More Thoughts On Problem Solving

cjg, in a comment to this post of mine as well as on his own blog, has taken one interpretation of what I meant when I wrote "most of my problem solving seems to happen in milliseconds within my brain, because the problem and its solution often occur to me virtually simultaneously." I don't think he's actually hit the nail on the head as far as where I was going. I know that his statement that "you need to formulate the proper question, at which point the answer is available" makes sense and seems reasonable, but that's not really what I was talking about in this context.

From reflection that came out of some management training that was provided to us early last year (or possibly in late 2005), I started to realize that most of the problem solving I do these days is situational, rather than technical. In other words, I'm not being asked to figure out the most efficient algorithm for compressing a terrabyte of address data, or to find a bug that only shows up one time out of four hundred attempts, like many of my co-workers are. I'm usually being presented with problems that revolve more around what to do now that so-and-so has done such-and-such and really screwed up our plans, or we're getting conflicting priorities from our customers so how can we succeed, or someone committed us to this work but we don't think we can get it done... and so on.

The context for this reflection was a management peer group exercise in which we were each supposed to bring issues to the group in order to coach each other through problem resolution. I had no idea what to bring to the group! What I came to realize, when I started thinking about why I rarely even remember yesterday's problems today, let alone ever seek anyone out to help me solve them, is that I see the issue and its solution pretty much at the same time. I don't register any period of time in which I have to sit back and think about it, or consult someone else, or jot down some notes. And that led to further introspection in which it slowly dawned on me that I operate that way because I resolve almost all such quandaries through the unconscious application of my famously-rigid - and black and white - value system.

What I mean by that is simply this: I have a pretty clear idea in my own mind of exactly what relative priority I place on everything, and therefore decisions in situations like those above are so obvious to me as to not even feel like decisions. I often find myself thinking, while Fred is describing a dilemma he's up against at work, "So why is Fred reluctant to just __________ in this situation?" because I already know what my solution would be and I'm spending my spare cycles while Fred pauses to breathe trying to figure out what possible reason he has for not just doing ________. And similarly when I encounter an issue myself, I'm already formulating the specifics of how I'm going to solve it while whoever else is involved is finishing their description of it.

I always assumed this was how most people went about it, but being in this peer group exercise opened my eyes to the fact that many people need to vocalize more, or bounce ideas off others, or seek validation from others, or even sleep on it. And certainly I sometimes don't see the solution along with the problem; but those are by far the exception and I often go months without that happening.

I'm sure this makes no sense to anyone but me. So how to describe something that you barely even realize you do? Hmmm. OK. For any work situation in which I might find myself, quitting is always an option. That probably sounds a bit extreme, but 'quitting' is always somewhere on the 'possible solutions' list, possibly well down it but always there, because I value my peace of mind and integrity over keeping my job. One of the liberties that value statement affords me is that I can then always do what I think is right. (Note: what I think is right isn't always the same as what I want to do!) If I have to piss someone off in order to get the job done, I'll do it with a clear conscience if I believe they're not doing their job. That's because I value the importance of earning your salary over protecting someone's feelings (for better or worse). If I have to push back on a work request that's clearly unreasonable, I'll do it in a heartbeat because I value a healthy work environment and high quality product over career advancement or looking like a hero. If I have to choose between telling a customer bad news or trying to cover it up, I'll give it to them straight because I value honesty and building trust over saving face. And in all those situations, if I make my decision and the shit comes tumbling down on my head (because others don't share my values) then there's always 'quitting' as the final solution.

I've dumbed it down to the point of ridiculousness above, but at least I tried!