AreYourLightsOn?How toKnowWhatTheProblemReally IsDonaldC.GauseandGeraldM.WeinbergIllustratedby:SallyCox

CLICKHERETOSKIPTOTHEBEGINNINGPUBLISHEDBY:Weinberg&WeinbergAreYourLightsOn?HowtoKnowWhatTheProblemReallyIsCopyright©2011,DonaldC.Gause

andGeraldM.WeinbergDearReader:Evenwithmanylayersofediting,mistakescanslipthrough,alas.But,together,wecaneradicatethenastynuisances.Ifyouencountertyposorerrorsinthisbook,pleasesendthemtousat:<hardpretzel@earthlink.net>Thankyou!-DonGauseandJerryWeinbergAllrightsreserved.Withoutlimitingtherightsundercopyrightreservedabove,nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedinorintroducedintoaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyform,orbyanymeans(electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording,orotherwise)withoutthepriorwrittenpermissionofboththecopyrightownerandtheabovepublisherofthisbook.

Contents

Dedication

PrefacePART1:Whatistheproblem?Chapter1.AProblemChapter2.PeterPigeonholePreparesaPetitionChapter3.What'sYourProblem?PART2:Whatistheproblem?Chapter4.BillyBrighteyesbeststhebidders.Chapter5.Billybiteshistongue.Chapter6.BillyBacktotheBiddersPART3:Whatistheproblem,really?Chapter7.TheendlesschainChapter8.MissingthemisfitChapter9.LandingonthelevelChapter10.Mindyourmeaning.PART4:Whoseproblemisit?Chapter11.Smokegetsinyoureyes.Chapter12.ThecampusthatwasallspacedoutChapter13.ThelightsattheendofthetunnelPART5:Wheredoesitcomefrom?Chapter14.JanetJaworskijogglesajerk.Chapter15.MisterMatczyszynmendsthematter.Chapter16.Make-worksandtake-credits

Chapter17.ExaminationsandotherpuzzlesPART6:Dowereallywanttosolveit?Chapter18.TomTirelesstinkerswithtoys.Chapter19.Patienceplayspolitics.Chapter20.Apriorityassignment

Dedication

Thisbookisdedicatedtoourlovingwives,oneofwhomhadtoputupwithuswhile theotherhadtoputupwithoutusduringthisrelaxation.It isn'tclearwhichofthembenefitedmorebythearrangement.

Preface

PROBLEM:Nobodyreadsprefaces.SOLUTION: Call the preface Chapter 1.

NEWPROBLEMCREATEDBYSOLUTION:Chapter1isboring.RESOLUTION:ThrowawayChapter1andcallChapter2Chapter1.

PART1:

Whatistheproblem?

Chapter1.AProblem

IntheheartofGothamCity'sfinancialdistrictstandstheglisteningnew73-storyBrontosaurusTower.Eventhoughthisarchitecturalmasterpieceisnotyetfullyoccupied, theelevatorservicehasbeenfoundwoefully inadequateby thetenants. Some tenants have actually threatened to leave if the service isn'timproved,andquickly.

Figure1.BrontosaurusTower Afewfactsofthecaseareasfollows:(1)Thebuildingprimarilyhousesofficesdoingbusinessduringtheweekdayhoursof9amto5pm.

(2)Nearlyeveryoneusingthebuildingisassociatedinsomewaywiththefinancialworld.(3)Theoccupantsarefairlyuniformlydistributedoverthe73floors,andsoistheelevatortraffic.

(4)Theownerhasinvestedheavilyinadvertisinginanattempttorenttheremainingofficespace.

(5)Discouragingwordsspreadlikelightninginthetightlittleworldofthefinancialdistrict.

WHATISTOBEDONEABOUTTHISSITUATION?

Anumberofideasspringimmediatelytomind,suchas:(1)Speeduptheelevators.

(2)Addelevatorsbycuttingnewshaftsthroughthebuilding.(3)Addelevatorsbyconstructingoutsideshafts.

(4)Staggerworkinghourstospreadtherushhourloadoveralongerperiod.(5)Moveoccupantstodifferentfloorstoreducetotalpassengertrafficwithinthebuilding.

(6)Restrictthenumberofpeopleenteringthebuilding.(7)Replaceexistingelevatorswithbiggercarsstretchingtwoorthreestories.

(8)Providemoreserviceslocallyoneachfloortoreducefloor-to-floortraffic.(9)Rescheduletheelevatorswithspeciallocalandexpressarrangements,asneeded.

Having followed our natural problem-solving tendencies, we have rushedright into solutions. Perhaps it would be wiser to ask a few questions beforestatinganswers.

Whatsortsofquestions?Whohastheproblem?Whatistheproblem?Or,atthisjuncture,justwhatisaproblem?

Considerthequestion,"Whoseproblemisit?"Thisquestionattemptsto (1)determinewhoistheclient—thatis,whomustbemadehappy(2)establishsomecluesthatmayleadtoappropriatesolutions.

Our first listofsolutions,diverseas theywere,all sharedasinglepointofview—thattheelevatoruserswerethepeoplewiththeproblem.

Supposewe try taking the point of view ofMr.DiogenesDiplodocus, thelandlord.Withhimasourclient,wemightdevelopa ratherdifferent list, suchas:(1)Increasetherents,sofeweroccupantswillbeneededtopayoffthemortgage.(2)ConvincetheoccupantsthatBrontosaurusTowerisaterrificleisurelyplacetoworkbecauseofthe

elevatorsituation.

(3)Convincetheoccupantsthattheyneedmoreexercise—whichtheycouldgetbywalkingthestairsratherthanridingtheelevators—bypostingwalkingtimesandcalorieconsumptionestimatesoverwell-traveledroutes.

(4)Burndownthebuildingandcollectthefireinsurance.

(5)Suethebuilder.(6)Stealelevatortimefromthenext-doorneighbor.

These two lists, though not necessarily mutually exclusive, do showsomewhat different orientations. This difference should arrest our naturaltendencytoproducehastysolutionsbeforeaskingWHATISTHEPROBLEM?

The fledgling problem solver invariably rushes in with solutions beforetakingtimetodefinetheproblembeingsolved.Evenexperiencedsolvers,whensubjectedtosocialpressure,yieldtothisdemandforhaste.Whentheydo,manysolutionsarefound,butnotnecessarilytotheproblemathand.Aseachpersoncompetes for acceptance of a favored solution, each one accuses the other ofstubbornness,notofhavinganalternativepointofview.

Noteveryproblem-solvinggroupfoundersonlackofattentiontodefinition.Some come to grief by endlessly circling around attempted definitions,neveramassingthecouragetogetonwiththesolutioninspiteofdefinitionaldangers.

Asapracticalmatter,itisimpossibletodefinenatural,day-to-dayproblemsin a single, unique, totally unambiguous fashion. On the other hand, without

some commonunderstandingof theproblem,a solutionwill almost invariablybetothewrongproblem.Usually,itwillbetheproblemofthepersonwhotalksloudest,ormosteffectively.Orwhohasthebiggestbankaccount.

Forthewould-beproblemsolver,whoseproblemistosolvetheproblemsofothers,thebestwaytobeginismentallytoshiftgearsfromsingulartoplural—fromProblemSolvertoProblemsSolver,or,ifyoufindthathardtopronounce,toSolverofProblems.

To practice this mental shift, the Solver should, early in the game, try toanswerthequestion;WHOHASAPROBLEM?andthen,foreachuniqueansweringparty,toaskWHATISTHEESSENCEOFYOURPROBLEM?

Figure1.2.Whatistheessenceofyourproblem?

Chapter2.PeterPigeonholePreparesaPetition

Fromtheperspectiveoftheofficeworkers,theBrontosaurusproblemmightbestatedas

HOWCANICOVERMYAPPOINTEDROUNDSWITHMINIMUMTIME,EFFORT,AND/ORAGGRAVATION?

ForMr.Diplodocus,theproblemmaybeabstractedto

HOWCANIDISPOSEOFALLTHESEBLANKETY-BLANKCOMPLAINTS?

If these two parties (are there others?) cannot get together, a mutuallysatisfactorysolutionseems improbable.Unpleasantas theprospectmaybe,aneffective problems solver must work towards achieving a meeting—if not ofminds,thenofbodies.

Inordertocallthelandlord'sattentionto"theproblem,"amailboyatFinickyFinancial Fiduciary, Peter Pigeonhole, prepares a petition. Using his role asmailboy, he is able to obtain an impressive list of signatures at 3F.Using hisclassconnectionswithotherfirms'mailboys,heexpandsthelist.

Peterneedsmanysignaturesbecauseapetition isexactlywhatDiplodocusdoesn'twant.Hisproblemasheseesit,istoeliminatecomplaints.Ifcomplaintsarenever recorded,butmerelymumbledandgrumbled into theair,hemaybeabletosolvehisproblembyignoringit.Whoknows?Thismayturnouttobeaphantomproblem!Therefore,evenwhenfacedwithfour-and-twentysignaturesbaked into a petition, he does nothing.More precisely, he returns the petitionenvelopemarkedREFUSEDBYADDRESSEE.

Trying to discourage a mailboy by refusing a letter is like trying todiscourage a capitalist bull by waving a communist red flag. The landlord'ssolutionmerelyinfuriatestheofficeworkers.Inretaliation,theyescalate.(Nowthere'sanidea!)

A large group of representatives pays a call on Mr. Diplodocus, whocontinues to solve his problem by pretending ignorance. He is, his secretarysays,"notin."

IfDiplodocus thought this tacticwould discourage the petitioners, hewassadlymisinformedaboutthepersistenceofmailboysinmakingtheirappointedrounds.Aftersomediscussionoftactics,thegroupdecidestovisitDiplodocusathisScarsdaleEstate.Tohelpdelivertheirmessage,theybringfourpicketsigns,threestinkbombs,andtwoimmigrantworkers.Mrs.DiplodocusspeakssharplytoMr.Diplodocus,andit'saphantomproblemnolonger.

Figure2.1.Mrs.DiplodocusspeakssharplytoMr.Diplodocusaboutdespoilingtheirneighborhood.

Afterabriefmeetingwithaworkerdelegation,Diplodocusagreestohireaconsulting firm to look into theproblem. In return, thepickets are sent home,whichsolveshisimmediateproblemwithMrs.Diplodocus.

Timepasses.Theworkerscandiscernnoimprovement—andnotevenatraceof a consultant.Wouldn't you think therewouldbe a few short-hairedguys inbowties standing around with clipboards asking questions? At the very least,Diplodocuscouldhavehiredhisnephewtostandaroundinaturtleneckwithacalculator.

Uponinvestigation,PeterPigeonholediscoversthatthelandlordhasnotyetgotten around to hiring the consulting firm. Unable to afford daily trips toScarsdale,theworkersdecideuponanewtactic.

Using their privilegedpositions asmailboys, theprotest leaders circulate arumorthatiftheelevatorsituationisn'tsolvedsoon,theAmericanCongressofLaborisgoingtoorganizetheentireclericalworkforceinBrontosaurusTower.

Untilnow,themanagementofeachtenantfirmhasn'tbeentooconcernedwiththe elevator situation.They arrive early and stay late, or arrive late and leaveearly.Theirsecretariesfetchcoffee,acatererproduceslunch,andthemailboys"gopher"themailandotheressentials.

Moreover,thoughMen'sandWomen'sConveniencesarelocatedonalternatefloors, each floor has a small, locked, well-appointed restroom whose use isrestricted to Executive Gentlemen. (There are no Executive Ladies inBrontosaurusTower).

Once the ACL organizing rumor starts, it spreads like a muscle spasm inmanagement's lowerback.Suddenlytherearethreepartiestotheproblem,andparty three—themanagement—begins toapply itsownbrandofpersuasion topartytwo—thelandlord.

Upuntilnow,neitherpartywaswillingtoagreewiththeother'sdefinition.Or even to listen to it. Now, however, we can discern the signs of progress.Whenonepartybegins to feelpain insynchronywith theother,weknowthattheproblemwilleventuallyfinditsresolution.

TheAmericanIndianshaveanameforthisproblem-solvingtechnique—it'scalled"walkingintheotherperson'smoccasins."Itworksespeciallywellwhenthe moccasins are wet rawhide, dried slowly on the other person's feet untilsufficientsympathy("feelingtogether")isachieved.

We can't predict, at this juncture, just how the problem will achieve itsresolution.Thetenant'slawyersmayabrogatetheleasesorescrowtherent.Thelandlordmaysell thebuildingata lossand/or leapoutof the73rdstory.Newproblemsmaybecreatedbysuchresolutions,butonethingisnowcertain:thepreviousproblemsarenotlongforthisworld.

Outof themultiplicityofdiverseoutcomes, let'sassume thatallconcernedpartieshavesufficientlycoolheadstoattempttoactrationally.Thelandlordandthelawyersmeettodecideuponthenatureoftheproblem.Atthelastmoment,aworkers'representativeisgrudginglyadmittedunderthreatofACLintervention.After a bit of righteous posturing, all parties recognize the need for moreinformation.

Mr.Diplodocushasmentallydiscardedallpreviouscomplaints,butisunableto construct any particular pattern other than his original impression that theworkerswerechroniccomplainers.

The management hasn't really thought about the problem for long, or inmuchdetail.Tothem,itisatangentialproblem,thoughnowquitereal,totheirdirectabhorrenceofanyformoforganizedlabor.

Theworkers,fortheirpart,aresoobsessedwiththeirdesireto"getthatSOBlandlord" that they have forgotten their original interest in improving theelevatorservice.

Without wallowing in the messy details, we can report that the meetingresultedinagreementamongallpartiesthat(1)Thelandlordisunhappybecauseoftheharassment.

(2)Thetenantfirmsareunhappybecauseoftheiremployees'unhappinessandresultantthreatsofunionization.

(3)Theworkersareunhappybecauseofthewaytheandlordhasignoredtheirpleas,andbecauseofpoor

elevatorservice.

Fromthisperspective,therearenowthreeproblems,atleast.Cutinadifferentdirection,theproblemstillappearsthreefold:

1.Howcanwedetermine"Whatiswrong?"

2.Whatiswrong?3.Whatcanbedoneaboutit?

The first part of the question is quickly resolved. Peter Pigeonhole isassignedthe joboffindingoutwhat iswrong.Hewilldefine theprobleminamanner acceptable to all parties. For this task, 3F agrees to relieve him ofmailroom duties for onemonth. Such is the reward for taking the initiative—nowit'shisproblem.

Figure2.1.WhatWouldYouDoIfYouWereInTheMoccasinsOfPeterPigeonhole?

WHATWOULDYOUDOIFYOUWEREINTHEMOCCASINSOFPETERPIGEONHOLE?

Chapter3.What'sYourProblem?

Perceptionvs.DesireHave you ever had a daywhen things didn't go yourway and you found

yourself saying, "Boy, have I got problems!"?Most people do, and some doalmost every day. The difficulty they feel is a discrepancy between the waythingsaregoingand"theirway"—thewaytheyshouldbegoing,inoneperson'sopinion. It'squitenatural todescribe thissituationbysaying,"Boy,have Igotproblems!"—becauseaproblemisneithermorenorlessthansuchadiscrepancy.

APROBLEMISADIFFERENCE

BETWEENTHINGSASDESIRED

ANDTHINGSASPERCEIVED.

Ifyouraiseyournosefromthisbookandlookaboutyou,youcanprobablylist dozens or hundreds of "differences between things desired and thingsperceived."Infact,whynottryit?

Supposeyou'vejustfinishedamagnificentdinner,settleddowninyourmostcomfortablechair,andopenedthisbooktopreciselythispointinthetext.Yoursense of well-being is so pervasive that you are unable to think of a single"problem," let alone hundreds. Yet chances are that if you turn up yoursensitivity ever so slightly, you might recognize the following discrepanciesbetweenperceptionanddesire:

Table3.1.PerceptionversusDesire The first three listed problems will probably be solved by employing theancientbuteffectivemethodof"ignoring theproblem."Thismethodisneithermore nor less than turning downour sensitivity.At some point,we no longerperceiveanydifferencebetweenthingsastheyareandthingsaswewantthemtobe.Moreover, theproblemofthecoldhouse,nowthatyou'verecognizedit,will most likely be solved by turning up the thermostat or, in these days of"energycrisis,"puttingonasweater.

Butsupposeyoulookatthethermostatandfindtheroomtobeat25°C(77°F)—quitewarmenoughforany"normal"person.Doyoustillhaveaproblem?Definitely YES—so long as the temperature as perceived by you is not thetemperatureasdesiredbyyou.Yourseeing the"objective" temperaturedoesn'thelpathing—unlessyoucanconvinceyourselfyou'rereallywarmenoughafterall. In that case, we could consider the problem of warmth to be a phantomproblem—adiscomfortprimarilyattributabletoperceptions.

PhantomProblemsButdon'tbemisled:

PHANTOMPROBLEMSAREREALPROBLEMS.

Facedwitharoomtemperatureof25°Candafeelingofbeingtoocold,youmaydecideyouare "comingdownwith something."Youmightgo straight tobed,ortakeapilloradrink,orboth,ormakeanappointmentwithyourfamilydoctor(fornextOctober).

In any case, the problem, originally formulated as "the house is too cold,"now takes another form, such as, "Why am I imagining that the house is toocold?"or"Whatiswrongwithmybody?"

"Yes, yes," you're muttering from your worn chair, "but my children arebangingon thewalls,my feet arekillingme, and something'swrongwith the

furnace.Ihaven'tgotalotoftimetowaste,butIcan'tputthisbookdownuntilIfindoutwhathappenedtotheBrontosaurusTowerProblem.Getonwithit!Getonwithit!"

