Problem Types with Examples

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Problems which are Puzzles have objective solutions, and typically have known and reliable methods for resolution. The problems are technical, mechanical, financial, or mathematical in nature. The most pressing need is for expertise. Once found, the solution will be obvious to any appropriate observer. The problem can be carved up into pieces and addressed separately. And solutions can be imported (purchased, copied, stolen) from elsewhere, as in "best practices".

Examples

Building a bridge across a river
Process improvement on a physical manufacturing line
Getting a man to the moon and back safely
Designing a smaller disk drive

Problems that are Too Rich are almost the exact opposite from Puzzles. While we are often certain there is at least one answer, the solution is not objective. In fact, we are typically facing a wide array of possible choices. The situation calls for a visionary or artistic effort, not a technical one. Once found, the solution will not be obvious; it may remain controversial well into implementation. Rather than expertise, the most pressing need is for judgment, intuition, innovation, even courage.

Examples

Defining the vision for a business or project
Designing the architectural impact of the home office building
Defining the "look and feel" of the company web site
Building a user interface
Product design (i.e. the iMac)

Problems with Uncertainties are dominated by the unknown or unknowable variation in key variables. Typically solutions would vary significantly depending on some uncertain future development. The "solution" has to be contingent on future events, making for multiple possible solutions rather than one best solution. The problem solving effort has to be drawn out into the future so we can watch unfolding events and modify the solution as needed. The problem solving team cannot disperse; they have to remain engaged to oversee the adjustment of solutions as circumstances reveal themselves.

Examples

Deciding whether to build a gas cracking plant (which takes 10 years) in the face of fluctuating foreign oil prices, uncertain access to coal, shifting regulatory policies, and political instability in the Middle East
Project planning (i.e., will our suppliers come through? will someone get sick? will it rain?)
Family planning (I want a boy and a girl, about a year apart)

Problems that are Dilemmas come from our simultaneous commitment to incompatible goals. Our efforts to maximize one undermines our success at the other. Faced with an apparent conflict of interest, the representatives of each side tend to become even more ardent advocates, which only provokes an equal escalation on the other side. The tension between cost vs. quality, customization vs. economies of scale, or personal freedom vs. social order are all enduring dilemmas which are never really resolved, only managed more or less well. The on-going nature of dilemmas makes a process for finding solutions more valuable than any particular solution.

Examples

Low price & High quality
The economy of centralized services & the Customer intimacy of decentralized operations
Personal freedom & Social order
(In banking) The quality of the portfolio & Maintaining a certain volume of loans
Wide participation & Efficient decision making

Problems with a Life of Their Own emerge when enough actors behaving independently form an almost organic entity: A marketplace of buyers and sellers, employees in a company, companies in a market segment, all the supply chains feeding into a single company. All of these phenomena exhibit order and structure well outside the intentions of any one ostensibly "in charge". The organization of such systems is emergent, an unpredictable property spawned by the relationships among the players.

Examples

Oscillations in complex supply chains
Addressing a sour company culture
Attracting staff in a tight labor market
Doubling the sales force leads to reduced sales!?
Using Federal tax codes to influence investment and spending habits, but it only spawns a new set of financial strategies, which creates the need for new controls, etc.

Problems with Many Voices are the classic conflicts of multiple stakeholders with colliding interests. While cooperation may be difficult it is also essential, since no one can proceed without the tacit permission of the others (although that power is usually expressed through a veto rather than positive support). The driving need is for a safe and equitable forum where parties can surface their interests and explore options for the most satisfying outcome for all parties concerned.

Examples

Developers vs. environmentalists vs. residents deciding on where to route a freeway
Negotiating product specs with a client
Owners, contractors, and architects developing the specifications for a major construction project
Competing companies creating industry standards to create a stable marketplace for their products
Infighting among departments

Problems of Our Own Making occur when someone with compelling authority makes a statement that so discrepant from the realities of the situation that the mere utterance of the statement precipitates a reaction. Such a problem may also occur when people fall into a collective delusion, or initiate a self-fulfilling prophecy. The telling feature is that the stated reality and the real reality are too different to support coherent or reasonable action. If not countered, such problems can worsen into more complex and irresolvable conflicts.

Examples

A CEO calls for 60% growth despite a 30% turnover rate
The senior executive team demands a forecast of double-digit growth even though the forecasting team cannot see more than 6% growth
Telling your 14-year-old son that he must respect his elders at all times
Imposing a TQM program onto a "command and control" culture
Demanding complete documentation for new products when Engineering is swamped with new systems to design

Problems that Bite are actually beyond resolution. These are the long-standing, bitter conflicts for which violence is an ever present threat. Beliefs have fallen into a stereotypical form, and any meaningful dialogue is extremely difficult to arrange. No one is allowed to be a neutral party, so it is hard to enlist the norms and practices of mediation or negotiation. The goal is to migrate the problem into another type, which would require the insight of a critical mass of thought leaders.

Examples

The abortion debate in the US
The Middle East conflict
The health care system
The power crisis in California in 2001
The conflict between management and labor in the US Postal Service