The Problem With the Solution

My sister's dog, Tim, is small, but hairy. Being that we host him most days of the week while my sister Katie is at work, his presence has quickly made the vacuum one of the most valuable tools in our house.

Last week, I get home, look across the living room, and see little clumps of Tim scattered across the floor. Exasperated, I walk over to our Roomba and press the start button with my toe. “Bee boop.” Nothing. I press it again. Still nothing. I pick it up, empty its butt, and put it back down. “Bee boop.”

I check the wheels and find some hair wrapped around one, so I pull it out and try again. Nothing. I clean the brushes, wipe down the sensors, take pieces off, put them back on, hold buttons for various lengths of time, and eventually do what any competent handyman does when he's exhausted his expertise: Google it.

For the next hour, I'm searching error codes, watching videos, restarting the Roomba, and repeatedly setting it back on the floor convinced that this time I've fixed it. “Bee boop.” Eventually, I give up, drop the Roomba on the floor, and look across the room. There, tucked against the wall, is my trusty old corded Bissell vacuum staring back at me, waiting to be used. I plug it in, vacuum up Tim's hair, and two minutes later the floor is clean.

I'd spent an hour trying to fix a solution to a problem I could have solved in two minutes.

My problem wasn't that my Roomba wouldn't run. My problem was that there was dog hair on the floor. The Roomba was just one possible solution, but somewhere along the way, I'd become more focused on making my preferred solution work than on solving the actual problem.

Our go-to solutions aren't always going to remain our best solutions. The tool that worked last year might not work today. The routine that once made our lives easier might now be making them harder. The process we've always used might have a better alternative. When that happens, it may be time to move on, expand our options, or find a new way to solve the problem. It may even be time to go back to an old way that still works just fine.

That's not an argument against fixing things or sticking with a good system. I'll probably figure out what's wrong with the Roomba eventually. It's an argument for remembering that the solution serves the problem, not the other way around.

When a solution stops working, ask, “What problem am I actually trying to solve?” Then look beyond the solution you're used to. There might be a better tool, a different approach, or an old corded Bissell sitting across the room waiting to be plugged in.

Fact

Psychologists call it functional fixedness, our tendency to get stuck seeing something according to its familiar use, which can prevent us from noticing other ways it could solve a problem.

Action

Identify one tool, routine, or process you keep using because it's what you've always used. Try solving the same problem a different way this week.

Question

Where in your life have you become more committed to a solution than to solving the problem?

Quote

“A problem well put is half-solved.” - John Dewey