ChangingPerceptionVerywell,then,backtoPeterPigeonhole.He'sjustbeenreadingabookon

problemsolving—fromwhichhe'slearnedthat

APROBLEMISADIFFERENCE

BETWEENTHINGSASDESIRED

ANDTHINGSASPERCEIVED.

Armed with this profound insight (profound to a mailboy, at least) PeterturnedbacktotheBrontosaurusproblem.Whatwasdesired,hereasoned,wasashortwaitfortheelevators.Whatwasperceivedwastoolongawait.

Seeninthisway,theproblemcouldbesolvedeitherbychangingdesiresorchanging perceptions. He could alter the perceptions by shortening the actualwaitingtime,orbymakingthetimeseemshorter.Andjustwhenhecametothisrealization,Peterchancedtoreadaboutasimilarprobleminoneofhisproblem-solvingbooks. In this situation, employeesweregetting injured runningdownthe stairs after work. The problem was solved by putting a mirror on eachlanding. In their vanity, the employees slowed their relentless charge for theexits,inordertochecktheirappearanceandmakeminoradjustments.

"Perhaps,"Peterreasoned,"asimilardevicewouldsolveourownproblem."Peter'semployerswerehappytohearthathehadcomeupwithsomething,forthemailwasn'tbeingdeliveredtoowellinhisabsence.Mr.Diplodocuswassopleased that it wouldn't cost very much that he immediately agreed to havemirrorsinstalledalongsidetheelevatorsoneachfloor.Sureenough,complaintsfellimmediately,andPeterwasgivenalargepatontheback,asmallraise,andhisolddeskinthemailroom.

Figure3.1.Theinstallationofmirrorssolvedtheproblem...

Theproblemislackofimagination.Alas,alas, thegrubbyworldofGothamCityhas little incommonwith the

immaculate world of books on problem solving. Before long, the ubiquitous"vandals"discoveredthatBrontosaurusTowerhadmoremirrorsthanVersailles.Withinweeks, Peterwas put back on special assignment, trying to figure outwhattodoaboutgraffitionthemirrors.

Having been addicted to this pernicious vice (reading problem-solvingbooks) by his previous exposure, he was reading another book on problemsolvingwhenhis new assignment came in. In this treatise, he had learned theconceptoftryingtofindasolutiontoaproblemby"makingitworse.""Aha,"hesawinaflash,"theproblemisnotoneofgraffiti,butofbaseandunimaginativegraffiti.Whatdifferencedoesitmakeiftheyslowdowntolookinthemirrororto lookat thegraffiti? Ineithercase, theywon'tnoticehowslowtheelevatorsare."

Peternowproposedthateachfloorbesuppliedwithwaxcrayons(chainedtothewalls, of course).Everyone could participate in defacing themirrors, eachwithhisfavoritegraffito,whilewaitingfortheelevator.Anotherlargepatontheback,another(smaller) raise,andPeterwasback in themailroomsavoringhistriumphofmindovermatter.

Ismellarat.Asalltheseeventsweretranspiring,timewaspassing.Almostbeforeanyone

noticedit,BrontosaurusTowerattaineditsfirstbirthday.AsthelawofGothamCityrequired, theengineersfromUpliftElevatorarrivedonemorningtomaketheirannualinspection.

Assoonastheysawthehordesofworkersmillingaboutthelobby,crayonsin hand, they sensed a difference between the things they perceived and thethings they desired. Their professional pridewas at stake, for their company'ssloganwas

NOBODYWAITSFORALIFTUPFROMUPLIFT"I smell a rat," one told the other. "Something must be amiss with the

controls, for Uplift elevators simply can't cause crowds like this if they'reworkingproperly."

Thereupon, theengineersset towork locating theproblem.Loandbehold,theydiscoveredthatarathadbeentrappedinthemastercontrolboxthedaytheelevatorsystemwasinstalled.Inhisfutileeffortstognawhiswayout,thedirtyrathadclampeddownonamasterrelaywiththefullforceofhistinyjaws.Hewas rewarded with 240 volts that not only saved him from slow death bystarvation,butwhichalsoembalmedhimandthemasterrelayinapermanentlyclosedposition.

Itwasa simple—thoughdisgusting—job to remove the ratand replace therelay, after which the engineers checked out the system and found it nowworkingtoUpliftstandards.

Atleastthey'vefinallysolvedtheproblemonceandforall.Beforedepartinguntilnextyear'sinspection,theengineerspaidacallonMr.

Diplodocus. Banging themummified rat on his desk, they said, haughtily, "Ifyoucan'tkeepyourbuildingclean,youcouldatleastgetintouchwithuswhenyou see the elevators running so slow.Don't you realize you could lose yourtenantsoversuchpoorservice?"

"Well,"thelandlordlied,"atleastyou'vefinallysolvedtheproblemonceandfor all." Having just that morning received a petition from the Brontosauruschapterof theLegionofDecencycomplainingabout thegraffiti,heknewthatthe previous "solution" was about to collapse right under his feet. But all hewouldhavetodowasremovethosegosh-darnedmirrors.

Diplodocusbreathedasighofreliefandescortedtheengineers to thefrontdoor. Itwasalmost fiveo'clock,andhewanted to seehowhappy theworkerswouldbewhentheydiscoveredtheimprovedservice.

No sooner had the quitting bell sounded than employees began streamingfromtheirofficestotheelevators,eachhopingtobethefirstonhisfloortogettothecrayons.Withtheproperlyworkingelevators,however,peopleweresweptdown to the ground floor before they had a chance to write "fiddlesticks".Withouttheretardedelevatorstospreadtherushofhundredsofworkersoverafifteenortwenty-minuteinterval,everyonehitthesubwayentranceatonce—farmorerapidlythantheInterminableRacketTransitcouldhandle.

Figure3.2.Everyonehitthesubwayentranceatonce.

In the ensuing crush, five people fainted from the heat, seven werehospitalizedwithheel-holesintheirfeet,andpoorMr.Diplodocuswasshoveddownthestairs,rightthroughtheticketgate,andoutontotheplatform.

Because the subway didn't go to Scarsdale, Diplodocus had never beforebeen inside a subway station.Untrained in the proper elbowing technique, hecouldn'tdefendhimselfandwasjostledofftheplatformdirectlyintothepathoftheonrushingExpress.

The Diplodocus funeral was well attended by management and workersalike, for, inattempting tosolve theelevatorproblem, theyhadcome toknowand respect their landlord, greedy little tyrant though he was. In order todemonstrate that there were no hard feelings concerning their previousdifferences,PeterPigeonholewasasked todeliveraeulogy toMr.DiplodocusonbehalfoftheoccupantsofBrontosaurusTower.

Peterbeganhisdiscoursebyrelatingtheeventsofthepastyear,andhowhehad come to know Mr. Diplodocus and appreciate his point of view. Inconclusion,Petersaid,sadly,"Whatapitythathehadtocometosuchasuddenend, justwhen the elevator problemwas finally solved.We never knowwhatproblemsreallyare—untilwedon'thavethemanymore."

POSTSCRIPT:Stealingelevatortime.AshewalkedsadlyawayfromthefreshDiplodocusgrave,Peterwastaken

by the arm by a friendly old man whom he vaguely recognized. "I'm E. J.Corvair, owner of E. J. Corvair's Department Store across the alley fromBrontosaurusTower.ThatwasamovingeulogyyougaveoldDiplodocus."

"Thank you," said Peter sincerely, glad to find that hismessage had comeacross."IreallyfeelIletMr.Diplodocusdown,afterheputsomuchfaithinmyproblem-solvingability."

"Oh,youmustn'taccuseyourself,youngman.Whenyougettomyage,youlearnthatwehavelittleinfluenceontheimportantmattersinourlives."

"Perhaps,"Peter replied, "but I do regret someof the things I said tohim,particularlywhenhedidn'tthinkIwasseriousenough."

"Suchas?""IespeciallyrememberwhenIwassuggestingfar-outsolutions,likeburning

downthebuilding.Hereallygotangrywithmethen.""Heshouldn'thave.Lotsofownersburndowntheirbuildingsforinsurance.

Thewaymybusinessisgoingrightnow,Ioughttothinkofthatmyself.""Oh, it wasn't that suggestion that touched him off. I think he seriously

considered thatone.What reallygothimangrywaswhen I suggestedstealingelevatortimefromthebuildingnextdoor."

"Butthat'sreallyfunny,"laughedMr.Corvair."Howcouldhegetangrywithsuchagoodjoke?"

"Well,hedidn'tthinkitwasthetimeorplacetobefunny,sohethrewmeoutofhisoffice.'Howcanyoustealelevatortimefromanotherbuilding?'heaskedme,andIcouldn'tgivehimasensibleanswer,sohethrewmeout."

"Well,whatdidyouhaveinmindwhenyousaidit?""Idon'tknow.Itjustpoppedintomyhead,anditsoundedkindofinteresting,

andfunny,soIsaidit.""That's toobad,"musedMr.Corvair."Ifyoucouldtakeelevator timefrom

one building and use it in another, Corvair's surewould have lots of elevatortimetogiveyou."

"Whatdoyoumean?"Peterasked."Oh,mybusinesshasbeensoslowthathardlyanybodyisinthestoretouse

theelevators.WehavelotsofelevatorcapacityrightnextdoortoBrontosaurusTowerjustgoingtowaste."

"ButMr. Corvair!" Peter interrupted, gushingwith excitement. "We couldbuildoneortwopassagewaysbetweenthetwobuildingssothatpeoplecouldgointoyourstoretotaketheelevatorifthingsgotcrowded!Infact,wecouldhavedonethatalongtimeago."

Mr. Corvair shook his head regretfully. "If only Diplodocus were alive. Iwouldoffertobuildthosepassagewayscompletelyatmyexpense,justtodrawthe extra business traffic into my store. I'd be more than happy to have youpeoplestealmyelevatortime."

"Well,"saidPeter,alwaysoptimistic,"allisnotlost.PerhapstheDiplodocusheirswillbemorereceptivetotheideathanhewas!"

Andsotheywere.

Figure3.3.BrontosaurusTowerlinkedtoE.J.Corvair,solvingtwoproblemsatonce.

Onemorefunnylesson.AndsoPeterlearnedyetanothervaluablelesson:

DON'TBOTHERTRYINGTOSOLVEPROBLEMS

FORPEOPLEWHODON'THAVEASENSEOFHUMOR.

PART2:

Whatistheproblem?

Chapter4.BillyBrighteyesbeststhebidders.

The computer field is amother lode of problem definition lessons. In ournext story, the client was a large corporation, as represented by its President,Vice-President,Comptroller, andChairwoman.Thishigh levelproblem-settinggroup was entirely matched to the magnitude of the problem—one involvingpurchasesoftensofmillionsofdollarsworthofgovernmentsurplusproperty.

Figure4.1.ThePresident,Vice-President,Comptroller,andChairwomanwoulddecide.

Thepurchasingwastobedonebyasystemofsealedbids.Fourcompanieswere bidding on a total of eleven properties. Not all properties were equallydesirable.Indeed,someofthemwerenotwantedbyanyofthefourcompanies,butthegovernmenthadsagelysetupacomplexseriesofrulestoensurethatallpropertieswereactuallysold.

Figure4.2.Therulesfortheelevenpropertieswereverycomplex.

Forexample,eachcompany,ifitwantedtobidatall,hadtobidonallelevenproperties. If certain bidswere not sufficiently high in relation to others, they

wouldautomaticallyberaisedtoaminimum.Otherrulestendedtotietheleastdesirableproperties to themostdesirable.Consequently, itwasnot simply thebest bid on each property thatwon, but some combination of good bids on agroupofproperties.

Because so much money was involved, and so much uncertainty, theexecutiveshadbecometormentedwithanxietyor,evenworse,curiosity.Inthisweakenedstate,theyweresusceptibletoanofferbyanenterprisinggovernmentofficial—tomake theentiresetofsealedbidsavailable to them,alongwithanopportunitytochangetheirbids—forasubstantialprice.

Theypaidthepriceandopenedthebids.Totheirdismay,therulesweresocomplextheystillcouldn'tdeterminewhowouldgetwhichproperty.Bythetimetheyreluctantlydecidedtoseekoutsidehelp,theyhadfritteredawayallbut24hours of their allotted time.When theComptroller arrived at the office of thecomputingservice,hewasatiredanddesperateman.Buthewasamanwithaplan.

After being assured by the management of the utmost discretion, theComptroller was introduced to a group of computer programmers, headed byBilly Brighteyes. Billy listened carefully as he presented his blueprint for acomputerprogramtorelievehisanxieties.Sincetherewere11propertiesand4setsofbids,hefiguredout that therewere411—orapproximately4,000,000—differentcombinationsofbids.(Theabilitytomakethiskindofapproximationisessentialtoproblemsolvers.Weshalltakeitupinanotherbook.Fornow,ifyoudon'tunderstandwherethenumberscomefrom,justtakeitonfaith.Oryoucancheckwithsomemathematicalfriend.)

Eachofthe4,000,000combinationswouldresultinsometotalrevenuetothegovernment, which would presumably choose that combination fitting all therulesandyieldingthemostmoneytothepublictreasury.TheComptroller'splanwastohavethecomputergenerateall4,000,000bidcombinations,thenarrangetheminorderwiththehighestrevenuescomingfirst.Theexecutivecommitteewould then peruse this list from top to bottom, in order to find the highestcombinationthatmetalltherules.

Figure4.3.Therulesmadeanenormousnumberofpossiblebids.

Withbut24hoursremaining,andwiththecomputerworkaloneestimatedat12 hours, there was little time to waste debating the plausibility of this plan.Oncethebidswereofficiallyopened,allwouldbelost.Nevertheless,Billyfeltthatthemethodwasunnecessarilycrude—itoffendedhisproblem-solversenseofelegance.He reasoned thata little informationabout thegovernment's rulescouldpossiblyreducethetotalcomputationbyafactorof10.Ifthecomputationcouldactuallybedonein1hourinsteadof12,theexecutiveswouldhavemuchmoretimetolookatamuchsmallerlist.

The Comptroller was hesitant to release any more than the minimum ofinformation.Hefinallyrelentedwhenpresentedwiththeargumentthatafastermethodmightalsopermitthemtopredicttheoutcomeofachangedbid.Itwasagreed that one group of programmers would begin working on theComptroller'smethodwhileBillyBrighteyeswentwiththeComptrollertolookover thebidding regulations—whichwere innocircumstances tobe letoutofthecompany'shands.

AfterBilly left, theother programmershad a fewmomentsof conscience-searching.AlthoughtheComptrollerhadneveradmitteditinsomanywords,theinformationonthesealedbidshadunmistakablycomefromsomesortofillegaltransaction. Although they had never heard anyone say explicitly that it was

illegal—could they remain morally neutral if they participated in such shadydealings?

Thegroupwastroubledenoughtopresentthequestiontotheirmanager.Hewasquick topointoutamoral factor theyhadoverlooked—that thiscompanywasthecomputingcompany's third-bestcustomer,andcouldhardlyberefusedthis service. In the end, however, they more or less allowed the question ofmoralitytoevaporateintheirfascinationwiththetechnicalproblemspresentedbyproducingthelistof4,000,000itemsintheminimumtimewiththequickestandmostreliableprogramming.

Thus, likemost professional problem solvers, they skirted themoral issue.But, after all, they had never been trained to deal with such issues, so theyconcentratedonthetechnicalaspects,whichwastheirprofession,wasn'tit?

About twenty minutes after they had set aside their consciences, Billyreturned from the executive suite. Theywere eager to show him some clevershortcutstheyhadworkedout—stepswhichwouldreducethejobcosttoabout$900.ButBillyshushedthemwithawaveofhishand.Heproceededtorelatehowhehadscannedthebiddingrulesforafewminutesandthenseenhow,bytheapplicationofasmidginofformallogicandasmatteringofcommonsense,hehadcompletelysolvedtheprobleminlessthan5minutes.

Figure4.4.Billyfoundasolutioninlessthan5minutes.

Tobesure,ithadthentakenhim20moreminutestoconvincetheexecutiveshe indeed found a solution in five minutes—to the problem they had beenworkingonfordays.Butithadbeenworththetime,forBillyhadlearnedtwoimportantlessonsinproblemdefinition.

DON'TTAKETHEIRSOLUTIONMETHOD

FORAPROBLEMDEFINITION

Andsecond,

IFYOUSOLVETHEIRPROBLEMTOOREADILY,

THEY'LLNEVERBELIEVE

YOU'VESOLVEDTHEIRREALPROBLEM.

PostscriptHadBilly beenwitness to the group's deliberations on themoral issue, he

wouldhavelearnedanotherlesson,onewhichhecouldhaveappliedtohimself:

MORALISSUESTENDTOMELTINTHEHEATOFAJUICYPROBLEMTOSOLVE.

Chapter5.Billybiteshistongue

Needlesstosay,Billy'sgroupofprogrammerswassorelydisappointedthatthebiddingprojectwasdroppedassuddenlyasithadbegun.ThoughBillydidn'tsuspectat the time, thestoryhadnotyetrunitscourse.Thefollowingyearhewas transferred to another computing center—one using a different andmorepowerfulcomputer.Ashewasbeingindoctrinatedtothenewoffice,hewassentto talk with an operations researcher about "package programs"—prewrittenprogramswhichsolvedstandardproblemsarisinginavarietyofcontexts.

"Ofcourse,"theoperationsresearchertoldhim,"theprincipaladvantageofthese packaged solutions is the cost savings, but sometimes there are otheradvantages."

"You mean like special features and more rigid checking of data?" Billyasked.

