Your Problem is Not What You Think It Is
How to avoid working on the wrong problem and going down the wrong track
We’ve all been there. Facing a big problem, we home in on the solution that quickly presents itself and focus on that.
If you’re more of an “actions first” type of person, you want to just do something about a problem as fast as you can. If you are more in the “let’s just think about it” group, you’ll spend more time analysing. Either way can lead you down paths that will have you working on the wrong solution – for the wrong problem.
The most important thing you need to do is actually figure out what the real, underlying problem is. In the case of complex problems, you need to understand not just what the underlying issues are but also which have the most outsized impact.
Reframing is the holy grail of problem-solving. But first, you need to get there. This is how you do it (in 12+1 “easy” steps).
1. Solving complex problems starts with clarifying the source and strength of your ASSUMPTIONS.
There is nothing wrong with having assumptions; in fact, you need them – you don’t need and cannot have hard data for everything. But you need to be clear about what, how, and why you assume what you assume about the issue and its causes, as these are your variables. By definition, even a slight change in your assumptions will have an impact. (Yes, as I often say, good judgment is a critical skill in any leader’s toolbox.)
2. REEXAMINE the problem.
Have you pinpointed the real problem, or are you addressing the most visible issue, the one on the surface, which is the symptom rather than the cause?
---- Before I go further a health warning: Regular readers of Notes from a CEO’s Desk have seen me experimenting with LLMs since they first appeared to the public. They also know that any time I tried using it for writing I grumbled and discarded it all. While LLMs continue to develop, I still find their writing horrible. It reads like professional marketing speak in the 90s used in corporate brochures. BUT, where I really take exception is this nonsense that some influencers started pushing that an em-dash in text is a sign it was written by AI. These people clearly haven’t read a serious book in all their lives, otherwise they’d know that writers have been using em-dashes forever. It’s a little pause in the thought process. Because that is what writing is for many of us, a way of thinking, clarify our thought-processes, and sharing it with an audience. Em-dashes are us pausing for a second. So stop this nonsense. And you will have to pry em-dashes out of my cold dead hands. ----
3. Look for IMPACT when examining causes and looking for the underlying problem.
When you look closely at the PROCESS of how things normally work, you will see some actions will have outsized impacts. While others that look shiny have very little.
4. Look for CONNECTIONS and consequences.
Think, if we address this issue here, that will lead us there, and will resurface this other new issue.
5. MAP it all out.
Visualising helps see connections