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Problem Solving
The Simplest Way
Thomas Edison had a unique way of hiring engineers. He’d give the applicant a light bulb and ask, “How much water will it hold?”
There were two ways to find the answer. The first choice was to use gauges to measure all the angles of the bulb. Then with the measurements in hand, the engineer would calculate the surface area. This approach could take as long as twenty minutes.
The second choice was to fill the bulb with water and then pour the contents into a measuring cup. Total elapsed time: about a minute.
Engineers who took the first route, and performed their measurements by book, were thanked politely for their time and sent on their way. If you took the second route, you heard Edison say, “You’re hired.”
David Armstrong, Managing by Storying Around, Doubleday, New York, NY; cited in The Competitive Advantage, P.O. Box 10091, Portland, OR 97210, Speaker’s Idea File
Quote
- If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.
Abraham Maslow, quoted in Eating Problems for Breakfast by Tim Hansel, Word Publishing, 1988, p. 54
Problem Solving Solutions
Experimental psychologists have long been studying the thinking process in solving problems. Here are some approaches you can use to improve your score as a problem solver:
1. Consider the elements of the problem several times, until a pattern emerges that encompasses them all. This helps you get the total picture before you become lost in details.
2. Don’t make a hasty judgment. Avoid succumbing to the first interpretation that comes to mind.
3. Try rearranging the elements of your problem. This may help uncover a familiar pattern previously masked by an unfamiliar arrangement.
4. Attempt a different approach. A proficient problem solver has learned not to persist in one approach if it’s obviously not working. He or she will jump from one approach to another until a solution is found.
5. Take “time out” when you’re stuck. This will permit you to get away from the problem and perhaps to be able to come back to it with a new perspective.
6. Discuss your problem with others. This will cause you to consider aspects you might otherwise ignore. A listener can serve as a useful feedback source to reveal inconsistency in your reasoning if it exists.
You cannot force a solution to a problem to come to mind. But you can keep your mind open so you can recognize possible paths to solutions when they present themselves.
Bits & Pieces, June 24, 1993, pp. 9-11
What’s the Problem
For more than 20 years Professor Edwin R. Keedy of the of Pennsylvania Law School used to start his first class by putting two figures on the blackboard 4 2.Then would ask, “What’s the solution?”
One student would call out, “Six.” Another would say “Two.” Then several would shout out “Eight!” But the teacher would shake his head in the negative. Then Keedy would point out their collective error. “All of you failed to ask the key question: What is the problem? Gentlemen, unless you know what the problem is, you cannot possibly find the answer.”
This teacher knew that in law as in everyday life, too much time is spent trying to solve the wrong problem—like polishing brass on a sinking ship.
The problem is SIN—
The solution is JESUS!
The Visitor, 4/84
Creative Thinking
When St. Petersburg, one of the most splendid and harmonious cities in Europe, was being laid out early in the eighteenth century, many large boulders brought by a glacier from Finland had to be removed.
One particularly large rock was in the path of one of the principal avenues that had been planned, and bids were solicited for its removal. The bids submitted were very high. This was understandable, because at that time modern equipment did not exist and there were no high-powered explosives. As officials pondered what to do, a peasant presented himself and offered to get rid of the boulder for a much lower price than those submitted by other bidders. Since they had nothing to lose, officials gave the job to the peasant.
The next morning he showed up with a crowd of other peasants carrying shovels. They began digging a huge hole next to the rock. The rock was propped up with timbers to prevent it from rolling into the hole. When the hole was deep enough, the timber props were removed and the rock dropped into the hole below the street level. It was then covered with dirt, and the excess dirt was carted away.
It’s an early example of what creative thinking can do to solve a problem. The unsuccessful bidders only thought about moving the rock from one place to another on the city’s surface.
The peasant looked at the problem from another angle. He considered another dimension—up and down. He couldn’t lift it up, so he put it underground.
Bits & Pieces, October 15, 1992, pp. 9-10
How We Get Together on Differences
The way we generally strive for rights is by getting our fighting blood up; and I venture to say that is the long way and not the short way. If you come at me with your fists doubled, I think I can promise you that mine will double as fast as yours; but if you come to me and say, “Let us sit down and take counsel together, and, if we differ from one another, understand why it is that we differ from one another, just what the points at issue are,” we will presently find that we are not so far apart after all, that the points on which we differ are few and the points on which we agree are many, and that if we only have the patience and the candor and the desire to get together, we will get together.
Woodrow Wilson, Bits & Pieces, September 17, 1992, pp. 14-15
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