"Yes,thosetoo,butIwasthinkingofamoreinterestingsituation,onewherethespeedwithwhichwecouldgetasolutionwasthecriticalfactor.Lastyear,wegotaproblemfromoneofourbestcustomersinconnectionwithsomebidsforgovernmentsurplusproperty.Itseemstheyhadmanagedtoobtainthesealedbidsoftheothercompanies—weneveraskedthemhow,you'llunderstand—andwantedtofindouthowwelltheyweregoingtodo.Thatway,theycouldchangetheirbidifnecessarytogetthepropertiestheywantedandnotgetanyinferiorproperties."

A tiny light went on in Billy's brain. In as innocent a voice as he couldmuster,heasked,"Howmanyothercompanieswerethere?"

"Three others. But there were eleven different properties, which made anenormousnumberofpossiblecombinations."

"About4,000,000.""Say,you'requick.Yes,about4,000,000.Andsincetimewassoshort,there

wasnochanceofenumeratingallofthem.Besides,therewereallsortsofcrazyconditions on the bidding, which would have made programming much toocomplextodoinashorttime."

"Sowhatdidyoudo?"Billywastrulycurious."That's just the point—we used a package. In just two days, our linear

programming specialistmanaged to cast the problem into the correct form forourpackage.After that, a fewhoursof computer timeandwehad theanswerthey wanted. Boy, were they ever pleased—there were millions of dollars atstake."

"That'sreallyinteresting.Howmuchdidthewholejobcost?""That's another good part of it. There was two days' time for our linear

programmingman,whichcameto$400—plusabout$1,000worthofcomputertime."

Figure5.1.Adifferentandmorepowerfulcomputer "So,foronly$1,400theyhadtheirsolution."

"Andinlessthanthreedays!That'swhatImeanaboutthevalueofpackageprograms.Youmightsaythatthey'resolutionsjustlyinginwaitforproblems!"

"Yes,"saidBillypensively,"youmightverywellsaythat."What he was thinking, of course, was about an expanded version of a

problemdefinitionlessonhehadoncelearned:

DON'TMISTAKEASOLUTIONMETHODFORAPROBLEMDEFINITION—ESPECIALLYIFIT'SYOUROWNSOLUTIONMETHOD.

Chapter6.BillyBacktotheBidders

AsBillylefttheofficeoftheoperationsresearcher,hismindwasn'toccupiedwith the subject of package programs, as his host imagined. Instead, it wasswirlingwithfarmoreintriguingquestions:

"Whataboutthoseothertwocompanies?""Whohad'solved'theirproblem—andforhowmuch?""Andwhathappenedwhentheultimatebids,allchanged,hadbeenopened?

Weretheyallsurprised?""Whatdidtheysayordotothepersonorpersonswhosoldthemthe'secret'

bids?"Billy'smindcouldn'trest.Hehadputtheproblemaway,almostayearago,

thinkingheknewalltherewastoknowaboutit.Now,herealized,theonethingheknewwasthattheproblemwassomethingotherthanwhathethenthought.Itwasn't a problem of enumerating 4,000,000 cases. Nor was it a problem ofsymbolic logic and common sense—and especially not one of linearprogramming.

Perhaps the problemwas this:Howdo you change your bid in a situationwhenall theothersarechanging theirbidsand thinking that theyare theonlyones who have bought the privilege of doing so? But that couldn't be right,becauseifonepartycouldfigurethatout,alltheotherscould,too.

Then,perhapstheproblemwasdeeper:Howdoyouchangeyourbidwhenalltheothersarechangingtheirbidswith

the knowledge that you are changing your bid while knowing that they arechanging theirs?But isn't that just the equivalent of secret bidding in the firstplace?

But wait! If one company knew that the others would see its bid—a bidwhichitcouldlaterchange—itwouldtrytogiveafirstbidthatwouldmisleadtheothers.Didoneofthefourcompaniesplantothrowtheothersoffbyhavingthembuythe"secret"bids?Orperhapsallofthemdid?Inthatcase,theproblemwasoneofhowtocreateafirstbidthatwouldmisleadtheothersinthedirectionyouwantedthemtogo—withoutthemrealizingit.

Billy'smindwasspinninglikedirtywaterswirlingdownthebathtubdrain.

Justasthe"tub"wasabouttoempty,hegraspedanotherfleetingthought:Iftheproblemwasasetup,withthefirstbidsmerelyintendedtomisleadthe

other bidders, then the best strategy would be to ignore them and treat theproblem as a secret bidding after all! That was too much for Billy's drainedbrain.Hesatdowninthefirstavailablechair,sodizzyhealmostmissedtheseat.Inotherwords,hethought,thereallessonaboutproblemsolvingisthis:

YOUCANNEVERBESURE

YOUHAVEACORRECTDEFINITION,

EVENAFTERTHEPROBLEMISSOLVED

Withthatthought,Billywasabletopullhimselftogether.Ashewaswalkinghome to his new apartment, however, he thought again about this "lesson."Suppose,hethought,thatmyproblemwastofindthelessonfromallthis.

Figure6.1.Youcanneverbesure...

"Thenifthisisthereallesson,"Billythought,"Ican'tbesurethatI'vesolvedtherightproblem—inwhichcase,Ican'tbesureitisthereallesson."Billysatdown on a retaining wall and assumed the posture of Rodin's Thinker.Suppertimecameandwent.Thesunsetwasspectacular,butBillysawnoneofit.Streetlightswenton,trafficgrew,faded,grewandfadedagain.

Finally,astreetsweeperlefthisbarrelandbroomandspokesoftlytoBilly."Hey,buddy,areyouallright?"

Billy should have been startled, but wasn't. Instead, the street sweeper's

wordsgavehim just theclueheneeded tounravelhis tightlyknottedskeinofthought."Uh...No.No,I'mnotallright—butthat'sallright!Thanksalot."

Withthat,Billystoodup,shookthehandofthepuzzledsweeper,andsetoffgingerly for home. "Thinking's not easy," he thought. "Why, I'd bet that if Itraceddowntheoutcomeofthatbidding,i'dfindthatthegovernmenteventuallymadeamistakeinthecomputation—soalltheircalculationsandplottingdidn'tmakeanydifferenceatall.Andjustbecausethey'dallcheated,theywereinnopositiontoquestionthegovernment'scalculations!But,ifoneofthemhadtakenamoralpositionin thefirstplace, they'dhavehadcleanhandsandcouldhavebrought thewholeepisode toaprofitableconclusion.So there's a lesson that'salwaysworthremembering:",

DON'TLEAPTOCONCLUSIONS,

BUTDON'TIGNOREYOURFIRSTIMPRESSION.

But itwas an even deeper lesson thatmadeBilly realize hewas all right,even though he had been fooled several times concerning the "true" problemdefinition.Theimportantquestion,hehadknownforsometime,wassimply

WHATISTHEPROBLEM?

WhereBillyandothershadgonewrongwasinthinkingthatifthequestionwas important, then theanswerhad tobe important, too."Nope,"Billysaid tohimself as he absent-mindedly emptied his mailbox, "that's not it at all. Thereally important thing indealingwithproblems is toknowthat thequestion isneveranswered,butthatitdoesn'tmatter,aslongasyoukeepasking.It'sonlywhenyoufoolyourselfintothinkingyouhavethefinalproblemdefinition—thefinal, true answer—that you can be fooled into thinking you have the finalsolution.And ifyou think that,you'realwayswrong,because there isnosuchthingasa'finalsolution.'"

With that,Billy'smindwas at rest—not stopped, but at rest.After a goodnight'ssleep,hewentdowntownandhadabronzeplaquemadeupforhisdesk,inscribedwiththesewords:

Figure6.2.Youcanneverbesureyouhaveacorrectdefinition,butdon'teverstoptryingtogetone. Postscript

ThestoryofBillyandthebidsisatrueone,disguisedsothatnobodyontheoutsidewouldrecognizetheeventsoftwentyyearsago.Butsomewhereinthishappy land there probably are at least two other problem solvers who willrecognizethestory.Publishingthisstoryafteralltheseyearsisjustanotherpartof our unending quest for an evenmore correct definition.Willwe hear fromthoseothers?Youneverknow!

PART3:

Whatistheproblem,really?

Chapter7.Theendlesschain

At one of our large computer manufacturers, a new printer was beingdeveloped thatwasbothfasterandmoreaccurate thananyof itspredecessors.The higher speed was easily obtained with the new technology, but theengineeringgroupwashavingtroublemaintainingtheaccuracyoftheprinting.Lines sometimes turned out wavy or, when straight, didn't align properly onpreprinted forms. Every time a new test was run, the engineers had to spendconsiderable time in the unrewarding task ofmeasuring the printed output foraccuracy.

Dan Daring, the youngest but probably brightest engineer in the group,suggested that they might design a tool that would imprint, impregnate, orotherwisemarkan8-inchintervaloncomputerprintoutpaper.Themarksmadeby the tool were to be the standard referencemarks, andwouldmeasure anyalignmenterrorsquicklyandaccurately.

Several of the groupmembers worked on ideas for this tool, but most ofthemgotstuckintheirthinkingbecausetheywerepreoccupiedwiththeideaofprintingas theonlymethodofmarkingonpaper.Since theywereexperiencedprinter designers, this concept was only natural. Dan Daring, being lessexperiencedwithprinting,cameupwithastartlingandeffectivenewapproach.His final solution was the aluminum bar shown below. Small pins wereembeddedtopunchtinyholesatpreciselytheprescribedpoints.

Figure7.1.Smallpinsembeddedtopunchtinyholes.

The tool proved easy to build, and was both sturdy and accurate. Timepreviously wasted on marking the standard intervals was turned to moreproductive work. Dan's manager was elated. After several weeks had

demonstrated the labor savings of this device, the manager decided torecommendDanforaspecialcompanyaward.Hegotoneofthetoolsfromtheshopandbroughtittohisofficesohecouldstudyitwhitewritinguphisreport.

Unfortunately,whenhesetthetoolonhisdesk,heplaceditnotonitsside,asshownabove,butonits"legs,"asshownbelow.

Figure7.2.Smallpinsembeddedpunchedtinyholesinskin,ifitsatthisway.

Perhaps ifDan'sbosshadbeen to India tosee the fakirssittingonbedsofnails,hewouldn'thavesetthetooldownthatway,buthedid.PerhapsifDan'sboss'sbosshadbeenafakir,hewouldn'thavefeltanythingwhenhesatdownonthe corner of thedesk for a friendly chat aboutDan's impending award.Alas,neither of these suppositions proved correct, and the entire department wasalarmedtoheartheSectionChief'sagonizedscreamastwoholes,preciselyeightinchesapart,werepunchedinhisposterior.

Figure7.3.TwopreciseholeswerepunchedintheSectionChief'sposterior.

TheSectionChief,fortunately,hadlotsofpaddinginthepartofhisanatomythat was so accurately marked. Even so, Dan's chances of an award werepunctured just as accurately as the Section Chief was punctured. Indeed, theChiefwantedtothrowoutthewholetool,andperhapsDanwithit,untilDan'smanager saved the day by suggesting a simple modification to the tool. Bygrinding the"legs" intosemicircles,hemade it impossible tostand the toolonthemwith theneedlespointingdangerouslyupward.Theonlypracticalwayto"stand"thetoolwasonitsside,asshownbelow.

Figure7.4.Bygrindingthelegsintosemicircles,standingonthelegswasmadeimpossible. Since anyproblem is a difference between a perceived state and a desiredstate,whenwe change a state to "solve" a problem,we usually create one ormoreotherproblems.Putsimply,EACHSOLUTION

ISTHESOURCEOFTHENEXTPROBLEM

Wenevergetridofproblems.Problems,solutions,andnewproblemsweaveanendlesschain.Thebestwecanhopeforisthattheproblemswesubstitutearelesstroublesomethantheoneswe"solve."

Sometimes, we make the problems less troublesome by putting them insomeone else's back yard—or back end. This technique is called problemdisplacement, and is often very useful when consciously and conscientiouslydone.Butnewproblems—moreoftenthannot—arecreatedunconsciously.

This lack of consciousness is pervasive. We frequently observe that THETRICKIESTPARTOFCERTAINPROBLEMS

ISJUSTRECOGNIZINGTHEIREXISTENCE.

Oncethedangerofthetoolwasperceived,anynumberofsolutionstumbledintoourminds. Indeed, theengineersusing the tool everyday recognized thatDan'stoolcouldbedangerousifleftstandingonitslegs.Theyadoptedthehabitoflayingitonitsside,buttheyfailedtothinkthatotherpeoplemightsometimeshandlethetool.

Unliketheengineers,thoseotherpeoplewouldnotbefamiliarwiththetool'sdangers,andthuscouldquiteeasilysitonitorpunctureahand.Theengineersrecognizedtheirownsafetyproblem,butfailedtoseethatitcouldbeaproblemforsomeoneelse—anothercaseofproblemdisplacement.

Wecan'tevenbesurethatsomenewproblemwasn'tcreatedbytheroundedlegdesign.Youmightwanttothinkwhatitcouldbe.

Or shouldwe say, "what they can be?" Twin or triplet birthsmay be rareamonghumans,butamongtheproblemsoftheworld,anythinglessthanatripletbirth is the rarity. Indeed, one of the most important rules for the would-beproblemsolveristhis:IFYOUCAN'TTHINKOFATLEASTTHREETHINGSTHATMIGHTBEWRONGWITHYOURUNDERSTANDINGOFTHEPROBLEM,

YOUDON'TUNDERSTANDTHEPROBLEM.

Hundredsofthingscanbeoverlookedinanyproblemdefinition.Ifyoucan'tthinkofeventhree,allthatsaysisthatyoucan't,orwon't,thinkatall.

Can you think of three things that might be wrong with the manager'ssolutiontotheproblemofthedangeroustool?

Figure7.5.Thinkofthreereasonsitwontwork.

Chapter8.Missingthemisfit

When somemachine goeswrong,we're inclined to blame the personwhogetshisbottompunched, rather than thepersonwhomade the tool.Dan's toolwasanexceptionbecauseitwasmadeforsuchlimiteduse.Usually,bythetimetheflawinthedesignbecomespainfullyobvious,thedesignerislonggoneandfaraway.Ifthemarkingpunchhadbeensoldwidely,insteadofmadeforprivateuse, each injured party would be blamed because "he should have watchedwhere he sat."At best, the personwho placed the tool in an upright positionwouldhavebeenblamedfor"not thinkingof thesafetyofothers."Weassumethatifthetoolisonthemarket,thousandsofothersmusthaveuseditwithoutgetting punctured. If they had, they surely would have complained, wouldn'tthey?

Theproblemofdisplacementiscompoundedbytheexistenceofdesigners—specialpeoplewhose job it is to solveproblems, inadvance, forotherpeople.Designers, like landlords, seldom if ever experience the consequences of theiractions. In consequence, designers continually produce misfits. A misfit is asolution that produces amismatchwith the human beingswho have to livewiththesolution.Somemismatchesaredownrightdangerous.

Long ago, men didn't shave their faces. Later, they somehow perceived adiscrepancybetweenbeardsandhappiness,sotheybegantoshave,orbeshaved.Sharpeningtheirrazors,theyoftencutthemselves—untilthe"safetyrazor"wasinvented with disposable blades. No shaver ever cut himself sharpening adisposableblade,but lotsof shavers'wivesormaids cut themselvesdoing theactual disposal.And, frequently, itwas little childrenwho got cut,when theyfoundundisposeddisposableblades.

Eventually,medicinecabinetswerebuiltwithslotsfordisposingoftheusedblades.Wheretherewassuchacabinet,thewomenandchildren,atleast,wererelatively safe (until women, for some reason, started shaving their legs andunderarms).Butfordecadestheshaverscuttheirfingerstryingtogetthebladefrom the razor to the slot. Millions of men and women, watching their life'sbloodtrickleintothesinkandoverthecleantowels,thought,"Toobadthere'snoother way to dispose of these blades. If there were, somebody would have

inventedit.ItmustbethatI'mveryclumsyandinadequate."Then,oneday,someonedidinventsomething—heavenonlyknowswhy.In

thisnewinvention,bladesweredispensedinpackageswhichreceivedtheusedblade before dispensing the new one. Itwasn't a very complex invention, andmanyversionsquicklyfollowedtheoriginal.Theproblemwasrecognizingtheprobleminthefirstplace—or,rather,havingthedesignersrecognizeit.Perhapsthedesignerswenttobarbersforshaves—orperhapstheyhadbeards.

Figure8.1.Thebladedispensercouldalsobethebladedisposer.

Orperhapstherewerenodesigners,oncethebasicdisposablebladeideawasworkedout.Whoneedsadesigner,oncetheproblemissolved?

Mostmisfitsareeasytosolve,oncetheyarerecognized.Somerequireactionby "the proper authorities," but most can be successfully dispatched by thosewhohavetolivewiththem.Humanbeingsaresoadaptable,they'llputupwithalmost any sort ofmisfit—until it comes to their consciousness that it doesn'thavetobethatway.Thencomestrouble.

Whenthelatestenergy"crisis"causedanationalloweringofthespeedlimitintheUSAto55milesperhour,everybodythoughtitwouldbeeasytogobackto65orhigherwheneverthe"crisis"subsided.Unfortunatelyforvariousparties

with vested interests in higher speed limits, the lower speed limit wasaccompaniedbyadrastically loweredaccidentanddeath rate.Until thisgrand"experiment" tookplace,nobodyknew for surewhy50,000peoplediedeveryyearonthehighways.Automanufacturersblamedthedrivers;everybodybutthealcohol industry blamed drunken driving; but nobody really blamed thelegislatorsforallowingsuchahighspeedlimit.

Not all accidents could be attributed to speed limits, but the factsdemonstratedthatonebigsliceofthemcouldbe.Allthathadchangedinafewmonthswasthepublic'sperceptionofthemisfitofspeedlimittocar,driver,androad.Butwhatachange!It tookyearsbeforethespeedlimitgraduallyslippedbackuptoitspreviouslethallevel.Ifithadrisentoofast,somebodymighthavenoticedthechange.

