Problem Solving

The 4-step Method
1) Absolve:  ignore.  Ignoring the problem requires respect and some possible ‘cool acting’.  Statistics do show, at least in the technical arena, that approximately 50% of the ‘problems’ that are reported are not really problems.  When a problem is gracefully ignored, quite often it disappears.  Of course, this tactic does take sound judgment, which comes largely, but not always, from experience.  The upshot is not to automatically react to the announcement of a problem and start ‘fixin’ right away.  The other side to absolving a problem is delegation – the art of getting others or someone else to work on the problem.

2) Resolve:  satisfy.  Uses the clinical approach: experiment, trials & errors; common sense; qualitative judgment.  The task is to reasonably quickly identify the cause of the problem and to remove or suppress it.  Return to the previous state as close as possible.  Also akin to the ‘temporary’ fix before the ‘real’ fix can be realized.  Very important for good customer service.

3) Solve:  optimize.  Research approach.  Scientific method of experimentation; quantitative analysis; critical thinking. The solution is the best of possible outcomes.   Uses traditional problem solving methods taught in school.

4) Dissolve:  idealize.  Redesign approach:  eliminate problem by approximating an ideal system.  Do better in the future than the best that can be done now.  Don’t laugh, but children often come up with novel ideas that dissolve the problem (since they 'don't know' that they 'don't know' ).  Actual story:  a father was planning to build a solarium addition to the home so his children would have a warm, bright place to play during the cold winter.  The young daughter asked her father, “Daddy, why don’t we just move to a warmer place?”  To solve the ‘cold’ problem, the father moved his family to a warmer climate.  Industrial-Commercial example:  the problem is to mix a large amount of different types of fluids.  The traditional solution would be to build large, expensive mixing tanks with motors and mixing blades.  The idealize solution gets rid of the problem (mixing with big moving blades) and uses in-line ‘static’ mixers – special non-moving ‘baffles’ inside the pipe that uses the available pumping energy to mix the fluids (www.komax.com).

The 'Other Side'
In regards to the ‘feminine’ side of creativity, the best that The Golden Seat has to offer is this:  the moment you tell yourself you are not creative or not smart enough, you just hung up your cellphone to the big ‘Creative HQ’ in the sky.  The lesson to learn is to take the ‘cap off’.  This goes back to Universal Law:  what you voice to the Universe (your thoughts), the Universe ‘picks’ up and replies back.  The Universe is not as blind as it seems.  It has very large ears and very big eyes.

TOM - The Twin