Problem solving - II

Posted on July 5th, 2007 in Opinions by Puneet Sarda

Last week I wrote about problem solving and the factors that we should pay attention to , to become good problem solvers. This week I want to discuss some aspects about the solutions we come up with and the points we should keep in mind.

  • Open to criticism: Solutions we come up with should be open to criticism to anyone whether its our colleagues, our sponsors or customers. A solution’s real worth is only known after many minds have thought about it. Does it stand the tests of so many minds? Let people who have been in the field scrutinize it and no matter whether they find flaws or rave about the solution, the important thing is someone is thinking about it and hence testing your work. Anyone can voice an opinion about it and they should be allowed to, its our job to decide what we pay attention to and which comments can be ignored. Remember some may criticize the solution, some the solver but don’t worry about it, focus on the problem as thats what matters.
  • Revision: It’s not uncommon to see in the software world alphas and betas of software products. Companies let the intended audience play with it and try to incorporate customer requests, suggestions etc… Over years we see newer and newer versions of software emerge. A solution that makes sense at some point in time might be utterly useless in the future. And the future does not have to be years away. As the environment around the problem changes as well as more genuine criticism flows in, problems need to be revisited and solutions need to be revised.
  • Simplify: We have all said at some point in our lives “Things used to be simple back then”. We have migrated to a very complex lifestyle compared to the 1900s. There are numerous things we do daily, some simultaneously, and many of these form an important aspect of our lives. During such times, its the elegance and simplicity of a solution that stands out to the whole world, Ipod being the cliche example. As our world evolves and our problems being more and more complex, it is to some extent our moral obligation to come up with simple solutions or revise existing ones into simpler forms.

The process of Evolution is the primary inspiration for me as a problem solver… adding changes over time, experimenting and discarding as needed. What inspires to be a good problem solver and how do you judge your solutions??

Problem solving

Posted on June 28th, 2007 in Opinions by Puneet Sarda
I think this is the single most important skill that any of us needs to develop over time. Everything is around solving problems in some or the other way, whether its cleaning clothes(washing machines, detergents) or commuting(cars, planes) or managing a business(accounts, crm software) etc…
I want to talk about a few important factors that come into play when solving problems and how we should make the most of them.
  • Understanding: No significant problem, when it first appeared to mankind, was so simple that it could be understood immediately. When man first saw fire, he was absolutely amazed that how could that happen. It was a complex problem then. The important point here is that most of the times we solve or try to solve a problem without a complete understanding of the same. We need to accept that in all sincerity and realize that as we probe further we will gain more knowledge. Additionally this probing is also a part of the problem solving process and lack of understanding should not deter us from probing further, on the contrary it should be the stimuli for probing.
  • Instincts: We all have a gut feeling about things, some of these being strong feelings while others not being so strong. It is important to realize that instincts help put together some parts of the puzzle which lack of understanding and knowledge left hanging around. As Malcolm Gladwell points out in his book Blink, our first hunch about certain things and the innate ability to thin slice an issue at hand can come in very handy. It’s important to pay attention to our instincts and more important to know when to put them into use.
  • Experience: Repetitively doing the above will help us accumulate experience. Over time, it will also help us put together some pieces of the puzzles which understanding or instincts cannot really help us with. Its a two way road where our experience increases as we solve more problems and our instincts and ability to understand increase with more experience, hence increasing our problem solving skills. It’s smart to learn from the experience of others who have solved same/similar problems as that narrows down the range of error and helps as a guide to begin with.
  • Resources: Today’s world does not suffer as much from lack of resources as much it does from over abundance of them. The onus is on us to carefully select the criteria to select the resources and then select the appropriate resources. Everything from research papers and lab equipment to team members and software are resources. What needs to be used when and how is the crucial issue.
  • Measurement: There has to be a way to know how are we doing so far as we try to solve the problem. We need to measure ourselves against some standards, tried and tested metrics which have worked in the past etc… Selecting the right metrics and revising the list (only if necessary) is something we should pay sufficient attention to.
  • Planning: Scheduling events is something we learn from nature. Day followed by night followed by day. Scheduling events, managing resources and measuring progress or failure are absolutely important to solve a problem. It helps you know the direction you are headed in and decide when/how any diversions are necessary. It is also important to realize that the goal is to solve the problem and not create/maintain the perfect plan.
  • IDEAS: Above all, I consider this the most important factor that can aide us in solving problems. We have to realize that creativity rules. New and interesting solutions are always welcome, ofcourse if they work. Aeron chairs redefined office chairs and Google redefined search. Ideas lead to innovations. To be creative or to have creative people on the team is extremely important. There are many problems out there which have been solved but not all solutions out there are the ones that necessarily interest the consumers. There are few new problems to solve but many existing ones could definitely benefit from an innovative idea. I personally value creativity and ideas more than anything when it comes to problem solving.

Problems make our life, problem solving is pretty much all we do all our lives. There are no golden rules to solve problems but the few factors I mentioned above go a long way in developing the skill.

Feel free to leave comments on what you consider important or what has worked out well for you.

Update: Leo from Zenhabits added a link to this post on his Tumblr Blog. Thanks Leo.

Is Design just eye candy?

Posted on June 19th, 2007 in Design, Opinions by Puneet Sarda

Jess McMullin has an interesting post on his blog bplusd where he asks “Why is it that design focuses on surface elements?”. Read his post for all the details but in summary he puts forward 2 hypothesis as possible reasons for this :

First hypothesis: the design of surface elements acts as a prototypical category for design as a whole.

Second hypothesis: the volume of professional work across levels of design maturity means that there is relatively little framing and problem solving compared to style, form, and function.

