How do you solve a problem? Reminds me of that song from Sound of Music – “How do you solve a problem like Maria?” If you remember the song (yes, you have to be pretty old to remember back that far), it discusses the problem with Maria (“a will-of-a-wisp, a fliberty-gibit and a clown) and proposes a solution (love her). Not a bad approach. The real point is that you need an approach to solving problems. If you have an approach (process) that you use, you will be more successful in solving problems.
Of course it depends on the problem, but often a simple four step approach to solving a problem can be used. Many people rush to a solution without using a problem solving process. That works sometimes, but you get much better results when you do a good job of defining the problem to be solved, devising a plan, implementing the plan and then evaluating and making adjustments.
Many years ago one of my colleagues, Richard Greenhaw, gave me a short book by George Polya, “How to Solve It.” In that book, Polya gave four principles or steps for problem solving. They are:
1. Understand the problem
I think most people fail in this first step. They don’t take time to understand the problem or to define it clearly. As a result, they may find a solution that only partly solves the problem, or worse, that solves the wrong problem. Most of the time I like to write down what I know about a problem.
2. Devise a plan
There are lots of ways to devise a plan. You can guess, you can identify possible solutions and eliminate ones that don’t work, you can look at analogous problems and solutions, and many more. In any case, you should write down your plan.
3. Carry out the plan
There was an old joke about a mathematician and a engineer that were sharing a room. They were awakened by a fire alarm and the engineer jumped up and starting running around trying to find something to do. The mathematician sat up, saw the fire, saw the fire extinguisher on the wall, decide there was a solution and went back to sleep. If you don’t implement the plan it won’t get the problem solved.
4. Review and extend the plan
No solution is perfect. Many of us that develop computer systems can spend a lifetime reviewing and improving on our solutions. After you put a solution to work it is always good to review how it is working and then make any necessary changes.
These simple may seem simple but if you will really us them they can be very powerful. I have been using them in one form or another for many years. Using them will make you a better problem solver.
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I like to solve problems with technology. In this blog, I'd like to share some of my ideas and also tell you about solutions I am currently working on. Welcome, and please share your own ideas with me by leaving a comment.
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