10 Aug Problem Solving Tip: Isolate the Variables
When you’re trying to solve a problem, it’s easy to just attack it with a bunch of ideas and hope something sticks. This might even work, but which idea was the real winner? Even if the solutions are expensive, you might not care if you’re just solving a one-time problem, but if you’re struggling with something longer term, it’s going to be helpful to track it down.
I don’t know exactly when my body decided high school sports were a distant memory, but for about 6 months, I’ve been struggling with shin splints and knee pain from the overuse and strain of regularly running on pavement. I’d also recently bought new shoes, just because of wear, and I had greatly increased my mileage for a half-marathon in March. There was a lot going on in a short period of time. My running left me in pain, and I wanted some fast relief while still being able to continue my training for an October marathon.
Complication and cost
Solving a problem with a shotgun approach can lead to a complicated result and a poor understanding of all the factors involved. If you’re designing something for production, you wouldn’t want to pay for implementation that you don’t need. It gets expensive, and when something else goes wrong later, things could get messy. The best approach is to take the time to understand all of the factors by isolating the variables, analyzing the theory, and testing, testing, testing.
In the case of my legs, I gave each solution a couple of weeks before declaring them failures, and I restarted from the control conditions. I purchased new shoes, added orthotic insoles, moved my foot-strike forward to the ball of my foot, reduced my stride length, worked on muscle strength, and started running on trails to lessen the impact. By isolating the solutions, I learned that my foot-strike change actually hurt my knees over long distances, that I need stability shoes but not $30 insoles, and that trail running both requires and improves general strength in my legs. In the future, I’ll get to save $30 on insoles and hundreds of dollars in physical therapy, and hopefully I’ll finish that marathon in the Fall.
It’s never too late
Even if you’ve been struggling with a problem for a while (especially so), it’s never too late to sit back and reset. Analyze all of your assumptions, isolate the variables as much as possible, and brainstorm some new theories. If this is a new process, don’t be afraid to waste a little time. If you’ve been struggling for a while, what’s the harm in taking a little longer when it’s in the right direction?
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