Are Your Lights On?

Text in black are quotes; text in green are my notes. I sometimes write in Spanish.

• As a practical matter, it is impossible to define natural, day-to-day problems in a single, unique, totally unambiguous fashion. On the other hand, without some common understanding of the problem, a solution will almost invariably be to the wrong problem. Usually, it will be the problem of the person who talks loudest, or most effectively. Or who has the biggest bank account. #

• Solver of Problems. #

• A PROBLEM IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THINGS AS DESIRED AND THINGS AS PERCEIVED. #

• DON'T BOTHER TRYING TO SOLVE PROBLEMS FOR PEOPLE WHO DON'T HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOR. #

• MORAL ISSUES TEND TO MELT IN THE HEAT OF A JUICY PROBLEM TO SOLVE. #

• DON'T MISTAKE A SOLUTION METHOD FOR A PROBLEM DEFINITION—ESPECIALLY IF IT'S YOUR OWN SOLUTION METHOD. #

• DON'T LEAP TO CONCLUSIONS, BUT DON'T IGNORE YOUR FIRST IMPRESSION. #

• EACH SOLUTION IS THE SOURCE OF THE NEXT PROBLEM #

• We never get rid of problems. Problems, solutions, and new problems weave an endless chain. The best we can hope for is that the problems we substitute are less troublesome than the ones we "solve." #

• IF YOU CAN'T THINK OF AT LEAST THREE THINGS THAT MIGHT BE WRONG WITH YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE PROBLEM, YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND THE PROBLEM. #

• Designers, like landlords, seldom if ever experience the consequences of their actions. In consequence, designers continually produce misfits. A misfit is a solution that produces a mismatch with the human beings who have to live with the solution. #

• Human beings are so adaptable, they'll put up with almost any sort of misfit—until it comes to their consciousness that it doesn't have to be that way. Then comes trouble. #

• ONCE YOU HAVE A PROBLEM STATEMENT IN WORDS, PLAY WITH THE WORDS UNTIL THE STATEMENT IS IN EVERYONE'S HEAD. #

• DON'T SOLVE OTHER PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS WHEN THEY CAN SOLVE THEM PERFECTLY WELL THEMSELVES. #

• IF A PERSON IS IN A POSITION TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT A PROBLEM, BUT DOESN'T HAVE THE PROBLEM, THEN DO SOMETHING SO HE DOES. #

• TRY BLAMING YOURSELF FOR A CHANGE—EVEN FOR A MOMENT. #

• And thus Tom Tireless learned lesson number one in problem definition for those who would presume to solve problems for others: IN SPITE OF APPEARANCES, PEOPLE SELDOM KNOW WHAT THEY WANT UNTIL YOU GIVE THEM WHAT THEY ASK FOR. #

• NOT TOO MANY PEOPLE. IN THE FINAL ANALYSIS, REALLY WANT THEIR PROBLEMS SOLVED. #

• An old problem-solving saw goes: WE NEVER HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO DO IT RIGHT, BUT WE ALWAYS HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO DO IT OVER. But because we don't always have the opportunity to do it over, we must do better. Put another way, WE NEVER HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO CONSIDER WHETHER WE WANT IT, BUT WE ALWAYS HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO REGRET IT. #