The problem with problems; Lessons from a small project

Early this summer my wife and I installed a cat flap between my at-home office and the rest of the house. Since we keep the cats' food in my office the new little door allows them to come and go without the office door being left ajar - a welcome bit of isolation in a house with many kids on summer break (ending all too soon according to them).?

The larger of our two cats caught the vision immediately and uses the door throughout the day (I suspect sometimes just to escape the noise). The smaller one has been much more hesitant, generally preferring to use the actual door. Frequently she'll even sit in front of it for long stretches staring at anybody on the other side (the door has many small panes of glass in it), willing them to open it for her.

At dinner one evening this summer my oldest son wondered aloud if the cat door might be too high for her to use comfortably. My at-home office happens to be in the sunroom attached to the back of the house and is a step down from the main floor of the house. Consequently, the cat door is mounted much higher off the floor on one side of the wall than the other, making it an awkward exit for a short-legged cat. I asked my son what he thought we should do about it and he suggested we build a small stool that could be used as a platform so she wouldn't have to jump up or down directly into/out of the door. The next Saturday I handed him a tape measure, asked him to draw up simple plans for his stool, and we worked together to build it (he did most of the work).

The stool came out just as he designed it. It was sturdy, colorfully painted on the inside (white on the outside to keep Mom happy), and level with the bottom of the cat door. He placed it in front of the cat door and then scooped up the nearest cat; it happened to be the larger of the two, the one already accustomed to using the door. The cat crouched and performed an army crawl through the doorway and away he went. My son performed a celebratory fist pump and walked away feeling cheered. <I guess we'll have to work on test case design some other day...>

Some time passed and we noticed it hadn't really affected the smaller cat's behavior much. She was using the cat door more than she had, so the stool was helping, but she still found many occasions to reproachfully stare through the window, often while sitting next to the very stool intended to solve her problem.

It was my wife who eventually walked over and turned the stool on its side (the stool is taller than it is wide). She picked up the smaller cat and set her on the now-sideways stool. And...bam! Through the door the cat went. Problem fixed. #genius

The cat had indeed needed a stool, but not a stool that brought her level with the bottom of the doorway; she needed something that let her step through. It looks a bit odd now, sitting on its side, but it does the job.

Albert Einstein reportedly once said, “If I were given one hour to save the planet, I would spend 59 minutes defining the problem and one minute resolving it.” For those paid to solve problems it's helpful to remember that identifying/defining the problem (being certain you're trying to solve the right problem) is often the most challenging part of innovation. Unfortunately, many work cultures prize action over measured deliberation.

A visiting lecturer at Cornell once shared an example from their own career that helps to highlight this point. He had been hired by a wealthy client to design and build a tall and expensive wall between their house and the neighbor's. Upon meeting the client he inquired as to the reasoning behind building a large wall in such a well-kept neighborhood. Through a series of questions he identified the customer's actual need: isolation from the neighbor's frequent parties (which were both loud and bright).

“The job of a good systems engineer is to first try to put themselves out of a job.”

He then went next door and discussed the matter with the neighbor and reached the conclusion that a wall was not needed. For less than the cost of a wall the client could replace the speakers at the neighbor's home with some designed/baffled to limit the spread of the sound, isolating the neighbors (all of them, not just the client) from the sound, and plant a row of trees between the property to block the bright lights. My mentor's boss was not pleased -- he'd gotten their contract cancelled. The customer, however, was very happy with the solution; it saved them money, beautified the property, and improved neighborly relations.

The visiting lecturer put it this way, “The job of a good systems engineer is to first try to put themselves out of a job.” He then went on to clarify what's already been described: a good solution requires a good understanding of the problem.

(Notably, the client remembered and later hired the company for further and more lucrative work in the years that followed)

So, if you find yourself wondering why the cat is still staring at you, maybe the problem isn't your solution, but whether you identified the right problem to begin with. Perhaps turning the problem - or the solution - on its side will give you what you need: a change in perspective.