Thesuddenchange in thespeed limitbrought themisfitofhighwayspeedandsafetytotheforegroundofeverybody'sconsciousness.Beforethischange,speedlimitshadbeencreepingupwardsforyears,alongwithaccidentrates,butfewpeoplewereawareof theassociationbetweenthem.In thesameway,anynew"solution"islikelytomakeitsusersmoreawarethantheoriginaldesignerof a faulty problemdefinition.But once the original unfamiliarity has passed,human adaptability makes the misfit invisible. Once again, we see howimportantistherule:DON'TLEAPTOCONCLUSIONS,

BUTDON'TIGNOREYOURFIRSTIMPRESSION.

Butwhat canwedo long after our first impressions have faded?Mustwealways call in outsiders—consultants or other "foreigners"—to give us thefreshness of view we no longer have? Although there's nothing wrong withconsultants(orsosayDonandJerry),wecanlearntechniquesforreducingourdependenceontheirservices.

Foronething,togetafreshpointofview,wecancalluponalmostanybodyas our "consultant." Try to avoid the "expert" consultant, for hemay be evenmoreadaptedtothestatusquothanweare.Tryaskingthemanandwomaninthe street what they think of a particular design or problem definition. Inexplainingourapproachtotheuninitiated,weforceourselvesintoafreshviewofthematter—andsoperceivenewmisfits.

Whenwe travel to foreign lands,we inevitablyexperience"new" thingsasstrangeandawkward.Themoneydoesn'tmakesense.Thestreetsignsareinthe

wrong places. The toilet paper is allwrong.An evenmore useful experience,though, is to accompany a foreign traveller through your own country, forthrough the foreigner's eyes youwill once again perceive the strangeness andawkwardnessofyourownculture.

Whydowesay"onceagainperceivethestrangeness..."?Becauseweonceperceived the strangeness as children—until adults hammered into our littleheads:"Thisisnotmerelytheonlypossibleworld;it'sthebestpossibleworld."

Show a Swiss visitor American paper money for the first time. You willinevitablyhear, "But they're all the same size?Howdoblindpeople tell themapart?"Your responsewillbeanembarrassedsilence, forunlessyouareblindyourself, you've never thought aboutmoney in that way.Never?Well, hardlyever.Not,atleast,sinceyouwereachild—butthenyourarelysawevenadollarbill,soitwasn'tmuchofaproblem.

The next response of the Swiss visitor will be, "And they're all the samecolor. Don't people make lots of mistakes in making change?" Again,embarrassed silence as you contemplate how many mistakes comprise a lot.Sure, you've had experiences of being shortchanged, or long-changed,when afivewasmistakenforaten.Untilthismoment,though,you'vealwaysacceptedthis rate ofmistakes as a "law of nature."With your new consciousness, youbegintonoticeall theadaptationsAmericansmaketocutdownthenumberofsucherrors.Forafewdays,everycashieryouencounterbecomesanobjectofheightened awareness—until you finally fade back into your old, comfortableoblivion.Forarealtreattoyourawareness,trypayingwithtwo-dollarbillsforafewdays.Ordollarcoins.Botharelegaltender.

Such experiences give us a clue how to proceed when trying to perceivemisfits:TESTYOURDEFINITIONONAFOREIGNER,

SOMEONEBLIND,ORACHILD,

ORMAKEYOURSELFFOREIGN,BLIND,ORCHILDLIKE.

Take someobject thatyouhandle everyday—ashoe, a shirt, a fork, a cardoor,atoothbrush,oranyoneofathousandothers.Setyourselftheexerciseof"seeing" it from the point of view of someone from another countrywho hasneverseenonebefore.Thentryusingitwithyoureyestightlyclosed—oryourears,ornose,asappropriate.Imaginethatyouareone-fourthyourpresentsize

and trying tohandle thisobject for the first time.Whathappens ifyoucannotread,oryourmanualdexterityisnotwelldeveloped?

Let'strytheexercisewithsomebook.Don'tevenconsiderthecontents,butonlythemechanicaldesign.Keeptryingdifferentpointsofviewuntilyoucomeupwithaminimumoftenitemsthatcausedyousomeinconvenienceatthetimeyou were reading—an inconvenience you simply accepted at the time. Forinstance,Doncameupwiththislistinafewminutes:1. Itwashard tokeep theplacewhenIputthebookdown.2.BecauseIcouldn'ttakejustpartofthebookwithme,IhadtocarrythewholebookevenwhenIknewI

woulduseonlypartofit.

3.Thebindingwastooheavyforhandling,buttoolightforlongtermwear.4.Itwouldn'tslayopenwithoutholdingitopen.

5.Thepagesrippedtooeasily.6.Someofthepageswerestucktogether.

7.Thepagesweretooglossy,sotheyreflectedanannoyingamountoflight.8.Becausethelinesonthepageweretoolong,Ioccasionallyreturnedtothesameline,orskippedaline.

9.Themarginsweretoonarrowformakingnotes.10.Withoutahandleofsomesort,thebookisdifficulttocarry.

Ifsuchanold,establishedsolutioncanhavesomanymisfits,whathopeisthere that our untested ideas will be perfect? Not much. We can be fairlyconfidentthatEACHNEWPOINTOFVIEWWILLPRODUCEANEWMISFIT.

Won'titbebettertogetthesepointsofviewbeforeproceedingtoimplementa"solution,"ratherthanleavingittoadisastertoraiseyourconsciousness?

Figure8.2.Eachnewpointofviewwillproduceanewmisfit.

Chapter9.Landingonthelevel

Problem1:Thefigureaboveshowsaveryfamiliarobject.Whatisit?Acircle?That'swhatmostpeoplesay,withouthesitation.Whycantheysolvethistiny

problemsoquickly—if in fact theyhave solved it—whenotherproblems takelifetimestosolve,ifsolvedatall?Inspiteofallthedifficultiesofgettingstarted—all theperplexitiesof theprecedingchapters—peopledosolve thisproblem,and thousands of others. Justwhenwewere beginning to believe no problemwouldeverbesolved!

WhenwesolveaproblemasfastasmostpeoplesolveProblem1,wemaynotnoticehowwedidit.Agoodwaytoexposetheprocessistoask,

HOWCOULDWECHANGETHEPROBLEMSTATEMENT

TOMAKETHESOLUTIONDIFFERENT?

Inthiscase,theproblemstatementwasabighelp.Why?Probablyitwastheword"familiar."Let'strythathypothesisbychangingtheproblemstatementtothis:

Problem2:Thefigureshowsanobject.Whatisit?Or,wecouldleavetheword"familiar,"butremovetheemphasissuppliedby

"very,"givingthis:Problem3:Thefigureshowsafamiliarobject.Whatisit?Anevenstrongertestwouldbetoreversethesenseofthecriticalword,asin

this:Problem4:Thefigureshowsaveryunfamiliarobject.Whatisit?

Theeffectof such "trivial" changes in theproblemstatement canbemadethesubjectofanamusingpartygame,orscientificexperiment.Variouspeopleorteams are given slightly different problem statements concerning the sameobject. In the party game, the answers are thenpresented to the entire throng,with everyone guessing what the others' problem statements were. In thescientific experiment, the responses can be analyzed to plumb the process bywhichpeopleestablish

WHATAMISOLVING?

Inourexperiments,theoverwhelmingmajorityofrespondentstoProblem1willsay"circle."Thepercentagedropswhentheword"very"isomitted,dropsfurther when the word "familiar" vanishes, and plummets to zero when theoriginal problem is altered by adding the two letters,UN. In the place of theconventionalanswer,wegetsuchrepliesas"ahole;""ahulahoop;""apencil,viewedfromtheeraserend;""thecross-sectionofanoblatespheroid;""acoinmadefromlutetium;""thecircularlensontheplanchetofaOuijaboard;""thecentralornamentonaHepplewhitesidechair;""partofthehoneycombofanon-conformistbee;"and"alandingpadforamidgethelicopter."

Ontheotherhand,agreatmanypeoplewillrefusetoventureanyanswertoProblem 4, though most will essay something for the other three. Whenquestioned about their non-reply,most participantswill say that they felt theirchancesof"solving"theproblemaresoslightit'snotworthriskinganerror.Wecantestthisanalysisbychangingtheproblemonceagain,tothis:

Problem5:Thefigureshowsaveryunfamiliarobject.Thinkofthemostfar-outthingitcouldbe.Withthisstatement,fewpeoplehavetroublecomingupwithsomeanswer.

Becauseweseemtobeaskingfortheiropinion,ratherthanthe"right"answer,much of the threat is removed,Everyone has an opinion—or almost everyonedoes—andeveryoneisanexpertinhisorherpersonalopinion.

Oncewe'verecognizedsomethingasaproblem,weusuallygiveitthe"onceover" in order to place it on a semantic level.When the final exam questionreads:

ExpressyourviewsonwhyHenrytheEighthkilledhiswives,andofthemethodsheusedfortheactualkillings.

thestudentmakesajudgmentthat"expressyourviews"isn'treallyaskingforanopinion,butforthe"right"answer.The"real"reasonsthatHenrytheEighthharboredinhistwistedbrainarereasonsonlyyourprofessorcanfathomwithcertainty.

Whereverpossible,weinitiallyplacetheprobleminthesemanticlevelthatlendsusthemostcomfort.Ifwethinkourprofessorisableeding-heartliberal,and if we slept through his lecture on Henry the Eighth, we might be mostcomfortable pretending the question really does ask for our opinion.Later on,we'll takeourchancesarguing that it's theprofessor's fault fornotbeingmorecarefulwithhiswording.Ifhe'sahard-nosedtraditionalist,however,wewon'tpussyfoot with such semantic quibbling. The "most comfortable" level willtranslatethequestionintothemeaning:

WhatdidIsayinthelectureaboutwhyHenrytheEighthkilledhiswives,andaboutthemethodsheusedfortheactualkillings.

Figure9.2.WhatdidIsay?"Comfort," in this sense, may come because we know how to solve that

particular level of problem. It may derive from knowing the source of theproblem,thecontextoftheproblem,orfromamuchmoresubtlefeelingaboutthe nature of the problem—a feeling we can't quite articulate, but which weknowis"right."

InProblem1,theword"familiar"ruledoutoblatespheroidsformostofus,andthequalityofthedrawingruledoutsuchthingsashulahoops—thuslandingtheprobleminthelevelof"simplegeometry."InProblem4,thechancethatwecouldn'tsolvetheproblemonthatlevelmovedsomepeopletobizarrelevelsof

complexity.Yet the sameproblem threwothers into such a state they couldn'testablishasemanticlevelatall.

HadthisproblemappearedinDickandJane'sGoldenBookofPuzzles,wemight have been led to the semantic level of "toys"—thus the hula hoop, thespokelessbicycle tire,or thehole inaTinkertoywheel.Appearingas itdid inthislearned,sophisticatedproblemdefinitionbook—abookthathaspromisedtobe filled with traps for the unwary—the problem acquired an unbelievablyintricate context for establishing the semantic level. Few readers would haveconsidereditaprobleminsimplegeometry.Thatwouldhavebeentooobvious.But,then,thatwouldhavebeenatrapfortheunwary,wouldn'tit?

PostscriptOh, by the way, if you're now convinced that the figure is a circular

representation subject to countless interpretations, try comparing it with some"true" circle. Does this comparison alter your conclusions?Does itmake youappreciatetheimportantprinciple:

ASYOUWANDERALONGTHEWEARYPATH

OFPROBLEMDEFINITION,CHECKBACKHOME

ONCEINAWHILETOSEEIFYOUHAVEN'TLOSTYOURWAY.

Figure9.3.Checktosee ifyouhaven't lostyourway.(Thenon-conformistbee.)

Chapter10.Mindyourmeaning

Figure10.1.Nothingistoogoodforourcustomers."Nothingistoogoodforourcustomers."Sosaysthesigninthewindow,but

whatdoesitmean?Isit"Thereisnothingintheworldthatistoogoodforourcustomers."

Ordoesitmean:"Givingthemnothingwouldbegivingthemsomethingtoogoodforthem."Isthisasillyplayonwords?Doesn'teveryoneknowwhatthesignmeans?

Notlikely.Notifourexperiencewithproblemstatementsisanyclue.Timeandagain we've seen well-intentioned problem resolvers trip over words like"nothing," "may," "all," and "or" in what seemed a perfectly clear writtenstatementofaproblem.

Inschool,ofcourse,we'velearnedthatgivingproblemswithtrickywordingis "unfair"—just another way in which the school fails to prepare us for theunfair world outside its ivy-covered walls. Any computer programmer cansupplyadozenexamplesofamisunderstoodword,amisplacedcomma,oranambiguous syntax that cost someone $10,000, $100,000, $1,000,000, or justaboutanypriceyoucaretoname.

Inonecase,theprogram'sspecificationread,inpart,"TheexceptioninformationwillbeintheXYZfile,too."Theprogrammertookthistomean,"AnotherplacetheexceptioninformationappearsistheXYZfile."He assumed, therefore, that the exception information was duplicated

somewhereelse,sohesawnoneedforhisprogramtopreserveit.Actually,thewriterhadmeant,"Another typeof information thatappears in theXYZfile is theexception

information."Nothingwasimpliedaboutthisinformationbeingduplicatedelsewhere,and,

indeed,itwasn'tduplicated.Asaresult,valuableandunrecoverableinformationwaslost.Beforethedifferinginterpretationswerediscovered,thecostofthelostinformation had mounted to—about $500,000—rather a large bill for onecarelesslyplaced"too."

Whenhalfamilliondollarsfliesoutthewindow,headsmustsurelyroll.Butwho should be decapitated? The writer? The programmer? Most Englishteachers would behead the writer. Problem resolution teachers would put theprogrammer's neck on the chopping block. Isn't there someone out therewhofavorsabloodlessapproach?

We could preach to the writers about the need for clear, understandableproblemstatementsuntiltheydrowninanoceanofblah-blah.Wecouldexhortproblemresolverstoreadmorecarefully,andtheycouldgoblindtrying.Ifpastexperienceisanyguide,noneofthiswouldhelpmuch.Nomatterhowsincerepeopleare,merequantityofeffortisnotsufficient.Youwon'teverbesurethateveryonepresenthasthesameunderstandingofthesamewords.

Weneedasocialprocess that tends toget thewordsoff thepaperandintotheir heads. One such process is word play: ONCE YOU HAVE A PROBLEMSTATEMENTINWORDS,

PLAYWITHTHEWORDSUNTIL

THESTATEMENTISINEVERYONE'SHEAD.

Almostanymethodofplaywill throwsome lighton theproblem,perhapsrevealingadifference inunderstanding.Consider the simple statementof fact:Maryhadalittlelamb.

Whatcouldbemoreclear—untilwetrysomewordgames.Forinstance,tryplacingemphasisononewordafteranother,givingMaryhadalittlelamb,(asopposed toJohnhavingone)Maryhad a little lamb, (but doesn'thave it anymore)Maryhadalittlelamb,(notseveral,asothershad)Maryhadalittlelamb,(not abig one, as you thought)Mary had a little lamb, (thatdog belonged toHenry)You can even stress thewords in pairs, triplets, fours, and fives, eachcombination of which gives a different meaning to the "simple" statement offact.

Ortrythedictionaryapproach.Foreachwordinthesentence,makealistofthe dictionary's meanings, then try to apply each of those meanings to theoriginalsentence.

Most often, in the dictionary game, it's the little words that make thedifference.Take, for example,HAD. InourAmericanHeritageDictionary ofthe English Language, we discover that "had" is "the past tense and pastparticipleofhave."Already there is cause forgrammatical ambiguity,but let'sflipforwardtopage604,wherewefindnofewerthan31definitionsof"have".Fewice-creamparlorshavemoreflavorsthanthat!

Thefirstdefinitionfitsourpreconceptionofthesentence:1.Tobeinpossessionof,asone'sproperty;own.

Thesecond,however,givesuspause:2.Toberelatedorinaparticularrelationshipto:havethreechildren.

Thismeaningisthesourceofanancientjoke:Maryhadalittlelamb.Theeventmademedicalhistory.

Aswescanthelist,wecancreateourownjokes,orinterpretations,forthefollowingselecteddefinitions:4.Toholdinone'smind;entertain:havedoubts.6.Tobribeorbuyoff.

7.Toengagetheattentionof;captivate.8.Towinavictoryover;todown.

9.Tocheat,deceive,ortrick.10.Topossesssexually.

12.Toacceptortake:I'llhavethegrayjacket.13.Topartakeof;consume,asbyeatingordrinking.

Figure10.2.MaryHadalittlelamb,thegritswerewhiteassnow.Trytherestyourself.Alsotry"little,"and"lamb."Anddon'tneglect"a"and

"Mary"andyournextproblemstatement.Wordgamesareusuallycheaperthanunwantedsolutions.Itbehoovesusto

carry a full quiver of word games to shoot at would-be problem definitions.Here'salistofsomeothergameswe'veplayed,eachofwhichhasatonetimeoranothersavedsomeone$1,000,000ormore—theGoldenListofWordGames:1.Varythestresspattern(asintheaboveexample).2.Changepositivestonegativesandviceversa.

3.ChangeMAYtoMUST,andMUSTtoMAY.4.ChangeORtoEITHEROR,andviceversa.

5.ChangeANDtoOR,andviceversa.6.Chooseatermthatisdefinedexplicitlyandsubstitutetheexplicitdefinitionineachplacetheterm

appears.7.ForeachETC.,ANDSOFORTH,ANDSOON,etc.,addonemoreexplicitexampletothelist.(Tryit

withthisrule.}8.Searchforpersuasivewordsorphrases,suchasOBVIOUSLY,THEREFORE,CLEARLY,or

CERTAINLY.Replaceeachsuchwordorphrasewiththeargumentitissupposedtobereplacing.

