I love to solve problems. Most people I’ve met in software development love to solve problems too. When you develop skill at problem solving, you get bigger, more complicated problems. These problems are given to you by someone such as the product owner, your boss and in rare cases, actual users!
Solving problems for other people differs from solving my own problems. For my problems I know the context, I know what I want the solution to look like, and I know how important solving my problem is compared to other activities I could do.
It takes time to develop these understandings when solving another person’s problem. In some cases, hubris takes over and we inflict our help on the person who owns the problem.
Over the past forty years, I developed these principles to use when solving a problem for someone.
- The Pause Principal – take a breath before leaping into action
- The Pay Attention Principal – critical information hides in plain sight
- The Partnership Principal – keep the other person involved in the solution
- The Passion Principal – don’t care more about solving the problem than the other person
- The Person Principal – find the person with the problem, and work with them
If you love solving problems, join Esther and me at the next Problem Solving Leadership workshop and discover more models and methods for solving problems especially in groups.
by Don Gray