For the first one he argues that as surface elements are easier to observe and experience, its likely to associate design with it. I thought of elaborating a little on this hypothesis. We see a lot of print/video ads and most of them are about glossy pictures and hot models showing off some product. There would be terms like “sleek design” thrown in and hopefully we will find some list of “features” etc. But that is the gist of how most products are introduced to customers. Few companies give sufficient weight to ,among other things, usability and simplicity in the initial ads. The immediate motive is to capture user attention with cool videos and pictures to make them look at the product and hopefully think about it.

Even when we browse websites , especially e-commerce websites, its the big product picture on the page that catches your attention and features are somewhere below or worse a link away. I think, we as designers, should pay attention as to how the customer gets educated about design? How do they build the perception of design as Jess describes it? Why is it that when they want to work on their products, revise them, modify them…they think more about “eye candy” and less about the other aspects of a mature design. Of course not all of us can be designers but its really important as a company to decide what kind of a perception of design are we building for our customers. Much has been said about the Ipod but the point I want to highlight is it was after Ipod that people started talking about “simple clean design”. Apple brought that vocabulary to a huge audience and over a period of time people were striving to have that ideology in their product design as well as tout it in their ads.

This kind of leads to the second hypothesis that yes there are lots of work for styling etc… as thats what the customer’s perception has been. Even if we as designers try to convince them otherwise and propose better ways to solve the same problem, without a good understanding of “What is good design” companies won’t be motivated to go beyond the styling.

I think as designers we need to educate our customers while we work with them as they come to us for the simple reason that they believe we know more about design than them. It’s this gentle touch of coaching your client that can make a great difference and help them better understand the idea of good design. Of course we should ourselves be sufficiently “design mature” in the first place but I think its such designers that companies would stick to once they see the benefits over time of well designed products instead of prettied up tools.

What do you think about these issues? Feel free to leave your comments

Treating your customers right

Posted on May 30th, 2007 in Opinions by Puneet Sarda

She’s too busy… has a lot of meetings, there is no fixed schedule…no we don’t make any appointments for the manager. These are some tit-bits of the conversation a friend of mine had with his apartment office when he and his roommate went to talk about renewing the lease for 6 months instead of the standard 1 year and wanted to talk to the apartment manager.

The receptionist talked all about how this year they are doing no short term renewals, new policies are in place and they are very “strict” about them, the manager is making no exceptions whatsoever. Then came suggestions like renew for a year but sublease when you need to leave (so make it your problem not ours), switch to another small apartment in the same complex but with almost the same rent (we still make money but you adjust to the new cramped living conditions). Btw, this is happening the third time after 1 phone conversation and 1 personal meeting with the apartment office. They have been explained that being students who don’t own vehicles, finding a new apartment close to grocery stores, bus stops and other basic amenities is so difficult and time consuming. I guess hence the mentality that the customer really needs us so why bend and solve a problem..let them figure out. Additionally they have been in the apartment for 1 year already.

Btw, this is happening the third time after 1 phone conversation and 1 personal meeting with the apartment office. They have been explained that being students who don’t own vehicles, finding a new apartment close to grocery stores, bus stops and other basic amenities is so difficult and time consuming. I guess hence the mentality that the customer really needs us so why bend and solve a problem..let them figure out. Additionally they have been in the apartment for 1 year already.

Persistence paid as the customers said no matter what they want to meet the manager. She did not meet them but the receptionist talked to her and these guys got a 6 month lease renewal approval.

It’s a pity that for new customers the managers are ready to show apartments anytime, sign and finalize leases but when existing customers come with issues everyone seems to run away and leaves the customer to deal with on their own. Suddenly receptionists turn from welcoming and polite staff to mere policy translators. How many more case studies and market researches do they need to know that treating existing customers well is equally, if not more, important and thats what will keep your business running better.

Religious Atheists

Posted on May 5th, 2007 in Opinions by Puneet Sarda

We have studied Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. The process of natural selection, survival of the fittest and the billions of years over which life has evolved to be where it is today. You would expect that this is a part of our common knowledge. Well I guess not.

This week I have been listening to the world reknown biologist and atheist Richard Dawkins. There are a number of his talks and conversations on YT that are so eye opening and intriguing. One of the concerns I share with him is that of labelling children. Its a practice to label a Hindu’s child as “a hindu child” at such a young age when they don’t even know what religion means. And they don’t have any chance to look at other religions and take their pick of discard all of them and say..” well I don’t need a God”.

He also shows that statistical data suggests a large number of people believe Jesus is coming back in their lifetime, that the universe is just some thousand years old and everyone who does not believe in Jesus is mistaken. But the most interesting part of his talks are where he questions the need of religion, of God and the consequences of it in today’s world. He talks like a true scientist demanding evidence instead of being asked to have blind faith.

His latest book “The God Delusion”, a New York Times Bestseller, has this and much more. You can view his talks on YT

1) Lynchburg, VA Part 1

2) Lynchburg, VA Part 2 

3) Interview with William Crawley

4) Presentations at TED a) The Universe is queerer than we can suppose b) The Design of Life

Another speaker/author Sam Harris also caught my attention especially because of the name of his 2 books: Letter to a Christian Nation and The End of Faith. It was a pleasure to listen to his talk at the LongNow Foundation where he lays down all the issues he has with religion. His talk at IdeaCity is a good jist of what it means to “believe” something.

I will end this post with a link to a healthy debate between Sam Harris and Reza Aslan. I will leave it to you to find out who Reza is. :)

UPDATE: 3 Presidential Candidates DON’T believe in Evolution. God Bless America!!