Three ways people respond to a problem (other than solving it)

ssurprisetalk about 4 hours ago 31 commentsRead Article on improvesomething.today

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Discussion (31 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews

throw4847285•3 minutes ago

There is a fourth that the author would never mention:

Hire consultants about the problem

didgetmaster•about 1 hour ago

People often attribute the government's inability to solve a problem even after throwing billions of dollars at it; as a sign of incompetence. While there is plenty of incompetence within government; I think the 'Preserve the Problem' response is mostly to blame.

If we 'solved' crime, homelessness, drug use, poverty, etc.; then budgets would decrease and political power would diminish. Those in charge of solving the problem often have the least incentive to do so.

have_faith•34 minutes ago

Does anyone within the system genuinely feel threatened by the idea that something like "crime" can be "solved" to the point that they're avoiding solving too much crime? Same logic for the others.

treis•20 minutes ago

It's not quite that black and white. You have fixed amount of policing resources and it goes to the most impactful crimes. If crime goes down then they start caring about petty stuff. If it goes back up then they stop.

This applies more directly to something like foster care. My state is going through a budget crisis and anecdatally the result is significantly fewer kids coming into and remaining in care. It moves at the margins so a borderline case that might have resulted in removal before now doesn't.

As you note it's unlikely that some problems can be completely solved. But our resource allocation is mostly fixed or varies based on circumstances beyond whatever problem is being solved.

dooglius•25 minutes ago

It's going to be a much more granular detail than all of crime. If your job is to investigate counterfeited 27B-6 forms, you are going to be threatened by that form moving to being filed digitally with cryptographic signatures.

dmitrygr•28 minutes ago

A LOT of crime can be solved. A huge percentage of perps are multi-repeat perps. Putting them away permanently would solve a lot of crime.

"75% to 83% of released prisoners are arrested for a new crime" https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/2018-update-prisone...

whall6•5 minutes ago

seems cruel and unusual…

tchalla•26 minutes ago

… in the US

sharadov•21 minutes ago

The pushing problems around under the guise of solving them for political gain is what corporate and government malfeasance is all about.

The better you are at the game the higher you climb!

rawgabbit•about 1 hour ago

The "meta" problem is that political in-fighting usually results in local optimization everywhere. Various departments throw each other under the bus to steal budget/people/resources. When leadership finally decides to right the bus, they hire an outside consultant; this is an important signal to the departments to stop the nonsense and tell the consultant what everyone knows but doesn't want to talk about. Serious problems require serious solutions. It is much easier to say if Y department would give us X, then line go up forever.

0wis•about 3 hours ago

Nice article, interesting to keep an open mind. On "No. 0002. Preserving problems", it can happen to people too, no need for a complex system at the size of a company. I have often noticed recognized experts keeping the root of the problem unsolved because it was justifying their position. I may even have been subject of this curse. As an expert, you may know the root cause but have no incentive to solve it and it can be harder to mobilize ressources to solve the root cause than to keep solving the superficial issue. It is management or outside help role to identify and push for solving problems at their root, but it takes time and dedication because of expertise. As most of the time, incentives explain nearly everything.

functionmouse•about 1 hour ago

reminds me of an old meme

> have "problem"; don't care: no problem

cheschire•about 3 hours ago

Seems related to the four risk management strategies:

- Avoidance

- Mitigation

- Transference

- Acceptance

blitzar•about 1 hour ago

Sounds like the classic 5 stages ... Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance.

Insanity•10 minutes ago

Well, I guess both risk management and the 5 stages are inherently a human activity. Not too surprised that behaviour transfers across personal/professional boundaries. :D

jagged-chisel•about 3 hours ago

> … they inadvertently perpetuate the problem

“Inadvertently”? Seldom.

shermantanktop•about 3 hours ago

Do you think people look in the mirror and say “I’m going to be a terrible person today?”

They look in the mirror and say “good job playing the hand you’re dealt - keep it up!” even while what they do is objectively terrible.

Humans have an incredible capacity for rationalizing their own behavior.

jagged-chisel•about 2 hours ago

That’s definitely not “inadvertent.”

blitzar•about 1 hour ago

Not my problem - the best kind of problem.

MarkusQ•about 2 hours ago

Three more common ways of responding to a problem:

Weaponize it.

Study it.

Blog about it.

andsoitis•about 3 hours ago

There’s a fourth: deny

1970-01-01•about 3 hours ago

There's a 0th: empathy. They want to hear you say you heard them, hear you say the problem is a problem, and have you say the problem is making things harder.

pessimizer•18 minutes ago

The cool thing about this one is that you don't even have to understand what they said, just learn how to repeat it back to them with a sad look on your face.

ActionHank•about 3 hours ago

My colleagues like this one.

metalman•about 3 hours ago

or perhaps thats the first response?

in any case, as a hard core problem solver who is currently overwhelmed with problems I am bieng forced into no choice paragmatic responses. where I have lost any reserve capacity, deflect, move, deny a problem and get some rest, eat, shave the yak, before rejoining the fray with enough energy to perform is just part of the routine now. ie: triage or go under, which may be habit forming

jagged-chisel•about 3 hours ago

Denying the problem exists is not the same.

Denying that the problem is a “problem” would be.

In the first case, the affected do nothing because there is no problem.

In the second, it’s “not a problem” because they did a thing and moved it elsewhere.

josefritzishere•about 1 hour ago

hug of death?

black6•about 2 hours ago

The company for which I work seems to be run by engineers. When learning to be an engineer you're taught that doing nothing is always a valid option. In Army leadership courses we were taught that ANY decision is better than NO decision.

My company is stifled by a bunch of engineers in leadership positions who always choose to defer up the chain rather than make a decision themselves.

an0malous•about 1 hour ago

“Do nothing” can be a decision

IshKebab•about 2 hours ago

The most common response I see is "unfortunately this problem is impossible for us to fix because I can't be bother.. err I mean because of these technical reasons. Yes definitely that."