A. Past

    Start by imagining all those persons who perhaps have had some experience with working with the problem in the past. That is to say, not merely those who have encountered a similar problem before, but more importantly those who have had some experience with the underlying causes, creation or development. Could your problem, say, be an unavoidable consequence to the resolution of yet some other, perhaps more pressing, set of circumstances?

B. Present

    Then, find all those persons who are working with the problem now ... perhaps working around it ... perhaps avoiding it ... perhaps ignoring or overlooking it ... perhaps trying to solve it.

C. Future

    Finally, think about the future. You should consult ALL those persons who may subsequently become affected by your resolution to the problem:

• all those who may bear witness to its creation or development,
• all those who may be forced to somehow work with it,
• all those who may have to work with the consequences to the means used to solve it.

Suppose also, that something happens in the future that prevents or hinders a total and complete solution to the problem so that some of its troublesome aspects cannot be entirely resolved. Who shall you need to prepare or address for such a contingency?

 

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EXAMPLE - Applying this process to the "Triangles" problem:

    As an example, consider the "Triangles" problem on the previous page.

    Imagining the "past" should conjure up an image of, say, an artist creating a drawing of the problem or, perhaps, of a psychologist who creates and uses such problems in tests of intelligence or personal wit.

    Imagining the "present" could perhaps yield a thought of a mathematician who mentally manipulates geometric figures — triangles — on a daily basis.

    Now, lo and behold! You have just conjured up three persons who probably have had some spatial visualization experience (or, in the case of the psychologist, someone who studies spatial visualization in others). Wouldn't just such a motley group of these three individuals be more likely to discover the optimal solution to the "Triangles" problem than, say, a group of three business executives?

    I would believe so.

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III. Group Decision Making

    Group decision making is notoriously inefficient.² The competent find themselves having to educate the incompetent. The dedicated or loyal find themselves frustrated by others who don't share a similar commitment.

    The way around this inefficiency is by ascertaining a particular competence level among all the participants, as well as a shared dedication to finding an optimal solution to the problem at hand.²

    I must point out that you may achieve greater efficiency in the discussion if you limit it to, say, an in-house, e-mail discussion group, whereby all potentially interested persons are e-mailed a detail of the problem and then invited to e-mail back to you their particular thoughts on the topic. You then compile all the opinions in another e-mail, but with an effort at preserving the anonymity of the contributors. This cycle may continue until the problem is optimally resolved, or at least adequately so if you find yourself confined to a particular time frame within which to make your decision. The reason for the anonymity is to avoid any personal bickering that may result among the participants who feel their egos or pride at stake.

    Certainly, at times such an e-mail discussion is not possible or not preferable, and an actual assembly must be held to adequately resolve the issue. A public forum is one example, whereby a new business to a locality may conduct a public meeting at the local town hall in an effort to discuss with the citizens a certain plan or course of development that the company has for, say, some tract of land. In such cases, however, optimal solutions may become irrelevant or second-rate to the popular sentiment expressed by a majority of all the participants. Popular wants, comforts and aversions may override revelations of RIGHT.

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This web page was last updated on Monday, April 12, 2004.
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