A heart-felt rant about creative problem solving

No ‘Bare Bones’ today because I’m working as hard as I can to make up for lost time and have a new ‘Dark Eyes’ chapter up on Thursday. However, I came across this on the internet and practically blew a gasket. 

I have heard this quote before, alternatively worded as “Breaking the rules solves everything.” With no disrepect to Paul Arden as a person: screw this. 

Also, context is everything, because at face value this advice will skewer you alive. Here’s why:

Any situation consists of constraints. Driving a car? Engine power, road quality, gradient, the car’s weight and half a dozen other elements form constraints on how fast you can physically drive.


Rules are constraints. Yes, the local speed limit is a constraint, too. Does it stop you from driving faster? No, but there will be consequences if you do.


Not all rules are stupid and unnecessary. Man-made rules are generally made to make life easier and safer for the majority of the population. That speed limit is not there to pester you. Break it at your own risk. When you do, the speeding ticket is the least of your concerns. Missing a turn and crashing is a bigger one.


Not all rules are man-made. Gravity is a constraint. Available oxygen is a constraint. Temperature is a constraint. These are called laws of nature. Still rules, but not ones you can chuck at will. Good luck try solving a problem by ignoring gravity.

So let’s say you own a factory and you need to produce 1000 Things by the end of the week. But your machines only have the capacity to produce 500 Thingies in that timeframe. Let’s say you ‘fuck the rules’, ignore the constraints and have the machines run at full capacity 24/7 and produce… 500 Thingies, because that’s simply the most that those machines can do. In the hasty process not all the Thingies came out in sellable condition, the machines overheated, require maintenance and the whole endeavour cost you more than filling the order will make you. That is not a solution, that is a bigger problem.

So breaking the rules to solve your problem doesn’t work.

What Mr Arden (hopefully) meant to say is that when facing a confounding problem, you need to be creative. 

Can’t produce more than 500 Thingies? Buy the other 500 from another factory that can produce the rest of the required 1000.
Parachute doesn’t open? Don’t just hang there but try all you can to prise it open and hope it unfolds.

Creative problem solving is important. I am  the first to admit that this is true. Creative problem solving can save lives.

If your problem is solved by breaking a speed limit, by all means go right ahead. But if you have a problem that you truly can’t solve, a feasible answer isn’t going to be as straight-forward as simply removing one or more constraints.

So what IS creative problem solving?

It means making the most of a situation given the situation’s constraints. Life is full of them, and you can’t ignore them just because they don’t suit you right now. Well, sometimes you can, but there are always nasty consequences if you do.

However, creative problem solving also means learning when to accept that some problems cannot be solved, and get creative on damage control instead.

Don’t think outside the box. The box is where it has to happen. So make the most use of what is inside that box!