Strides Interactive

Problem Solving : Look Near Before Looking FarFiled Under: Discussion

Sometimes it’s possible to resolve a problem by looking near for resources instead of building it by your own. This depends on the problem context and domain as well as time limits.

A lot of time, due to lack of time, people make a hasty decision to use whatever they have in their nearest range to try to resolve a certain problem.

This is a bad habit. But we’ll not talk in depth about this just yet.

So, why should we look near before looking far? The reason is because sometimes answers are already in front of you. It’s just that factors like time,  scope and others cloud your judgement.

While looking near, it refers to 2 things at least:

1) Things that are already there, done by yourself previously
2) Things that are done by others

Could these be enough to resolve the current problem at hand? If yes, then are there any implications to future problems?

Another perspective of looking near before looking far:
Problem: Pregnant wife craving for “Penang Laksa” made only in Penang

Possible solutions:

1) Bring her to Penang
2) Fly to Penang, grab the laksa and fly back to Singapore, hoping that the laksa is still hot enough
3) Order ingredients from Penang on how to do a homemade version of Penang laksa

This order of solutions are looking far before looking near. Ready-made ingredients are readily available in most parts of the world in packets and with proper preparations, a homemade version of Penang laksa might really be possible.

However, we’ve forgotten to take a closer look at the problem! The keywords are craving to eat Penang Laksa. We know that there’s laksa in Sigapore, so how can we quickly find the crux of the problem?

First we must find out the differences between the Singapore Laksa vs Penang Laksa. Most people who have eaten the Penang Laksa would know that it contains Assam. This ingredient isn’t found inside the Singapore version.

Therefore, is it possible to at least try to mix assam into the local version of laksa and see if it satisfies the craving? If it does, problem solved! The initial 3 solutions that I proposed, other than the last solution, the first 2 solutions are no longer relevant!

This is a classic example of solving a problem by looking for resources near you before looking far out for the actual resource you need to resolve your problem.

Conclusion

Know the crux of your problem by looking deeper into it. Only then you’ll be able to find the nearest resource that can tackle the crux. Once done, you’ll find that the problem is most likely to either disappear or wind down to a smaller problem instead.

My next article would be on how to train yourself or use certain games to train your problem solving techniques.

Signing off,

Jeremy