Shipulski On Design

Fixing things is easy. Not fixing things is difficult.

We have a natural inclination to try to fix every problem, but that’s a problem in itself because we have more problems than we have time to solve them.

To fix or not to fix?  That is the question.

If you know you can’t solve it, yet you try, I think that’s a bigger problem.  You have all the downside of trying to solve it (consumed resources) and all of the downside of not solving.

If you know you can’t solve it, and you don’t try, you get accused of not caring.  But, in fact, you do care.  You care about preserving your capacity to solve the solvable problems.

When you have the gift of seeing problems, you also have the curse of seeing problems.

You can’t unsee a problem, so sometimes it’s best not to look so you don’t have to see.

Solving a problem that’s not yours to solve creates a bigger problem. The next time the problem arises, it’s yours to solve.  The real problem owner gets to go home early, and you get to stay late to fix their problem.

See a problem, solve a problem…. But only if it’s yours to solve.

See a problem, solve a problem…. But only if you can.

See a problem, solve a problem…. But only if it’s the most important problem.

See a problem, solve a problem…. But only if you don’t create a bigger problem by solving it.

Image credit — Mike Keeling (one too many head-on collisions)