An Elegant Puzzle: Systems of Engineering Management

by Will Larson

The diagnosis is a theory describing the challenge at hand. It calls out the factors and constraints that define the challenge, and at its core is a very thorough problem statement. An example of a simple diagnosis might be “I am too busy to think about long-term goals. I attend 35 hours of meetings each week. I am under pressure to immediately increase team performance. I believe that if I stop doing my current meetings, short-term team performance will decrease. I am concerned that if my short-term team performance decreases, I may lose face as an effective leader, which will undermine my career opportunities. I believe that if I don’t think about long-term goals, our performance will never improve, which will also undermine my career opportunities.” Before you’ve even finished reading a great diagnosis, you’ll often have identified several good candidate approaches. That’s the power of a well-defined problem statement, and why it’s an important foundational element for your strategy.