9.Trytodrawapictureofwhatsomesentenceorparagraphissaying.10.Expressthewordsintheformofanequation.

11.Expresstheequationintheformofwords.12.Trytoexpressinwordswhatsomepictureistryingtosay.

13.ReplaceYOUwithWE.14.ReplaceWEwithYOU.

15.ReplaceWEandYOUwithBOTHPARTIES.16.ReplaceAwithTHEandTHEwithA.

17.ReplaceSOMEwithEVERY.18.ReplaceEVERYwithSOME.

19.ReplaceALWAYSwithSOMETIME.20.ReplaceSOMETIMEwithNEVER.

Practice these games on familiarmaterial. Try, for instance, that immortalline:WHERETHESKIESARENOTCLOUDYALLDAY.

Thentackleyourcurrentproblemdefinitionstatement.You'llsoonseewhatan important weapon a game can be, so you'll want to add at least 20 moregamestoyourpersonalquiver.

If that number sounds unreasonable, startwith the dictionary game,whichwe'llgiveyoufornothing.Infact,applythedictionarygametothelistofgames.Before long, you'll be well on your way to becoming the William Tell ofProblemDefinition.

PART4:

Whoseproblemisit?

Chapter11.Smokegetsinyoureyes

A class of 11 students and their brilliant teacher meet every Wednesdayafternoon for three hours to discuss problem resolution. Much to theirconsternation, they discover that although 11 out of the 12 participants don'tsmokeatall,thetwelfthishookedoncigars.

The classroom is small and not well ventilated. The cigars are cheap andventilatedalltoowell.Afterthefirsthourofthefirstclass,ahazehasdescendedintothebreathingspaceofallbuttheshorteststudents.Severalofthetalleronesarealreadyshowingagrayish-greencomplexion,but the smokerpuffsblissfulclouds of odoriferous gas into the haze, absolutely unaware of any kind ofproblem.Itisapparenttotheteacher,problemresolverthatheis,thatthereisaproblem—orsoonwillbeone.

Figure11.1.Thesmoke-filledroom.Before reading further, consider the case described above and choose an

answertothefollowingquestion:

WHOSEPROBLEMISIT?(a)thetennonsmokingstudents(b)thesmoker

(c)theteacher(d)thedeanoftheschool(e)thecollegepresident(f)noneoftheabove(g)alloftheabove(includingf)

Intheactualcase,theteacher(c)hardlyknewtherewasaproblembecausehehadpassedhisformativeyearsinthehazeofacigar-smokingfather.Hewasfullyaccustomedtofoulodorsintheair,andalmostfeltthatthisfilthyhabitwasperfectlynormal.Thedeanandpresident,asusual,werecompletelyoutof thepicturewhen itcame tosolvingproblems, so,by theprocessofelimination, ithadtobeeitherthesmoker(b)orthenonsmokers(a).

Atthesecondclassmeeting,theteacherarrivedtenminuteslate.Becausehehad a high rank, the students were forced to wait for him. Seizing theopportunity,oneofthenonsmokersbegantoconductaproblem-solvingmeetingonthesubjectofairpollutionintheclassroom.Bythetimetheteacherarrived,themeeting was in full swing. Even the smoker was cheerfully participating.Perhaps because this was a class in creative problem resolution, the teacherwiselyallowedthemeetingtocontinue.Besides,hewasoutnumbered.

Alistofpossibilitiesevolvedontheblackboard,includingsuchthingsas(1)Allclassmemberswouldcallthesmokeratworkontheafternoonbeforeclassandremindhimnotto

bringcigars.

(2)Aparticularclassmembergiventoearlymorningactivitieswouldphonethesmokerat4:30ambeforetheclasstoaskwhyhehadsmokedduringthepreviousclass.

(3)Theywouldlettheairoutofthesmoker'stires—onetireforeachcigar.Itwouldbeaneyeforaneye

andanairforanair...

It took about an hour and a thousand laughs for the smoker to get themessage—butinawaythatdidn'toffendhimorputhiminthedefensive.

The leader then asked the smoker to suggestwhich of the ideas hewouldfind acceptable, orwhich idea could bemodified tomake it acceptable. Veryquickly—almostspontaneously—hesaidhewouldbehappytogiveupsmokingin theclass infavorofother lesssociallyannoying(andmaybeevenpleasant)indulgences.Inkeepingwiththecreativitythemeoftheclass,heaskedthateachstudent, each week, create something to nibble on that would be even moreorallygratifyingthancigars—orat leastmoreinteresting—andwhichcouldbesharedbytherestoftheclass.

Thesuggestionwascheerfullyimplementedbyall.Thecigarsmokingendedforthwith, followed by thousands of calories of surprising eating—camomilecookies, carrot cake, barbecued chicken-wing pizza, green tomato pie, doublechocolatefudgewithalfalfasprouts, just tonameafew.Theclassfinishedthesemesterintact.Incorpulentbliss.

It'sinstructivetoimaginewhattheoutcomemighthavebeenhadtheteacherdecidedthat theanswerwas(c)—that itwashisproblem.Hemighthavedonesuchthingsas(1)Mandatethattherewouldbenosmoking,forcingthesmokertodroptheclassorgrindhisteeth.

(2)Mandatethattherewouldbesmoking,forcingsomenonsmokerstoleavetheclassorlosetheirlunch.(3)Mandatealternatesmokingandnonsmokingclassdays,orhours,forcingeverybodytobeunhappy

aboutthesituation.

Insteadofmandatinganything,hewiselyfollowedoneofhisownpreceptsofproblemsolving:

DON'TSOLVEOTHERPEOPLE'SPROBLEMSWHENTHEYCANSOLVETHEMPERFECTLYWELLTHEMSELVES.

Not only did the interested parties know and feel much more about the

problem, but after creating "their" solution, they were ego-involved in seeingthatitwascarriedout.Thetimetheyhadinvested—90minutesoutofa45-hoursemester—gavethemanotherreasonforwantingtheideatosucceed.

Besides,had the teacher issuedexactly the samesuggestionexcathedra, itprobablywouldn'thavebeenaccepted,or,ifaccepted,notreallycarriedoutwithenthusiasm. One of our friends, an absent-minded professor of the first rank,

frequentlydiscovers,afteramealinanelegantrestaurant,thathehasforgottenhismoney.Uponsuchanoccasion,hemerelysmilesattheproprietorandsays,"Wehaveaproblem."Canyouimaginewhatwouldhappenifhesaid,"Youhaveaproblem."?Oreven,"Ihaveaproblem."?

IFIT'STHEIRPROBLEM,MAKEITTHEIRPROBLEM.

Figure11.2.Wehaveaproblem

Chapter12.Thecampusthatwasallspacedout

A newly established campus of a large state university seems to have aproblem thathasexistedever since theLordcreatedautomobiles-parking.Thecampusstartedoutwithasurplusofparkinglots—indeed,itwasprettymuchallparking lots.As if to solve the problemof excess parking lots, newbuildingswere ingeniously constructed over them, one after another. While thisoverbuildingwastakingplace,thestudentbodytripled,thefacultydoubled,andtheadministrationquintupled.Parkingthusbecame"aproblem."

Inamove to returnpower to thepeople (whereweallknowitbelongs,aslong as we're part of the people), the Student-Faculty Senate eliminated allreserved parking except for disabled persons and, of course, the UniversityPresident.Thoughtherewerestillsufficientparkinglocationsforanyonecomingtocampus,mostwerefromone-halftoonekilometerfromofficeandclassroombuildings.

Anotherpieceofpossiblyrelevantinformationistheweather,whichisratherfrequentlyinclement.Indeed,ithasbeenwellandtrulysaidthatthiscampushasbutthreeseasons—snow,mud,anddust.

Beforereadingfurtheraboutthiscase,trytoanswerthefollowingquestion

WHOSEPROBLEMISIT?(a)thestudents(b)thefaculty(c)theUniversityPresident(d)thestatelegislature(e)thegovernor(f)noneoftheabove

(g)alloftheabove

By thoughtful elimination,wecandetermine that (d) and (e) arenever thecorrectanswers,(c)mightbecorrect,buttheUniversityPresidenthasareservedspace,sohecannotbeexpected toget tooupsetover thesituation.Hehas thepowerofdecision,all right, forhecananddoesoverride the so-called faculty"Senate" whenever they actually try to do anything important. But he neverpersonally experiences the parking problem, so why should he think it isimportant?

We've already seen howmany problems in our society stem from systemsdesigners and decision makers who don't experience the problems they're"responsible" for. The police commissioner of Gotham City has a chauffeur-driven limousine to cart him around town. What does traffic congestion ormuggingmeantohim?TheautomotivedesignersatMammothMotorsgetanewBehemothIVeverytimetheoldashtraysfillup.Whatdomaintenancecostsandtroublesmeantothem?

The workers in Brontosaurus Tower had hit upon an approach to thissituationintryingtoarousetheirlandlord.Theprincipleissimplythis:

IFAPERSONISINAPOSITIONTODOSOMETHING

ABOUTAPROBLEM,

BUTDOESN'THAVETHEPROBLEM,

THENDOSOMETHINGSOHEDOES.

ApplyingthisprincipletothecampusPresident,thestudentsbeganparkingin his reserved space. Such cars were naturally ticketed and fined, but thestudentspaidthefinescollectively,sothecostperpersonwasminuscule.

Unfortunately, thePresidentdidn't take this communal action in theproperspirit.Heletitbeknownthroughofficialchannelsthatanystudentparkinginhisspacewouldbesummarilydismissedfrom,school.Thisautocraticactionsolvedhisproblembymakingitnottheirproblembut,rather,oneperson'sproblematatime."Divideandconquer"isquitetheoppositeofthe"OURproblem"approach

—and thus provides a most useful technique for those who would preventproblem resolution. It is the favorite trick of University Presidents and othertyrants.

THE RESPONSE TO THE PRESIDENT'S ESCALATION TOOKSEVERALWEEKSTODEVELOP...

Figure13.1.Oneresponsetothepresident'sescalation.University students like a challenge. The response to the President's

escalation took severalweeks to develop, but one day the President's carwasfoundtoberestinguponfourflattires.Theuniversitypoliceweredelegatedtofill the tires, but the next day the tireswere not only flat, but slashed beyondrepair.A24-hourguardwasplacedonthePresident'scar,butthisoccupiedtheonly full-time parking patrolman. Knowing that there was no more ticketing;peoplestartedparkinganywhere—onlawns,indriveways,eveninhandicappedspaces.

Aboutthistime,someofthefacultymembersdecidedtoexerciseanewanddifferentproblem-solvingtechnique—"thinkingtheunthinkable."Inresponseto"Whose problem is it?" They answered in the first person singular: "It's myproblem."

"MY problem" is not at all the opposite of "OUR problem." Like thatapproach,itremindsusofpossibilitieswemightotherwiseoverlookinourhastetoestablishblame insomeotherquarter. If, for instance,wekeepblaming the"pollution problem" on the "government" or on "big business" or on "peoplewho don't care," we can do little besides writing letters to congresspeople ornewspapers.But ifwe can swallowour pride for just an instant and view theproblem as though it were ours alone, wemight actually get something doneabout"pollution."

When the professors looked at the parking problem in terms of "It's myproblem," the problem changed from "There aren't enough parking places" tosuchthingsas(1)I'mtoolazytowalkveryfar.

(2)Idon'tcomeinearlyenoughtogetoneofthefewgoodplaces,becauseIliketosleeptoolate.

(3)I'mnotlookingforinterestingthingsalongthewalk.

(4)Iwouldn'tneedtoparkabicycle,ifIweremorefit.(5)I'mtoointerestedinbeingcomfortableinbadweather.

(6)I'mafraidofwalkinginthedark.(7)IneedcompanionshipwhenIgoforlongwalks.

(8)Idon'twanttoexpendverymuch,ifany,energy.(9)I'mafraidoffallingdownontheice.

(10)I'llbelateforclassesifIhavetowalktoofar.

Mostof thesethoughtsleadtotheideaofriddingourselvesoftheproblemby seeing it as a phantom problem and then changing our perceptions of thesituation.

Somefacultymemberswereabletodecidethatexercisewouldbegoodforthem, which they all knew anyway. Why not combine getting to work withexercise, rather than looking at thework and the exercise separately—rushinghometogotothetennisclub?

Armed with this rationalization, these brilliant professors were able tochange theproblemfrom"HowcanIget thenearestparkingspace?" to"Howcan I get the farthest parking space?"—and, voila, the problem vanished. Bywearing hiking clothes whenever the weather threatened, they overcame theirfear of discomfort. Indeed, comfort generallywas increased—not just comingfrom the parking lot—because hiking clothes are designed for comfort ratherthanforintimidatingstudentswiththeirprofessoriallooks.

By taking new routes and looking for new things, theymade thewalkingeversomuchmoreenjoyable.Oneprofessorworeapedometertomeasuredaily

"kilometrage"—therebydevelopinghisinstinctsforthemetricsystem.Anotheraddedtohisexercisebybendingandstoopingtopickuplitteralongtheway—aminimumof tenpiecesper trip—therebydoingsomethingabout"pollution"atthesametimeasheflattenedhisflabbybelly.

Figure12.2.Theproblemevaporated.Lookingbackon thecountlesshoursof frustratedsearching, speeding,and

swearingforthenearestparkingspace,theywonderedwhytheyhadn'tresolvedtheproblemsooner.Theyrealizedthatoncetheyfollowedasimplerule:

TRYBLAMINGYOURSELFFORACHANGE—EVENFORAMOMENT.

In truth,wecan'thonestlysay that theproblemwassolved for themasses.Yearslater,westillseealotofred,angryfacescirclingthecampusandburningscarce fossil fuel inquestof theperfect spot. Indeed, if the truthbe told,veryfew people actually adopted this approach to solution—so few, in fact, thatthere'sonlyoneortwobatteredol'carssittingin"OuterMongolia"—thefarthestreachesoftheparkinglot.Butatleastit'sbeenresolvedforoneortwobatteredol'problemsolvers.

Chapter13.Thelightsattheendofthetunnel.

AlongautotunnelthroughthemountainsaboveLakeGenevahasjustbeencompleted. Just before the opening, the chief engineer remembers she hasforgotten to warn motorists to turn on their lights before entering the tunnel.Even though the tunnel iswell illuminated, themotoristsmust be prepared topreventacatastropheintheeventofapowerfailure—aplausibleeventualityinthemountains.

Asignismadesaying:WARNING:TUNNELAHEADPLEASETURNYOURHEADLIGHTSON.

Thetunnel,withthesignwellaheadoftheentrance,isopenedonschedule,andeveryonerelaxes,nowthattheproblemissolved.

About400meterspasttheEasternendofthetunnelstandstheworld'smostscenic rest stop,witha sweepingview fromhighabove the lake.Hundredsoftourists stop there each day to enjoy the view, perform important bodilyfunctions,andperhapspartakeofasmallbuttastypiquenique.

Figure13.1.TouristsintheAlpstakingapiqueniqueafterpassingthetunnel.Andeveryday,tenormoreofthosehundredsreturntotheircars,refreshed

inbodyandsoul,onlytofindadeadbatteryfromhavinglefttheirlightson!The

gendarmesare tyingupmostof their resourcesgetting themstartedorhaulingthemaway.TouristsarecomplainingandswearingtotelltheirfriendsnottovisitSwitzerland.

Asusual,weaskyoutopauseandaskyourself:

WHOSEPROBLEMISIT?(a)thedrivers(b)thepassengers(ifany)(c)thechiefengineer(d)thegendarmes(e)thepresidentofthecanton(f)theautomobileclubs(g)noneoftheabove(h)alloftheabove

Thestrongtendencyinthistypeofproblem—withanexplicit"designer"or"engineer"—is to consider her problem. Not only do the drivers in this caseconsider it the engineer's problem, but the engineer probably does too. It's acommon impressionamongarchitects,engineers,andotherdesigners that theymusttakecareofeverything.

Inthisinstance,theengineerconsideredvarioussolutionsshecouldimposeuponthedriversandtheirpassengers.(1)Shecouldputasignattheendofthetunnelsaying,TURNOFFYOURLIGHTSbutthenpeoplewould

turnofftheirlightsatnight...

(2)Shecouldignorethesituationandletpeople...No,thatwasalreadyhappening,andthegovernmentofficialsthinktheengineerhasdonealousyjob.

(3)Shecouldputabattery-chargingstationatthescenicoverlook.Butthatwouldbeexpensivetomaintain,

andwouldmakepeopleevenmorefuriousifitdidn'twork.

(4)Shecouldgivetherechargingstationfranchisetoaprivatefirm.Butthatwouldcommercializetheoverlookandbeunacceptabletothegovernmentandthetourists.

(5)Shecouldputamoreexplicitsignattheendofthetunnel.

The engineer felt intuitively there should be some way to write a moreexplicitsign.SheworkedonseveralalternativesandeventuallycameupwithamasterpieceofSwissprecision:IFITISDAYLIGHT,ANDIFYOURLIGHTSAREON,TURNOFFYOURLIGHTS;IFITISDARK,ANDIFYOURLIGHTSAREOFF,TURNYOURLIGHTSON;IFITISDAYLIGHT,ANDIFYOURLIGHTSAREOFF,LEAVEYOURLIGHTSOFF;IFITISDARK,ANDIFYOURLIGHTSAREON,LEAVEYOURLIGHTSON.

Bythetimeanybodyhadfinishedreadingthissign(inthreelanguages),hiscarwouldbeover theguardrail andgurgling to thebottomof the lake,whichwouldnotbeanacceptablesolutionatall.Besides,whataboutfunerals?Theremustbeabetterway!

