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Perhaps it would be wiser to ask a few questions before stating answers. What sorts of questions? Who has the problem? What is the problem? Or, at this juncture, just what is a problem?
The fledgling problem solver invariably rushes in with solutions before taking time to define the problem being solved.
A PROBLEM IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THINGS AS DESIRED AND THINGS AS PERCEIVED.
DON'T MISTAKE A SOLUTION METHOD FOR A PROBLEM DEFINITION—ESPECIALLY IF IT'S YOUR OWN SOLUTION METHOD.
The really important thing in dealing with problems is to know that the question is never answered, but that it doesn't matter, as long as you keep asking. It's only when you fool yourself into thinking you have the final problem definition—the final, true answer—that you can be fooled into thinking you have the final solution. And if you think that, you're always wrong, because there is no such thing as a 'final solution.'"
Problems, solutions, and new problems weave an endless chain. The best we can hope for is that the problems we substitute are less troublesome than the ones we "solve."
IF YOU CAN'T THINK OF AT LEAST THREE THINGS THAT MIGHT BE WRONG WITH YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE PROBLEM, YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND THE PROBLEM.
A misfit is a solution that produces a mismatch
any new "solution" is likely to make its users more aware than the original designer of a faulty problem definition. But once the original unfamiliarity has passed, human adaptability makes the misfit invisible.
Why do we say "once again perceive the strangeness..."? Because we once perceived the strangeness as children—until adults hammered into our little heads: "This is not merely the only possible world; it's the best possible world."
No matter how sincere people are, mere quantity of effort is not sufficient. You won't ever be sure that everyone present has the same understanding of the same words.
IF IT'S THEIR PROBLEM, MAKE IT THEIR PROBLEM.
IF A PERSON IS IN A POSITION TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT A PROBLEM, BUT DOESN'T HAVE THE PROBLEM, THEN DO SOMETHING SO HE DOES.
IN THE VALLEY OF THE PROBLEM SOLVERS, THE PROBLEM CREATOR IS KING, OR PRESIDENT, OR DEAN.
Possibly the reason schools turn out such poor problem solvers is that students are never given the chance to find out what the problem is—the problem is whatever the teacher says it is.
IN SPITE OF APPEARANCES, PEOPLE SELDOM KNOW WHAT THEY WANT UNTIL YOU GIVE THEM WHAT THEY ASK FOR.
we should raise one more question that every would-be problem resolver should ask before seriously embarking on any problem: DO I REALLY WANT A SOLUTION?
Though many problems must be solved in haste, beware of someone pushing you to hurry. Late in the resolution process, haste makes mistakes; in the first few minutes, haste makes disasters. Life is full of variations of the tale of the Fisherman's Wife:
