solve, think again. The solution might just be staring you right in the face. All it takes is just a little creative thinking, some planning, and a whole lot of work.

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As many of you know, I have been active in the Information Technology (IT) industry for a long time now. It’s a strange business and, frankly, sometimes I wish I had never gotten involved with it. Nonetheless, there are a lot of problems associated with IT, such as computer performance, capacity planning, security, networking, disaster recovery, but probably the biggest problem is requirements definition. In other words, accurately defining the information needs of the end-user. The industry is actually quite good at designing and writing software, developing data bases, and acquiring hardware, but after all these years they still have trouble understanding what the user needs to run his or her part of the business. Consequently, the wrong solution is inevitably delivered to the user, thereby causing a lot of wasted time and money reworking the solution to fit the need.

I am reminded of the story of an IT Director at a Midwest shoe manufacturing company who received a call from a Sales Manager asking for some help on a pressing problem. The IT Director sent over one of his programmers to meet with the Sales Manager and discuss the problem. Basically, the manager wanted a printout of all shoe sales sorted by model, volume, type, color, etc. The programmer immediately knew how to access the necessary data and sorted it accordingly thereby producing a voluminous printout (three feet high) which he dutifully delivered to the user.

The IT Director stopped by the Sales Manager’s office a few days later to inquire if the programmer had adequately serviced the user. The sales manager afforded the programmer accolades on his performance and proudly pointed at the impressively thick printout sitting on his desk. The IT Director then asked how the manager used the printout. He explained he took it home over the weekend, slowly sifted through the data, and built a report from it showing sales trends.

“Did you explain to the programmer you were going to do this?” asked the IT Director.

“No,” replied the Sales Manager.

“Are you aware we could have produced the report for you and saved you a lot of time and effort?”

“No.”

This is a classic example of the blind leading the blind. The user did not know how to adequately describe the business problem, and the programmer asked the wrong questions. Remarkably, both the Sales Manager and programmer were delighted with the results. The IT Director simply shook his head in disbelief.

This is a typical scenario played out every day in the corporate world. Both sides feel frustration, the user and the systems people. The end user typically asks, “Why can’t they give me what I want?” And the systems people claim, “The user doesn’t know what he wants.” I contend the user does know what he or she wants from a business point-of-view, but stumbles through technical jargon. Then again, the user shouldn’t have to learn the jargon of the systems world. This would be analogous to forcing the user to learn construction engineering concepts when specifying a skyscraper, something that takes architects years to learn.

Instead, the systems people have to listen to the user (as architects do) and carefully interpret what he needs. A review of the information requirements should be performed with the user, in common terms the user understands, for if the requirements are wrong, then everything that follows will be wrong.

To properly interpret information requirements, the systems people should say something to the effect, “Assuming I give you the information you want, in the form you want it, what will you do with it? What actions and/or decisions will you make with it?” Only when the systems people can truly walk in the moccasins of the user, do they have the right to build a system for them.

Years ago, the Monty Python comedy troupe did a skit where the Pope was arguing with the Renaissance artist Michelangelo over the development of his famous painting, “The Last Supper.” In the skit, the artist misinterpreted the Pope’s requirements and originally produced a painting which included a scene featuring Jello, a kangaroo, a Mariachi Band, 28 disciples, and three Christs. The Pope, of course, was not satisfied with this and forced Michelangelo to change the painting, over the artist’s protests. The Pope closes by saying, “I may not know much about art, but I know what I like.”

This same expression can be paraphrased by the end user to describe the problem in requirements definition, “I may not know much about Information Technology, but I know what I need to run the business.”

Defining information requirements is the single most difficult task for systems people to perform and, even after all these years, it remains the weakest link in the chain.

“An elegant solution to the wrong problem solves nothing.” – Bryce’s Law

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