Insteadofallthiscomplication,thechiefengineertooktheapproachof"It'sTHEIR problem"—but it was her problem to assist them. She assumed thedrivershadastrongmotivationtosolvetheproblem,buttheymightneedalittlereminding.Shealsoassumed thedrivers—if theywere tobe: licensedatall—couldn't be complete dummies. All they needed was a sign at the end of thetunnel:

Figure13.2.AREYOURLIGHTSON?Iftheyweren'tsmartenoughtodealwiththat,deadbatteriesweretheleast

oftheirproblems.Thissigneliminated theproblem,and themessagewasshortenough tobe

put on the sign in several languages. The engineer always remembered herlessonfromthissituation:

IFPEOPLEREALLYHAVETHEIRLIGHTSON,

ALITTLEREMINDERMAYBEMOREEFFECTIVE

THANYOURCOMPLICATEDSOLUTION.

Areyourlightson?

PART5:

Wheredoesitcomefrom?

Chapter14.JanetJaworskijogglesajerk.

During a thaw in the Cold War, Janet Jaworski decided to use her life'ssavings foravisit tohergrandmother inPoland.Stepbystep shewendedherwaythroughtheforestofpaperworkneededtogetavisa—fiveseparateforms,threedifferenttripstoanotarypublicinterspersedwithwaitingperiodsoffrom3daysto6weeks,fourlongdistancecallsatherexpense,nineletters,andtwotranslator's fees. Several times, Janet almost gave up. But she knew hergrandmotherwas84yearsold.ThefineoldladymightnotlivelongenoughforJanettomeetheriftheprocesshadtobestartedoverfromscratch.

Finally,visainhand,sheflewtoZurich,thenontoWarsaw.Afterstandinginthreedifferentlinestohaveherpapersinspected,shefoundherselfshuntedtothegrayofficeofagray-skinnedbureaucratinagraysuitexactlymatchingtherestofthedecor.Forwhatseemedlikefiveminutes,hefingeredthroughsomefiles inhisdraweras ifhehadnot seenherenter the room.Then,as if struckwithaninspiration,heturnedtothepaperswhichhadbeenlaidonhisdeskbythe attendant.After several rather disapprovingglances at her visa photos andherfaceheasked,"Mrs.Jaworski?"

Figure14.1.Agraybureaucratwearingagraysuitinagrayoffice."Miss Jaworski," Janet replied with all the politeness and friendliness she

couldmuster.

Mr. Grayface cleared his throat as if to register his moral feelings aboutunmarried ladies travelingunescorted.He thenscannedherpapers lineby linewithhisindexfinger."Oh,yes,MissJaworski."Hepushedhischairbackafewinchesandplacedhispalmsontheedgeofhisdesk."JustwhatisthepurposeofyourvisittoPoland,MissJaworski?"

"I'vecometovisitmygrandmotherinOstroda.Itsaysthereonthatform.""Yes,IseethatMissJaworski.However,sinceyourpapersarenotinorder,I

wantedtoconfirmthattherewasnomistake."Janet's fingertips began to tingle. If the feeling moved up her arms, she

wouldbeinfullpanic."Notinorder?What'snotinorder?""Asyoucanplainlysee,"hegesturedwithhisopenhand,releasingtheedge

ofthedeskforjustaninstant,"therearesupposedtobeeightnotarizedcopiesofeachpage.And,"hegesturedwiththeotherhand,"therearejustasplainlyonlyseven."

Mr.Grayfacenow returnedbothpalms to the edgeof thedesk and leanedbackafewcentimetersasiftosuggestthatthenextmovewasuptoJanet.Sheforcedthetinglebackdownfromherwriststoherknuckles.Sheknewshehadaproblem—oneshewouldneversolveinapanic.HavingbeenbroughtupintheUnited States, Janet wasn't familiar with Polish bureaucrats. Though shesuspected therewasahighercultureencompassingall theworld'sbureaucrats,sheknewthatwasjustaguess.

She desperately needed some time to think about her problem and to getmoreinformation,soshesaidascalmlyasshecould,"Mygoodness,whatcanhavehappened to theotherone. Iknow itwas therewhen I received thevisa.Perhapsitisstillinmyluggage,orcouldyourassistanthavelostitonthewayoverhere?"

Mr.GrayfacesnappedsomeinstructionsinPolishtotheattendant,whowaslingeringbythedoor.Janethadn'tnoticedtheattendant,butnowsherealizedhispresencewasapotentialcluetothesourceofherproblem.Mr.Grayfacemighthavebeenseekingabribe,buthardlywouldhavedonesowiththeattendantintheroom.Ofcourse,theattendantmightnothavespokenEnglish,morethanthefewwordstheyhadexchanged.Perhapshewasinonthebribery,butallthingsconsidered, it now seemed less likely that the problem came from that angle.Well,Janetthought,justwheredidtheproblemcomefrom?

Underthecircumstances,itwastemptingtoputtheentireproblemdownto"bureaucracy,"which is anotherway of shrugging your shoulders and saying,"That'sjustthewaythingsare.It'snature,orhumannature,andthere'snothing

tobedoneaboutit."Problemsthatcomefrom"Nature"aretheworstkind,fortworeasons.First,

we feel helpless to do anything about a problem that seems to come from soremote a source. Indeed,weoften ascribe a problem toNature so as to evaderesponsibilityfordoinganythingaboutit."It'sonlyhumannaturetoovereat,tocravewhatyoucan'thave,andtopadyourexpenseaccount."

The second reason is Nature's indifference. Whenever we can impute aproblemtoahumansource,ortoarealobjectoraction,wehaveatoeholdonapossible solution. By getting at the source, or understanding the source'smotivationforcreatingtheproblem,wemayobliteratetheproblemorseewhatwillalleviateit.ButNature,byherverynature,hasnomotivation.AsEinsteinsaid,"Natureiscrafty,butnotmalicious."Becausesheisentirelyindifferenttousandourproblems,shegivesusthetoughestproblemsofall.

Janet,facedwithhervisaproblem,recognizedherinclinationtoimputethewhole mess to "bureaucracy." Had she yielded to that temptation, she wouldhave been placing her entire trip—her life's savings—in the hand of "Fate,"which is another name for "Nature"—the world's number one excuse forinactivity.Unwilling toaccept suchamagnificent risk, Janetposed thecrucialquestion:

WHEREDOESTHISPROBLEMCOMEFROM?

With this starting point, shewas able to construct a variety of candidates,suchas(1)Theattendantactuallyhadlosttheeighthcopy.

(2)Sheactuallymisplacedit,orneverhadit.(3)Mr.Grayfacewasanincompetentbureaucrat.

(4)Mr.Grayfacewasacompetentbureaucrat,butwithsomeothergoalthantogetherintoPolandtoseehergrandmother.

(5)Mr.Grayfacedidn'thavetheauthoritytodoanythingaboutsuchanexception,sotheproblemcame

fromhissuperior,atsomelevel.

Janet could see that the list might grow even longer, but at least she'dremovedtheproblemfromtherealmofthe"natural"andplaceditintherealmofconstructivethought,andpossibledecisiveaction.

Chapter15.MisterMatczyszynmendsthematter.

Inthemodernurbanworld,werarelyfaceNatureintheraw.Wecanpasstheentireworkingdaywithoutknowing,muchlesscaring,whetherornotthesunisshining.Fortheurbanworkers,thebureaucracyitselfisNature.Theycanhardlypass an hour without knowing and caring whether or not the Big Boss isradiatinghissmilingcountenanceupontheorganization.

Under such circumstances, it is all too easy to begin thinking of thebureaucracyasa"natural"phenomenonlikesunshinewarmingthecoolsand,orlikemaggotsdevouringarottingfish.Yetbureaucraciesalwaysbeginwithsomeprocessofselection—aprocesswhichisneverquite"natural"selection.

Recently,we'vebeengiventhePeterPrinciple,whichsays thatbureaucratsrise in an organization until they reach their level of incompetence. Morerecently, we've received the Paul Principle, which says that in modernorganizations,thedifficultyofthejobrisesuntilitleaveseachbureaucratsittingabovehislevelofcompetence.Thoughtheseselectionprocessesexist,theyarebutafewofthemanythatact toplaceparticularpeopleonparticularrungsoftheladderoforganizationalpower.

Observerssinceantiquityhavenotedtheseprocessesatwork,alwayswithaslightornot-so-slightmoraltonetotheobservation.AgoodexampleisRobertBurns' poem, "TheDean of theFaculty," inwhich he recounts the process bywhich,thenasnow,theluminariesoftheuniversityarechosenbytheirpeers.Inonestanza,Burnsmoralizesatthefaculty:

Withyourhonours,aswithacertainking,Inyourservantsthisisstriking.Themoreincapacitytheybring,Themorethey'retoyourliking.

Inotherwords,ifthecandidatelacksthecapacityforthejob,hewillbeallthemorebeholdentothosewhoappointedhim.

WhilethisthoughtmightnothavecomfortedJanet,itdidgiveheraclueaboutwheretostart.Thebureaucraticrobotsittingsilentlyacrossthedeskwaitingforthebaggagetobedeliveredhadnodoubtbeenchosenforincompetence—likeuniversitydeans,bankvice-presidents,andothermiddle-levelbureaucrats.Heisbothbeholdentothebossesforhisjobandpresentsnochallengewhatsoevertotheirjobs.

"Canitbepossible,"Janetconsidered,"thatMr.Grayfaceisactuallyincapableofdealingwithsuchatrivialproblemasamissingcopy?Inthatcase,Ishallhavetogooverhishead."

"But perhaps the problem lies with his superior?" she thought. Janetunderstood that another selection process might be at work—superiors selectsubordinateswhocankeeptheclientsfrommovingupthechainofcommand.Ifa subordinate cannot stop the clients, then the superior will have to interruptwhatever it is he does, in order to deal with the problem personally. "In thatcase,"Janetreasoned,"Mr.Grayfacehasbeenspecificallychosenforhisabilitytobesomewhatdenseandintractable."

YetMr.Grayfacewas also a bit discourteous, at least to Janet'sAmericanviewofcourtesy."Ifabureaucratactswithdiscourtesy,itmaybewiseformetoextendmyquestionfurther:

WHEREDOESTHEDISCOURTESYCOMEFROM?HecouldbetryingtofrightenmesoIwon'tgooverhishead.Ontheotherhand,he'stakingtheriskthatImighttakeoffenseandinsistonreportinghisdiscourtesytohissuperior."

Janetrecalledreadingsomewherethatmostfunctionariesbecomeannoyed—andthusdiscourteous—whentheylacktheauthoritytomakesuchmomentousdecisionsasallowingyourvisatopasswithameresevencopies.Theyarediscourteousbecauseyouhaveremindedthemoftheirservilepositioninlife—theirinabilitytomeetyourquitereasonablerequest.

Janet thought about going over Mr. Grayface's head. At this point in herthinking,itseemedthatregardlessofthesourceoftheproblem,itwouldbebestto attempt getting to a higher level. Shewould just smile politely, then firmlyrequesttoseethenextpersonuptheline.ThisapproachcouldgetheradmittedtoPoland forthwith—because ofMr.Grayface's fear of disturbing the boss. Ifnot, it would eventually get her into the country once she reached the personactually in charge, apersonwho isn't necessarilypoliteor stupid.Because theeighthcopycouldn'tpossiblymakeadifferencethatacopyingmachinecouldn'tcure,Janetfiguredherproblemwouldbesolvedassoonasshecouldreachthelevelinthebureaucracywheretherewasamodicumofintelligence.

Butwhatiftherewasn'tanyintelligenceanywhereinthechainofcommand?IsitreallypossiblethatallofthosePolishjokesaretrue?Howbadcouldthingsbe?CouldMr.Grayfacereallybesostupidthathecouldn'tresolvetheproblemoftheeighthcopy?

"Perhaps I'm not being fair to the bureaucrats," she thought. "Not all theselectionisdonebythehigher-ups.Afterall,Mr.Grayfacespendsalotmoreofhis time with tourists like me than with his boss. The way they treat him isbound to have an effect. If he's intransigent in the face of my problems anddemands,perhapsthatattitudearisesfromthousandsofothertouristswhohavetreated him rudely, like a gray, robotic functionary. Perhaps I,myself, am the

sourceoftheproblem?""Forastart,"Janetdecided,"I'llstopthinkingofhimasMr.Grayface.Let's

see, suppose I callhimMr.Warmperson.Or,betteryet, suppose I findouthisname!I'vecomplainedsomanytimesaboutbeingtreatedasanamelessperson,orasanumber,buthowoftenhaveIneglectedtoaskthenameoftheclerkwhowasservingme?"

Janetpulledherchairforwardtowardthedeskand,insodoing,realizedthatshehadbeenseatedinadefiantposture."Mr....Oh,I'msorry,Ididn'tgetyourname.EventhoughmyfamilycametoAmericafromPoland,I'mnotverygoodwithPolishnames."

Mr. Warmperson looked up from his papers, his face relaxed a bit fromsurprise."Mr.Matczyszyn,MissJaworski.JanMatczyszyn."

Hisshouldercameforwardwithasuggestionhemightliketoshakehands.Hishalf-gestureremindedJanetwhatherfatherhadtoldheraboutintroductionsinEurope.Sheextendedherhandacrossthedesk,saying,"I'mpleasedtomeetyouJan.PleasecallmeJanet.

Figure15.1.JanetsmilesatMr.Warmperson.Inshakingherhand,JanMatczyszyngavehisfirstsmile,whichmadeJanet

wonderwhetherMatczyszyndidn'tmean"Warmperson"inPolish.Inanycase,the smile definitely encouraged her to continue the conversation. "MygrandfatherwasnamedJan,"shebeamed,"andIwasnamedafterhim.Hedied

beforemyfathercametoAmericaafter thewar,andmyfatherneversawhimagain."

"Ah,yourfatherwasborninPoland?""Oh, yes.Hewas in theArmedForces in exile—apilot.While taking his

flighttraininginNebraska,hemetmymother,whosefamilycamefromPolandinthenineteenthcentury.That'swhyhenevercamebackafterthewar."

"Howinteresting.MybrotherwasintheAirForce,too,thoughhewasn'tasfortunate as your father. He was shot down by the Nazis, leaving me as myfather'sonlyson.Iwas,myself,tooyoungforthewar—Iwantedverymuchtohaveachancetoavengemybrother'sdeath."

"Perhapsmyfatherknewyourbrother.I'llhavetowritehimaboutit..."There'snoneedforustocontinuethisconversation,whichisofmostinterest

to Jan, Janet, and her father. Any reader could predict how the affair of theeighthcopywillcomeout—anddidinfactcomeout.

Approaching public servants with courtesy and respect for their humanityandcompetencewill, for themostpart, evokehumanity andcompetence. In acountrylikeSwitzerland,wherethiskindofthinghasbeengoingonsincetheygaveupfightingotherpeople'swars,bureaucraticcourtesyevenseemsnatural.Abanktellerwillhelpyoufilloutyourwithdrawalslipcorrectly.Asalespersonwillactuallytakeyouaroundthecornertoaplacethatcarriesanitemthat'soutofstock.And,ashappened toJanet inPoland, thevisaofficerwill lendyouacoinfromhisownpockettorunthecopierforthateighthfacsimile.Itallfollowsnaturallyonceyoudeterminewheretheproblemactuallycomesfrom,especiallysince...

Figure15.2....thesourceoftheproblemismostoftenwithinyou.

PostscriptThishastobeoneofthemostdisappointingchaptersinthisbook,sowe've

addedapostscript to cheeryouup.What a crushingblow todiscover that thevillainwastheheroandthehero—you—wasthevillain.We'resorry,butwehadtodoittoyou,atleastonce.BasedonDonandJerry'sexperience,theproblemactuallycomesfromtheproblemsolvermorethanhalfthetime,whichcertainlyjustifieshavingonemoralizingchapteronthesubject.Nowthatthemoralityisdisposedof,youcangoback to readingabouthowstupidotherpeopleare—aguaranteedroadtomoralupliftandwell-beingofthesoul.

Chapter16.Make-worksandtake-credits.

Notallbureaucraticproblemscanbesolvedwithasmile.Foronething,theyoften come clad in writing, and how can one smile in a memorandum? Forinstance, imagine you work in an institution which habitually circulatesmemorandasuchasthefollowing;TO:AllStaffandShipsatSeaFROM:HisEminence,TheDeanSUBJECT:UtilizationofCommasinWeeklyPunctuationReports

It has recently come tomy attention that the utilization of commas in theweeklyreportconcerningthequantityofpunctuationemployedbyeachmemberof thestaffhasbeenconfusing tocertainmembersof theBoard.According tomyanalysis,theproblemseemstolieintheinabilityofcertainmembersofthestaff to distinguish between commas utilized in the text for purposes ofpunctuationandcommasutilizedinthetextforpurposesofreportingupontheutilizationofcommasintexts.

Iwouldsuggestasolutionalongtheselines,withdetailstobeworkedoutbyaCommittee onCommaswhich I shall presently appoint: 1.Commasutilizedfor purposes of punctuation should be left as normally used in English orAmericantexts.

2. Commas reporting upon the utilization of commas in other texts, or intheirowntexts,shouldbeenclosedwithinsinglequotemarks,likethis:','

2a.Asapotentialalternativetopart2ofthissolution,thecommasreportingupon utilization of commas in other texts, or in their own texts, should beenclosedwithindoublequotemarks,likethis:","

Iamcirculatingthismemotothedistributionlistinordertoobtainthefullestpossiblefeedbackfromtheentirestaffconcernedwiththispressingproblem,sothatweallmayinputourcreativeandinnovativeideas.

