Each and everyday we wake up we are sure to have some type of problem we need to solve. Whether they are well defined problems such as answering statistic homework questions, or taking on an ill-defined problem like trying to untangle a balled up mess the grandson has made with his wired remote control car. (Goldstein, 2011)
Before my vision went south I worked as a Master electrician for a company that specialized in the electrical construction of coal cleaning plants. Each day you faced a multitude of problems. The easy ones were figuring the wire sizes and conduit size. These were well-defined problems. You would plug the figures into mathematical formulas, take the answer and use the tables in the National Electrical code book to determine the correct conduit size, then use the next conduit up. You see, it did not take long to figure out that by the small increase in conduit cost was greatly offset by the huge savings in man hour cost by using a larger conduit.
The hardest part of the job was taking what was drawn as nice neat right angles on the blueprints and applying it to the real word and what was really in the location(s) where you had to run your conduit rack. Yes, you knew how many and the sizes of the conduits you had to put in but the flat one dimensional paper drawing never is the same as the three dimensional real world. It was not unusual to start mapping out your route to find a window, door, steel beam or some other piece of equipment in the way. Now you were faced with an ill-defined problem of getting from point A to point B in the shortest distance to remain within wire code requirements and save money on materials. There were plenty of those “Aha” moments with that job because you could not fixate on one area of the run, you had to look at the whole picture because there is nothing worse than bending conduit around one obstacle then having to go back and tear it out because you did not take into account the next obstacle. The other factor that played a part in in deciding how to run that conduit was the opinion of your partner. You never know they may see a better route than you did.
Everybody faces problems each and everyday. It does not matter if you are an electrician, baker, or doctor. The well-defined problems are easy to solve. The ill-defined, not so easy. You have to observe, process, and then decide how to go about figuring out the problem in the most efficient manner.
I appreciated this post! It’s very reflective of everyday life and it was great to read your personal touch on the subject. We absolutely do face some type of problem every day and it can take on the form of a well-defined or ill-defined problem. Whether it’s trying to figure out which class to focus on for the day, particularly as a World Campus student, or how to solve a problem or answer a question once that decision has been made – it’s a daily dilemma.
With your example, you demonstrated how this worked on the job – determining the correct conduit size, remaining within code requirements, and saving money on necessary materials to which I can relate. Although I am an accountant, similar problems arise in the hospitality industry as well. Overseeing several hotels, we need to determine what is fiscally responsible spending and how this information is to be recorded; what causes fluctuation in guest stays and how can we drive revenue per available room (RevPAR). Recording the spend and revenue is easy, as it is established in the General Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and legislation of Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX). What isn’t that simple is how to drive revenue penetration and finding the fluctuation in guest stays. The latter ill-defined problems are what cause you to think outside of the box and come up with innovative solutions. While the answer may not result right away, you hope that the response remedies the problem successfully (with crossed fingers). As you have stated, “the well-defined problems are easy to solve. The ill-defined, not so easy.”