Love the Problem, Not the Solution

I heard a wonderful phrase recently, "fall in love with the problem, not the solution". It made me think about the solutions we often jump to in attempts to alleviate the pain of the problem. Solutions are shiny and promising, and they get most of the attention, but it is not where most of us spend our time. Odds are, if you have a career (in any field), then you live in the world of problems. So, to love the problem is to completely embrace your work and dive into the issues so you can provide a great solution. It is perhaps the reason you get out of bed every day. Solutions are nice and comforting, but problems will always be there, evolving and challenging us to come up with ever better solutions.

I started thinking about the construction industry’s reason for being. At its most basic level, the industry exists because people need shelter and they need it to be built and designed in a way that allows them to achieve their goals of living, working or playing in a secure space. Every party involved in the construction of a building or space should be aligned in that mission and they need to fully grasp the problems that the owner is trying to solve. All too often, we concentrate on the end result without stepping back to truly understand the owner's needs.

We rely, perhaps too much, on the architect's ability to distill and design the owner's needs into a beautiful object. But we also know that there is no architect or owner that can carefully consider every detail of a project before it begins, no matter how intelligent or experienced. The construction process is far too complicated. The best owners, architects, engineers, designer and constructors understand this and we love when we work on projects where the project team brings us in on the problems they are trying to solve rather than reciting the tired phrase of "plans and specs". When we all work on the problem instead of unquestioningly follow the plan of the solution, better projects are built.

This principle can also be applied to our digital transformation journey. It is very easy when developing software to focus on creating a shiny solution. Knowing how to make the solution without an understanding of the problem is a very easy way to waste one's time and create something that no one wants to use. A simple question to ask is, "who cares?"*. If you look ahead to the project's success, but cannot articulate the difference it will make in achieving the goal, then you are probably focusing on the solution instead of digging deep and loving the problem.

After I spent enough time being awed by the beautiful things I can build through automation and apps, I stepped back and asked, "who cares?". (Or worse I built something for a team and the response was “so what”). How do these things help us solve the owner's problems better? In general, we now focus on creating solutions to problems that will improve communication in a way that drives consistent quality outcomes ahead of schedule. If the proposed solution does not get us closer to that goal, then it’s time to dive back into the problem and come up with something that matters.

*Check out Darpa’s The Heilmeier Catechism for a great decision making framework when contemplating where to invest resources in innovation.