*****

Asthisphenomenalmemorandumcirculates, therewillbeanabundanceofsmiles,noneofwhichislikelytobegiventothefaceofHisEminence.Whatisto be done? Can we get a clue from asking, once again: WHERE DOES THEPROBLEMCOMEFROM?

Wheneverwe find a vast circulation of bureaucratic activity, full of sound

and fury, signifying nothing, we may be facing a problem that comes fromnowhere. Or, more precisely, that comes from the problem itself. A classicexampleofthissortofself-perpetuatingproblemistheInternationalConference.

Whilewriting this book,wehad thepleasureof reading about yet anotherInternationalDisarmamentConference takingplace inGeneva—aplacewheretheInternationalConferencehasbeendevelopedtoahighartform.Coulditbe,the Geneva resident speculates, that disarmament problems are so intractablebecausedisarmamentconferencesaresoattractive?

Whatwouldhappen to theArmsRace if thedisarmamentconfereesbeganworking at 6:30 in the morning, like honest Swiss workingmen andworkingwomendo?Orifthechairswerehardwoodinsteadofsoftleather?Orifthemealswere frozen fishsticksandsoggypotatochipsatanAkrondrive-in,ratherthanomblechevalierandpommesanglaisesatGeneva'sLeSenat?

Nowdon'tgetuswrong.Wehavenothingagainstdisarmament.Nordowedemean the distinguished ladies and gentlemen whose arduous labors for thewelfare of the poor, tired, huddledmassesmust occasionally be relieved by aspotofgaietyandpleasure.Wemerelywish to indicate thebarepossibilityoftheproblem-solvingprocess,person,orinstitutionbecomingtheproblemitself.

Intheolddays,whenradicalswerereallyradical,theyusedtosay,"Ifyou'renotpartofthesolution,you'repartoftheproblem."Itcouldwellbedifferent:"Ifyou'repartoftoday'ssolution,thenyou'repartoftomorrow'sproblem."Cometothinkof it,whatdidhappento thoseoldradicals—theydefinitelywerepartofthesolution.

Speculate with us for a moment, just for speculation's sake. What wouldhappen, after all, if the Nations of theWorld suddenly disarmed?Would thepatisseries inGenevasufferreversals,andhalf thebureaucratsfindthemselvestransported—touristclass—totheAkronsoftheworld?Notbloodylikely!

Recent history is strewn with examples of famous problem-solvinginstitutions whose problems have disappeared. They didn't pack their formalwearandcatchthenextSwissairflighthome.No,indeed!Instead,theysoughtanother problem to solve. The veritable end of polio didn't see theMarch ofDimescometoaHalt.Therewereplentyofotherworthydiseases toconquer.TheendoftheWar(anywar)didn'tseethemarchofthearmiescometoahalt,either. True, they became "standing" armies, but that doesn'tmean they stoodaround doing nothing. More often than not, a standing army finds domestic

problemsurgentlyclaimingtheirpeculiartalents.Inshort,theultimatesourceoftheproblemmaybenowhereatall.Inother

words,INTHEVALLEYOFTHEPROBLEMSOLVERS,

THEPROBLEMCREATORISKING,ORPRESIDENT,ORDEAN.

Which brings us back to our original problem—how to handle the memoconcerningcommas?

Yourfather'sfathermayhavetoldyou,"There's twokindsofpeopleintheworld,thosethatdoworkandthosethatmakeworkforotherstodo.Keepawayfromthemake-workersandyou'lldoallright."

Figure16.1.There'stwokindsofpeopleintheworld,thosethatdoworkandthosethatmakeworkforotherstodo.

Or,yourmother'sfathermayhavesaid,"There'stwokindsofpeopleintheworld,thosethatdoworkandthosewhotakecredit.Keep in thefirstgroup—there'smuchlesscompetitionthere."

Either of these remarkable observations can be used to solve thememorandumproblem.Oneway is tobephysicallyseparated fromthepeoplewho generatememoranda. Such a separation ismost readily accomplished bycreatingone smallgroupof elegantlydecoratedoffices—preferablyon the topfloorof the tallestavailablebuilding—far fromthedrabworkareas.Howwillyou get administrators tomove to them?How do you get bees to come to apansy patch? Flies to a dung heap?Without any fuss, the administrators willwindupinthetopofthetowerattheirHermanMillerdesks,leavingtheworkersinthebasement—attheirorangecrates—doingthework.

In grandfather's day, the age of xerography had not yet dawned. In thatsimpler time, physical separation was sufficient to keep the administrators

feeding theirmake-work tooneanother. In thismoreadvancedage,whenanyfoolwith thekey to thecopiercanbecomeawidely-readauthor, separation isnot enough. Sooner or later, theworkerswill have to come to gripswith thatindispensableproblem-creator,thememorandum.

Wehavereceivedthe"UtilizationofCommas"memoanddon'tknowwhattodo.Knowingthattheproblemcomesfromnothing,weaskourselves,"Whatwouldgrandpahavedone?"Takingafirmgriponourball-pointpen,wescribbleacrosstheupperright-handcorner,"Afascinatingconcept.Let'sdiscuss."androutetheoriginalpaperbacktoHisEminence.(Don'tclutteryourfileswithacopy—lettheCirculationDepartmentbeyourfilingsystem.)AtleastthreeorfourfeedbackcyclesshouldpassbeforeHisEminencerealizesthathecannotgetameetingtogethermerelybyhavinghissecretaryphoneeverybodyforanopentime.Whenhefinallydecreesameeting,besuretohaveadentalappointmentatthesametime.(Keepacavityinreserve,unfilled.)Then,afterthemeeting,taketheannouncementmemoandscribbleacrosstheupperright-handcorner:"SorryIcouldn'tmakeit—dentist!!

Whataboutsemicolons?Let'sdiscuss.''Withanyimaginationatall,youshouldfreeonemonthfromadministrative

interference each time His Eminence sends you a memo. You use almost noeffort, no filing space, no clerical time, and—what is most important to ourfeathered friends of the forest—no paper other than what is sent to you. Bysendingtheproblemrightbackwhereitcamefrom,yougiveallthecredittothedean,butyoumaygetsomeworkdone.

Areyouafraidtotryit?Don'tbe,forthere'sreallynochanceofthemake-workersfiguringoutwhatyou'redoing.Infact,they'llloveeveryminuteofit.

Chapter17.Examinationsandotherpuzzles.

Nowadays,mostschoolchildrenknowwherebabiescomefrom.Ontheotherhand,theyseemtothinkthatexamproblemsaredeliveredtotheearthbystorks.Orperhapstheythinkthatit's"dirty"totalkaboutwhereproblemscomefrom?Too bad for them, because the source of a problem often contains some keyelementinitsresolution.

Figure17.1.AreexamsdeliveredtoEarthbystorks?Considerthetypicalhomeworkproblemsonwhichyoungmindsarefattened

forultimateslaughterinfinalexaminations.Cleverstudentssoonlearnthattheassigned homework almost always has something to do with the materialcoveredinclasstheprecedingweek.Inotherwords,youdon'tneedtoresorttotheLawsofThermodynamics—thisweekisLightandOptics.Andwoebetidetheprofessorwhoslipsinatrickyproblemtakenfromtwoweeksprevious.Thestudents soon cure him of that perversion—and the homework system isperpetuated.

In the end, then, it's the students themselveswho reinforce this homeworkpattern.Althoughitsimplifieseachweek'swork,itcrushesthemwhenitcomestimeforthefinalexam.Atthisfatalinstant,thepageiscoveredwithproblemsthatmighthavecomefromanyoneoffifteenweeks.Gonewiththewindistheone clue upon which they have learned most to depend—where the problemcamefrom!

Howamusingthatstudentscomplainthatschooldoesn'tpreparethemforthe"realworld"—whatever that is—and fail to notice that it doesn't even preparethemfortheworldoffinalexaminations!

Butexaminationsdon'tcomefromstorks,either.Thecleverstudent"reads"theexamwithaneyetoitsprogenitor.Ifyoudon'tgivetheprofessortheanswerhewants,you'reafool.

For instance,when taking the "comprehensive" examinations for the PhD,you'd better not make the mistake of thinking it's really "comprehensive." Itcomes from the tiny brains of a small number of very narrow-minded faculty.Thefirstessentialstepistodeducewhichprofessorinthedepartmentwrotethequestionandwillthereforebereadingit.Withoutthestepofasking,WHEREDOESTHEPROBLEMCOMEFROM?youmightmakethemistakeofpraisingtheRomansinsteadoftheGreeks,BurnsinsteadofBrowning,ortransubstantiationinsteadofconsubstantiation.

Becauseanexamisanexamandnotaproblemgeneratedinouterspace,itgivesmany general clues to solving its problems. Clearly, no problem shouldtakemore than the length of the scheduled examperiod to figure out. If yourmethodpromisestostretchoutbeyondtheappointedhour, itmustbedropped,regardlessofitselegance.

And,whenmultiplechoicequestionsare theorderof theday, thequicker-witted can sometimes complete the entire exam without ever resorting toproblem solving on the intended level. In studying a series of "programmeraptitudetests,"wefoundthateveryoneofthe"arithmeticskills"questionscouldbe answeredwithout resort to thehorrorsof arithmetic! Indeed, they couldbe"solved"withoutresortingtothequestions!

Tryitforyourself.Atypicalsetofanswerswas:(a)31938(b)31929(c)31928(d)32928(e)31828Weknowtheseanswerswereconstructedbysomeone,notbythestork.That

someonewould likeus tomiss thequestion ifweareoffbya littlebit, soweneedonlystudythestructureoftheanswerstoknowthatchoice(c)is"correct."Why?Justtryit!

Figure 17.2. Each wrong answer has to be off by one from the one rightanswer.

With answers like these, who needs questions? The question is merely atime-wasting distraction—whichwemay niftily sidestep by asking:WHO SENTTHISPROBLEM?

WHAT'SHETRYINGTODOTOME?

Muchofwhathas traditionallybeencalled"problem-solving" is, in reality,puzzle solving. A puzzle is difficult by design—but that difficulty implies adesigner.Butweknowthatthedesignerwouldn'thaveselectedthispuzzleforpresentationifitdidn'thavesomeunusualdifficulty.

Thisveryattempt tomake itdifficultmaygiveus theclue that, ironically,mayprovethefirstsearchstepweneed.

Consider the "chess problem."Chess problems—really puzzles—arenevercrackedbymakingan"obvious"move—suchasputtingthekingincheck.Whenpeoplegetinvolvedintheworldofchesspuzzles,theyunconsciouslyapplythequestion,"Wherediditcomefrom?"Thiseliminates"obvious"moves,becausetheproblemmustbe"hard"tobeagoodproblem.

So,howdoyoufoolachesspuzzler?Yougivehimsome"problem"thatcanbe,astheysayinthetrade,"cooked".Becausehe"knows"itisapuzzle,notaproblem, he may take an exceptionally long time before even examining the

"obvious"movethatcookstheproblem.Whenhefinallydoes,hewillbequiteangrywithyou—justlikethestudentswhoseprofessorgivesaproblemfromthepenultimatechapter.

Tooneimmersedinapuzzle-solvingframeofmind,theobvioussolutionisablow on the head. In military communications, one of the easiest ways toconfound an adversary is to send amessage in "plain text".The cryptanalystssimplycan'ttakeitatfacevalue,knowingthesource.Yetgenerallyspeaking,allsortsofmilitaryproblemsaresimplerthanmanyday-to-daycivilianproblems—simply because there is a known "opponent" whose characteristics, properlyapplied,greatlyreducethenumberofdefinitionstobeconsidered.

Figure17.3.Confoundyouradversarybysendingamessagein"plaintext".

PART6:

Dowereallywanttosolveit?

Chapter18.TomTirelesstinkerswithtoys.

Bynowweknow thatmostpeople,mostof the time, feel theyhave somesort of problem. By our broad definition of "problem," these people must becorrect, for a problem is a difference between someone's desires and thewaythingsseemtothem.

Knowingyouhaveaproblemisamatteroffeeling.Ifyoufeelyouhaveaproblem, you do have a problem. Knowing what that problem is—well, thatcouldbeanothermatter.Tobesure,mostpeoplewithproblemsalsothinktheyknowwhattheseproblemsare.Inthis,however,theyareusuallywrong.

Acleverlyparadoxicalexampleofsuchamistakenimpressionis thebeliefthat"problemsolving"isabigproblem.Manypeoplehavetoldus,"MymajorproblemisthatI'mnotaverygoodproblemsolver."Pish-posh!Moreoftenthannot,solving,orresolving,aproblemisarathertrivialexercise—onceweknowwhat the problem is. Possibly the reason schools turn out such poor problemsolversisthatstudentsarenevergiventhechancetofindoutwhattheproblemis—theproblemiswhatevertheteachersaysitis.You'dbetterbelieveit!

Mostofushavehadschooling—toomuchofit.We'vedevelopedaninstinctthatmakesusseizeuponthefirststatementthatlookslikea"problem".Thenwe"solve"itasfastaswecan,foreverybodyknowsthat,onexams,speedcounts.Andsodoesconcentration.

Asa resultof all this exam-training,we've learnedproblemhabits that areratherdifficulttoovercomewhenwe'renotinschool,takingexams.

And don't mistake what we're saying. The approach of grabbing the firstproblem statement, digging in fast, and sticking with it to the bitter end ispreciselywhatyouwant—whenyou'retrappedinaschoolsystemandtryingtomakethebestofabadbusiness.Andeveninafewothersituations.Infact,theBrontosaurusTowerproblemmighthavebeenresolvedinatrice,hadsomeoneleapttotheconclusionthat"theelevatorsaretooslowandneedtobefixed."The"two-foot blind leap approach"works just often enough to keep it alive. If itneverworked,peoplewouldeventuallystopusingit—whenthey'dbeenoutofschoollongenough.

Figure18.1.Sometimes,thetwo-footblindleapapproachworks.Anotherreasonthe"two-footblindleapapproach"persistsisthat"problem

solving" can be such fun.Oncewe get going on a smashing problem, only apervert would want to get in our way. We all know the type: one of thosespoilsports who actually gave up smokingwhen the SurgeonGeneral's reportwasissued;whothinksallothersshouldfollowhislead;andwhoneverlosesanopportunitytopreachtothemaboutit.

Why,evenifwhatwe'resolvingisn'tthe"real"problem,itbecomestherealproblem to us becausewewant to solve it—themore heroically the better. Inotherwords,leaveusalone!WhogaveDonandJerrythemoralrighttointerferewithotherpeople'sproblem-solvingfun?

It'sagoodquestion,andonewe'dbetterface,becauseDonandJerryaretwooftheworld'sforemostproblem-solvingspoilsports.Ourmoralrightcomesfromtheadmonition,

DOUNTOOTHERSASOTHERSHAVEDONEUNTOYOU.

Eachofus,andmanyofyou,havehadourfunspoiledbysomeeageryoungproblem solver disturbing our peaceful equilibrium. That's what gives us therighttospoilsomeoftheproblemsolver'sfun.

Whatdowemeanbydisturbingourpeacefulequilibrium?Agoodexamplecan be drawn from the computer field. When computers first began to beabundant, people did not exactly beat a path to their inventor's door. To analarming extent, computerswere pushed on an unwilling, or at least cautious,public—promotedbyanenthusiasticcorpsofproblemsolversspecializingintheapplicationofcomputerstojustaboutanything.

Theywereyoung,theseproblemsolvers,withall theimpetuosityofyouth.

Theirslogansreflectedtheiryouth:

Figure18.2.Weproblemsolvershadouryouthfulslogans.Computers have that effect on youth—or, rather, youth has that effect on

computers.Why, evenwith several decades of accumulatedwisdom to say it isn't so,

eachnewschoolofhatchlingsspillingoutof their firstprogrammingcourse isreadytomovetheearth—givenonlyenoughcomputertimeandaterminaltositat.Afterall,whathasyouthevercaredformusty,dustyaccumulatedwisdom?

And,afterall,aren'ttheyright?Ifnothingelse,theseyoungcomputnikswillacquireonevaluablelessonfromtheirunrelentingquestforproblemstofittheirsolution—"solutionprobleming,"wecall it.As theyquest, so shall they learn.Mostly,they'lllearnaboutproblemdefinition.

They will learn how hard it is for people to state their problems clearlyenoughtosatisfytheprecisedemandsofthecomputer,forwhomthemosttrivialstepsmust be spelled out in pettifogging detail.At first, these hatchlingswilldecide that people are no darned good at communicating—and, at times, thispessimisticassessmentwillbecorrect.Butmoreoftenthannot,communicationwon'tbethesourceofthedifficulty.Wecan'tcommunicatewhatwedon'tknow—ordon'twanttoknow.

Butenoughofmoralizing.Whataboutanexample?Onceupona time, theenthusiasticyoungprogrammer,TomTireless,happeneduponatoyfactory.His

effervescenceeasily floatedhimpast theouterdefensive ringssurrounding theexecutive suite. Soon, he found himself seated in an elegant conference roomwith three vice-presidents. In a fewminutes,Tomhad themgreedily countingtheblessingsabouttobeshowereduponthembyhiscomputer.

After somepreliminaryeducationof thesenovicesabout thepowersofhismagicaldevice,Tom,our solution-problemer, asked thevice-presidents if theyhadanyproblemslyingaboutthatmightprovesuitable.Yes,asithappened,theydidhaveamostpressingproblem.ItseemsthatTanglelangToys(TT)hadthreefactories—thisoneonthePacificCoast,anotheroneontheAtlanticCoast,andathirdon the coast of theMissouriRiver, atKansasCity.From these factories,theyshippedtoystoabout50wholesalers,scatteredthroughoutthecountrymoreorlessasshownonthismap:

Figure18.3.ThedistributionofTTfactoriesandwholesalers.Naturally,theexecutivesexplained,shippingcostsmoney,therebyaddingto

the effective cost of each Tanglelang Toy. Moreover, because differentwholesalers varied in their shipping distance from the different factories, allshippingcostsweredifferent.Bythistimeintheexplanation,TomTirelesswasgetting restless.Hewasn't used to sitting for very long, except at a computerterminal.Certainlynotsittingandlistening.

