solving problems (and beautiful solutions)

beauty in the breakdown

“When I’m working on a problem, I never think about beauty. I think only how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.” – R. Buckminster Fuller

 

 

Well.

Nothing I hate more than hasty problem solving.

 

Now … please note I said “hasty.”

 

 

I don’t mind fast thinking.

And I certainly like not overthinking.

 

So, on second thought, maybe I just hate thinking a solution is a … well … a solution.

 

And what I just shared is typically a reflection of being hasty.

It seems too often we hustle to solve the problem and when finished … we don’t look and see if the solution is beautiful. Instead we all simply look at each other and sigh <a sigh of relief> that we have arrived at a solution.

 

And move on to whatever is next on our to do list.

 

Unfortunately … not all solutions are created equal. Some solutions are beautiful and some are … well … let’s call them ‘less than beautiful.’

 

And ignoring that business truth is not only lazy but it is also risky.

vague no solutionsGosh.

Who would have ever thought ‘fast’ solutions would ever be ‘lazy’?

Doesn’t speed imply working … and doing … and being productive?

 

Regardless.

 

This lazy hasty problem solving has long term repercussions as it doesn’t teach the next level of decision makers what is beautiful <and what is not>.

 

It simply teaches everyone that solutions can only be found in black or white. Or maybe it simply teaches reaching a solution, any solution, is all that really matters.

 

 

So to be fair … maybe it isn’t lazy … maybe this type of decision making is simply staying in the shallow thinking water.

 

 

“Ideas are like fish. If you want to catch little fish, you can stay in the shallow water. But if you want to catch the big fish, you’ve got to go deeper. Down deep, the fish are more powerful and more pure. They’re huge and abstract. And they’re beautiful.” – David Lynch

 

 

There is always a time for haste in business.

In fact … speed <as well as knowledge> may be this generation of business’s differentiator.

In fact … because of that we seem to becoming a hasty business generation.

 

What that really means is we need to be even more cognizant of opportunities to be patient.

To take a moment and stop. To not simply check a problem off our list as ‘solved’ but rather make sure the solution isn’t just a … well … solution.

 

Anyway.

Here is what I really liked about the opening quote.

 

Speed to solution.

 

Focus on solving the problem.

It wasn’t about slowing down to make sure every moment was perfectly developed and shaped.

It was about solving the problem.

 

It is about Reflective thinking.love part 4 beauty without intelligence

 

Make sure the solution has some beauty <and no … the beauty is not found in the fact it solved the problem>. It implies you can go back and tweak the components of the solution which don’t look right. Taking time in refection to edit rather than invest the ‘more time’ it takes to create.

 

The real point?

 

Not all solutions which solve a problem are good solutions. If it lacks beauty it is probably the wrong solution.

 

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Written by Bruce