Comments on: Take a cautious approach to problem-solving

By: David Locke

David Locke — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 20:01:15 +0000

I can remember a situation that you could think of as a line. It was stopped. We were trying to get it started again. We spent the day focused on it, and we got nowhere. It wasn’t until we went home and got some sleep. The answer was found in the shower. That’s where a lag can be productive. It isn’t sticking your head in the sand.

The other lags will stem from dependencies.

Another lag will be the one where you chase the quick fix, the intermediate fix, and then the final fix as you explore the problem space. There is no one right answer. There is no one right timeframe, or time to solution. It will depend on how accurate your fix needs to be, how much it can cost, and all the other constraints. The right solution would be wrong in other contexts.

By: Kevin Berardinelli

Kevin Berardinelli — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 16:11:14 +0000

I think the good product manager is one who is flexible in problem-solving techniques. Recognition of the root problem and any interdependencies is crucial from the get-go, and a good product manager should know when to stop the line for an immediate fix or look more strategically and use the problem as a developmental building block. So, I think you both (Emil and Jeff) are correct!

By: Emil Cardell

Emil Cardell — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 13:57:01 +0000

I agree with you that people take the easy way out. But the problem is not waiting but how they solve the problem.

Stop the line mentality makes it hard to only fix the easy problem because the line will be stop when the underlying problems starts to surface.

By: Jeff Lash

Jeff Lash — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 01:48:09 +0000

I see your point, though I’ve seen time and time again people fixing the symptoms without trying to diagnose the disease. Yes, it doesn’t make sense, but it happens all the time. Often, this is because people jump to immediately solve the easy problems — which are often insignificant ones — and ignore the hard problems — which are usually the really crucial ones — simply because they are hard, time-consuming, expensive, or difficult to solve.

By: Emil Cardell

Emil Cardell — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 23:41:25 +0000

Have to say that I don’t agree with this at all. Sticking your head in the sand is never good, if you don’t address the problems early they will grow. Small problems will become big ones. If you don’t find the underlying problem when your solving a problem, then you need to look at new problem solving methods.

I think Toyota and Lean methodology approach is much better. When you find a problem you stop the line and fix the problem so it never occurs again.

By: Ohimor Innocent

Ohimor Innocent — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 15:39:49 +0000

thanks on the tip on exploring strategic options rather than tactical

By: Bookmarks about Heat

Bookmarks about Heat — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 07:15:38 +0000

[...] – bookmarked by 2 members originally found by XxMomsCutiexX on 2008-10-21 Take a cautious approach to problem-solving http://www.goodproductmanager.com/2008/07/16/take-a-cautious-approach-to-problem-solving/ – [...]

By: 阿当说 » 存档 » 产品经理们，遇到Bug请别十万火急

阿当说 » 存档 » 产品经理们，遇到Bug请别十万火急 — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 10:37:03 +0000

[...] Lash 原文链接：Take a cautious approach to problem-solving 翻译：远骋 This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 6th, 2008 at 6:35 pm and is filed [...]

By: 产品经理们，遇到Bug请别十万火急 -- 三秒改变世界

产品经理们，遇到Bug请别十万火急 -- 三秒改变世界 — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 04:53:20 +0000

[...] 本文译自，作者是Jeff Lash。 [...]

By: David Locke

David Locke — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:28:13 +0000

When a problem arises, we have our own orientation towards that problem in terms of time. Our time orientation may start out reactive, where we just have to fix the problem now, transition to predictive, and, we hope, ends up proactive where the problems that could happen have already been addressed. Peace of mind comes when we are acting proactively.

Problems may also require a lag, in which you can’t even think about the problem actively. The solution will come, so don’t be affraid to wait.

One dev organization brrought in a leader to change their processes. The changes were so gradual that the programmers where chomping at the bit to make the changes. Still, those changes came almost imperceptively. Adoption was never an issue.

How many of the problems that we are reacting too have been known problems for quite a while?

By: Shai

Shai — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:49:26 +0000

I think this is great advice for life in general. I am not sitting here waiting for my R&D team to finish a build which is being delayed because they moved files around to clear space instead of just moving to the new storage server we got. Saved 5 minutes a week ago costing them 3 hours so far today. guess this is going to be a long weekend for the QA team.

By: links for 2008-07-17 (Jarrett House North)

links for 2008-07-17 (Jarrett House North) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 02:44:06 +0000

[...] Take a cautious approach to problem-solving (Good Product Manager) Don’t solve all problems right away. Let them mellow. (tags: productmanagement) [...]