Tom had long since recognized what their problem was going to be—aclassicalprobleminoperationsresearch,onethatcouldbehandledniftilyonhiscomputer. While they dragged out their explanation, Tom tuned out He was

solvingthefollowingproblem:Givenasetofordersfromtheirwholesalers,howshouldTTallocate these

ordersamongthethreefactoriessoastominimizethetotalcostofdoingso—manufacturingplusshippingcosts.

Bythetimethevice-presidentsfinishedexplainingthatthiswasindeedtheirproblem,Tomwas ready to request the information the computerwouldneed:thetotalsetoforders,thecostofmakingeachtoyateachfactory,andthecostofshippingeachtoyfromeachfactorytoeachwholesaler.

IttooktheTTexecutivessometimetoobtainthisinformationforTom,buttwoweekslateritlayneatlyassembledonhisdeskbackatthecomputingcenter.

Tom spent some time checking the figures thisway and that.Hebegan tonoticeadisturbingpattern.Whenhefinished,hetelephonedtheexecutivesforanappointment.

"I'm sorry to report," Tom announced, "that I have discovered somethingcuriousaboutyourproblem. Ifyour figuresare correct, then it ispossible, forexample, tomake a teddy bear in this factory and ship it to the Kansas CityfactoryforlessthanthecostofmakingitinKansasCity!Theircostis$3.95andyoursis$3.07.Ifyouadd$.23forshipping,thatmakes$3.30,or65centslessthantheirmanufacturingcostalone."

Tomlaidbothhandson theconference table foremphasis.The threevice-presidentssighedandexchangedglances."Yes," replied themostseniorof thethree,"weknowthat."

"AnddoyoualsoknowthatthesameholdtruefortheAtlanticCoastplant?"Hepausedtolethiswordssinkin."Thatyoucanshiptheteddybeartherefor$3.38—andtheycan'tmakeitforlessthan$4.24?"

"Yes,we'reawareofthattoo.Justwhatareyoudrivingat,youngman?""Please, one more question. Are you further aware that this same pattern

holdstrueforeveryoneofthe374toysinyourline?""Butof coursewe're awareof that.This factory is themostmodern in the

world—farmore efficient than the other two,with lower labor costs, to boot.That'swhywebuiltithere."

Tomwas perplexed at their density. "But don't you see?You don't need acomputertoshowyouhowtoreduceyourcosttothelowestpossiblelevel."ItwaspainfulforTomtoadmitthis,buthecontinued."Allyouhavetodoisboardup the other twoplants!Make all your orders here, and ship them fromhere!Why, even if you didn't ship directly to the wholesalers, but first sent to theshippingdocksofyourotherfactories,itwouldhavetobecheaperthantheway

you'redoingitnow.""That'strue.Butwecan'tacceptthatsolution.""What?Asolutionisasolution.Whycan'tyouacceptit?""Because the President of TT lives near our Atlantic Plant. And the

Chairman of theBoard lives inKansasCity.Why, theywouldn'tmove to thePacificCoastforanything."

"Theycertainlywouldn't,"theothersagreedinunison."Butthenyourproblemisnotoneofminimizingcosts,butofmakingyour

PresidentandChairmanhappy?"Our solution-problemer was exasperated. "Then why did you give the

problemtome?"After pondering that question for about thirty seconds, the senior vice-

presidentsaid,"Yousaidyourcomputercouldsolveanyproblem.Isupposewewanted tobeconvinced that thecomputercouldhelpus.We'veknownall thisever since this plantwas built, butwe haven't been able to convince our twomost senior officers we were right. Yes, I suppose we thought that if yourcomputer told them, theymightbelieve it—even though theywouldn't believeus.Butnowthatwethinkuponitmoreclearly,thatdoesn'tseemvalid."

Tomwasalmostcrushed,butcouldn'tquiteletgo."Whynot?Icanrunthesefiguresthroughmylinearprogrammingpackage,andthecomputerwillgiveyouaterrificreport—evenprintedwithlotsofmathematicalsymbolsthatcan'tfailtoconvinceyourexecutives.Justgivemeachance."

Theexecutivecontinued,hardlynoticingtheinterruption."No,theysimplyaren'tgoingtomove,regardlessofthecosttothecompany.Theycanaffordit.Wethree,ontheotherhand,wouldliketoseeourbusinessrunmoreefficiently—wehaven'tyetmadeourfortunes."

AndthusTomTirelesslearnedlessonnumberoneinproblemdefinitionforthosewhowouldpresumetosolveproblemsforothers:

INSPITEOFAPPEARANCES,

PEOPLESELDOMKNOWWHATTHEYWANT

UNTILYOUGIVETHEMWHATTHEYASKFOR.

Figure18.4.TanglelangToysTeddyBear

Chapter19.Patienceplayspolitics.

Sometimespeopleknowperfectlywellwhattheywant,buttheproblemsofthesolution-problemerdon'tendthere.Considerthisstoryofanothercomputerperson,PatiencePrudent.

ThegovernorofoneoftheUnitedStatesofAmericahadissuedordersforalldepartments of the state government to begin making use of the excellentcomputershehad, inhis infinitewisdom,justpurchasedfor thestate.Not thatcomputersobjecttobeingidle18hoursaday—theywereutterlyindifferent,asonlyacomputercanbe.Butthegovernor'sadvisorsopinedthatsomuch"idle"timemightbepoorpoliticsinanelectionyear.Peoplevaluecomputersnotforwhat theydo,but for theamountof time they takedoing it.Anyproblemthattakesbutafewminutescan'tbeveryimportant.Itwasnecessarytoconsumeasmanyhoursofcomputertimeasthebureaucracycouldmanage.

The director of the state's computing center designated one of hisprogrammers as liaison with each department. Patience was assigned to thetreasurer's office—one of the few that had no previous computer usagewhatsoever.Anassistanttreasurergaveherthefirstproblem—theallocationofroadbuildingassessmentsamongthepropertyownerswhostoodtobenefitfromeachnewroad.

WhatPatience hadoriginally estimated to be aweek's effort had stretchedouttothreemonths,primarilybecauseofanunceasingstreamofslightchangesby the treasurer. By the time she felt she had the final version, Patience wasnearlyexhausted,andsowasherpatience.Thetreasurer,however,wasstillnotsatisfied. "What kind of a program is this?" he asked loftily. "Your totalpayments come to $13,258,993.24; but the total to be allocated is$13,258,993.25!"

Patience tried to keep her cool. "That's just a result of the differences inroundingtheindividualamounts.Sometimesthetotalwillbeoffbyapenny,butsometimesitwillbeexact.Inanycase,itcanneverbeoffbymorethanapenny,soit'snothingtobeexcitedabout—onepennyinthirteenmilliondollars."

"Youletmebetheonetodecidewhattobeexcitedabout,younglady,"thetreasurerinterrupted.Healwaysseemedtogetexcitedanyway—inthepresence

of young ladies, competent young ladies. "I am the one who has theresponsibility for the taxpayers' money in this state, not you. And / have toanswerforeverypenny."

Patiencemighthavebeen intimidatedbyhisoverbearingmannerand tone,but shewasnearing theendofher tether. "Well, ifyouaskme,you justdon'tknowyourjob.Reprogrammingthisentirejobforonediddlylittlepennywon'tsavethetaxpayersanythingatall."

"Now don't get excited." The treasurer was deathly afraid of an arousedwoman."Therearelaws,andImustfollowthem—tothepenny.Regardlessofwhatkindoftroubleitcausesyouandyourcomputer."

Figure19.1."TherearelawsImustfollow."Sensinghisfear,Patiencehadthecouragetothinkclearlyaboutthesituation.

"But just a minute. How many times each year do you intend to run thisprogram?"

"Icanassureyou,younglady,thatIdon'tintendtorunitatall—unlessanduntilyougetitright."

Boiling inside, she strained to keep a calm exterior. "For the sake ofargument, let's assume I'll get it right—eventually.Thenhowmany timeswillyouuseit?"

"Thestatemakessuchassessmentsapproximatelytentimesperyear.Infact,Ispendthegreaterproportionofmytimecalculatingtheseassessments..."

"Isee,"Patienceinterrupted,fumblingaroundinherpurse,andmakingtheassistant treasurer even more nervous. Finding what she sought, she rose toleave. She laid a dollar bill on his desk, saying, "I'd like to make this smalldonationtothestate.Youcansendmeareceiptlater."Asshemovedtowardthedoor,shehesitated,smiledwarmly,andsaidinhersweetesttones,"Iguessthatfinishes the programming. My donation should take care of the legal

requirementsforthenexttenyearsorso.Whenitrunsout,youcanletmeknow,andI'llmakeanotherdonation."

Of course, Patience never thought she had solved the assistant treasurer'sproblem.Shewasright.Hereportedtothetreasurerthatcomputerscouldnotdothe tax assessment with the required accuracy. After wasting three valuablemonths of his time on the project, he had decided that the best coursewas toforgetaboutthecomputeraltogether.That,ofcourse,wasthesolutiontohistrueproblem.

Neithertheproblemsolvernorthesolutionproblemerisimmunetothisformofsabotage toherefforts.Patiencehad learned lessonnumber twoofproblemdefinition:

NOTTOOMANYPEOPLE.INTHEFINALANALYSIS,

REALLYWANTTHEIRPROBLEMSSOLVED.

Figure19.3.Notmanyreallywanttheirproblemssolved.

Chapter20.Apriorityassignment.

Oneofthefinestproblemsolversweknowgothisstartcrackingcodesforanagencywhoseverynamewasasecret.Overalmostadecadeofpuzzlesolving,he acquired considerable skill—a skill that was finally rewarded with a"PRIORITY"assignment.

His mission, with security name JACTITATION, was to "crack" thediplomaticcodeof"asmallEuropeanpower"—whichhappenedtobean"ally"ofhiscountry.JACTITATIONwastoproveatwo-yearodyssey,butforover18monthsheseemedtobemakingnoprogressatall.Finally,throughmeticuloustabulations,aidedbytheworld'smostpowerfulcomputingequipment,hebeganto be convinced that the diplomats were using a "book code"—a type that isvirtuallyimpossibletobreak.

Another six months of JACTITATION convinced him that the book onwhichthecodewasbasedmustbeamysterynovel.Twomoremonthsnarroweddown the probable author. Then, at last, he found the book in the agency'scomprehensivelibraryofworksofespionageandintrigue—TheUnpleasantnessattheBellonaClub,byDorothyL.Sayers.

He could hardly contain his eagerness to decodemessages. Taking one hethoughttobeofextremeurgency,hebegantotranslatethemeaninglessnumbersintopage,line,andword:

Figure20.1.Thesecretmessagefromasmallnation."Twenty-threebottlesScotch,fifty-ninewine..."Itwasanexpenseaccount!

Amused,hetriedanothermessage—anotherexpenseaccount!Twodayslater,hehad translated 57 JACTITATION messages—every one an expense account!

Twoweekslater,ourproblemsolverleftthe"intelligence"businessforacareerinteaching.

Beforewecloseouropening,beforeweendourbeginning,weshouldraiseone more question that every would-be problem resolver should ask beforeseriouslyembarkingonanyproblem:

DOIREALLYWANTASOLUTION?

Though the question seems shocking, we've already seen a number ofinstanceswherethe"solution"wasn'tatallwelcome,onceitarrived.Itmayputthe solversoutof a job, as indisarmament—though therewe'dhope theotherconsequenceswereworthit.Or,asintheJACTITATIONcaper,thesolutionmaybesotrivialinitsvaluethatitmakesusfeelworthless.

Wearetrapped,quiteoften,becausewe'veworkedonaproblemsolongandsohardthatweneverreallythoughtwe'dsolveit—sowhyworryaboutwhetherwewant it or not?Conversely, the problem comes upon us too fast for us toconsidermuch of anything about the problem, let alonewhetherwewant thesolution.Whileapoorstudentwindow-shopswithoutenoughmoneyinhisjeanstobuyapackofmatches,hedreamsaboutowningacabincruiseror,atleast,apackofcigarettes.Whenhesuddenlywins$100,000inthelottery,hisimpulsewill be to buy each thing he desires, though he may prove susceptible toseasicknessor,atleast,lungcancer.

Thoughmanyproblemsmustbesolvedinhaste,bewareofsomeonepushingyou tohurry.Late in the resolutionprocess, hastemakesmistakes; in the firstfewminutes, hastemakesdisasters.Life is full of variationsof the taleof theFisherman'sWife:

TheFishermanfindsabottleentangledinhisnet.Whenthebottleisopened,aGenieescapesandtellstheFishermanthatinreturnforfreeingtheGenie,theFisherman and his Wife can have three wishes granted. The couple is, quiteunderstandably, rather excited by the prospect. They sit up late that nightdiscussing their dreams. In their exhilaration, they neglect their supper, so atabout three in themorning thewife sighs andmutters, "I'm awfully hungry. IsurewishIhadasausage."

POOF!Onthetableisadelectablesausage,buttheFishermanisnotpleased."Lookwhatyou'vedone,youfoolishwoman!Youcouldn'tkeepyourwitsaboutyou, so now we have only two wishes left. I wish that stupid sausage werehangingfromtheendofyournose."

POOF!

Figure20.2.Iwish...Thereader,experiencedinwishsituations,can imaginehowthe thirdwish

wasused.AtleasttheFishermanandhisWifecameoutbetterthansomeoftheotherthree-wishers,likethecoupleintheghastlystory,"TheMonkey'sPaw."

Anoldproblem-solvingsawgoes:

WENEVERHAVEENOUGHTIMETODOITRIGHT,

BUTWEALWAYSHAVEENOUGHTIMETODOITOVER.

Butbecausewedon'talwayshavetheopportunitytodoitover,wemustdobetter.Putanotherway,

WENEVERHAVEENOUGHTIMETOCONSIDER

WHETHERWEWANTIT,

BUTWEALWAYSHAVEENOUGHTIMETOREGRETIT.

Yetevenwhenwedowant thesolution itself,wemaynotnotice thereareinevitableauxiliaryconsequencesthatmustaccompanyanysolution.Oneoftheancient quests of the alchemists was the "universal solvent," a liquid whosepowers of disintegration could be resisted by no substance on earth. Like thequest for transmutationof lead intogold, thisoneseems tohavebeen invain.Too bad, though, because it would have been fascinating to know what theywouldhavekeptthesolventin,oncetheyhadit!

Ifweseekauniversalsolvent,wecanhardlydeemita"sideeffect" that itdissolvesanycontainerwetrytokeepitin—presumablyetchingaholethroughthecenteroftheearth.

Yet we tend to regard "side effects" as the result of particular solutions."Theymightnotariseatall,andiftheydo,wecanalwaysrefinethesolutiontoeliminatethem."Howoftendoesthisnaiveattitudeleadusintodisaster?

If we set out to eliminate one cause of death after another, why are wesurprisedat the"sideeffect"ofan increasingpopulationofoldpeoplenobodywants?Ifwesetouttoeliminatecausesofinfantmortality,whyareweshockedanddismayedwhentheoverallpopulationbeginstoblossom?

Part of the answer is the humanpropensity iovhabituation: the successivereduction of response to a repetitive stimulus.Habituation allows us to cancelout the constancies in our environment, thus simplifying our lives. Whensomething new appears in our little universe, it is most stimulating. After itremainsashorttime,offeringneitherthreatnoropportunity,itbecomespartofthe"environment,"orbackground.Eventually,itiscancelledoutentirely:

Figure20.3.Thefish...Whenwecontemplateproblems,itemstowhichwearehabituatedtendtobe

omittedfromconsideration.Onlywhenthe"solution"causestheremovalofthehabituated element dowe become startled. Amost touching representation ofthisremovalphenomenonwasshowninSatajitRay'smovietrilogy,TheWorldofApu,whenApu'swifedies.

Whenhereceivesthenews,Apucastshimselfuponthebed,unabletomovefordays.DirectorRayshowshimlyingimmobileforwhatseemstotheviewertobehourswhen,suddenly,hisalarmclockstopsticking.

Apu is startled out of his lethargy and the viewer—who has also beenhabituatedtotheticking—sharesthethunderousimpactofthesuddenabsence.OnlylaterdowerealizethatwehavebeenmadetosharetheshockfeltbyApuwhenherealized—afterherheartnolongerbeat—howmuchhiswifehadbeenapartofhislife.

Likethefilmmaker,theproblemresolverisanartistdealingwithimaginaryworlds. Very early on—really from the very beginning—the problem resolvermust strive to see the "water" in which the other participants unconsciouslyswim—the water which will be transmuted to sand when the "problem" is"solved".

PostscriptBy becoming immersed in the problem, you, the resolver, risk yet another

oversight. Fascinated with the problem-solving aspects, you may neglect toconsiderwhetheryouwouldmorallyapproveofasolution.Oneperson'ssinisanother'svirtue.Wewouldn'tdare tell any reader thatkilling people iswrong,any more than we would dare tell a cannibal that eating people is wrong.Perhaps,evenatsomeriskofappearingmaudlin,weshouldquotePolonius inhisadvicetoHamlet:

"Thisaboveall,tothineownselfbetrue."Tobetruetoyourself,inthisproblem-resolvingbusiness,youmustconsider

moral questions before you get close to a solution, or even a definition, andtherebybegintoloseyoursensibility.Suchconsiderationwillneverwasteyourtime,forproblem-resolvingcanneverbeamorallyneutralactivity—nomatterhowmuchitfascinatesitspractitioners.