Why the Most Logical Solution To A Problem Doesn’t Solve The Problem
“If there’s a logical solution to a problem, then your competition might have already done it!” says Rory Sutherland in his talks and writes in his brilliant book, Alchemy.
I am watching Inside Bill’s Brain, a 3-part docuseries on Netflix and in the second episode, the above line strikes me and another story I heard fall in line.
Ok, but Why…and How?
#1
India is polio-free. Took a long time, well-designed schemes and all-round efforts to get us there. Along with us, a lot of African countries struggled to contain the spread of polio let alone thinking to eradicate it.
Bill and Melinda Gates foundation focussed on one such country where polio tripled in 2008, in spite of their efforts. In a campaign review meeting, the team asked to double the budget. Bill Gates quadrupled to $400 million. But on one condition- he would be personally involved in the project.
He used data, mapped it with vaccine volunteers who were tasked to go out and vaccinate. They targeted districts with a higher number of polio cases on priority. Then another district would show up on the radar with high numbers. They kept playing the chase and shoot game. The problem persisted.
Bill knew the problem was elsewhere. He had done everything- raise funds, get volunteers, address inhibitions of local leaders and yet failed to address.
In one of his think-week session, while studying the problem by observing and marking on the Nigerian map, it struck. The problem may not be with eyes but the optical lens.
The map he held was designed by British colonists in 1940s and didn’t offer a proper idea of the terrain and the districts.
He explored this further. With the help of satellite imaging and advanced mapping systems, he arrived with a more or less accurate map. Then he mapped the number of polio cases on the new map.
90% of the cases appeared on the borders of the districts. The volunteers in one district thought that the places came under the other and vice versa. Hence it was neglected.
There, he had his solutions. He handed all the volunteers with updated maps clearly defining the number of villages lying under his/her jurisdiction to vaccinate.
The problem gradually reduced and it soon dropped to only 21 cases in the subsequent years.
Two more to go. And you’ll see the pattern
#2
This story was shared years ago by a friend of mine. We were discussing the life of management consultant from the Big 4. Keeping the vanity aside- posh 5-star suites, Mercedes car for pick up and drop, there was something interesting.
His cousin worked for a big 4. He was flown down to an African country where an Indian company started a new iron ore mining project and had set up a new facility.
The problem- the output was not as the company had expected. A year had passed and they were still struggling.
He and his team spent around 3 months going through everything right from management strategy to process to employee treatment to technological equipment. Nothing seemed to work.
They finally said, let’s speak to the workers working deep inside the caves for mining. Not much was revealed, but the team noticed the silent dissatisfaction felt by everyone. They probed further hopeful of finding out something. One worker finally spoke. And they had the solution- to build toilets.
What? Build toilets? Yes. A Big 4 management consulting company, after charging a bomb to the client suggested building toilets?
Reason? The workers worked in shifts. It disturbed their cycle of taking a dump. If they decided to go to the toilet while working, they had to take a walk of close to 2 km which took them around half an hour once they returned. The half an hour meant being late and let’s just admit- it was too much of an effort apart from working in the mines to empty your stomach.
So they waited till the shift got over, but all the time while working a feeling of uneasiness lingered in their heads. Concentration was affected. Hence the output suffered.
They made make-shift toilets put up within 500 meters of the mining site did increase the output. They tracked for the next 3 months to make sure if the solution was the one that actually did the work. It had worked.
Takeaways:
I come back to the beginning of this article. I will modify it slightly to suit my purpose. If there seems to be a logical solution to a problem, then many would have probably tried it.
Bill Gates agreed to increase the polio vaccination budget to $400 million. The most logical solution to the problem of why the campaign was not working. But was that going to solve the problem? The solution was elsewhere- old, inaccurate maps.
The management consulting team applied all ‘logical’ solutions to the problem. It might have worked marginally. But the problem persisted. The solution remained elsewhere- humans unable to address nature’s call.
Parting Thought:
- Let’s look at the problem of road accidents due to road rage. What is the most optimal solution? Penalize the drivers. Does it work? No (to some extent, yes). But have we, on a mass scale, solved the problem in a different way? NO.
- Corruption. What is the most logical solution to this problem? Suspend the officers who act in the self-interest at the cost of others. It could be asking for money, undue favours, partisanship or reluctance. Have we looked at the other way?
- Education. 80% of engineers are not fit to be employed. Solution? Additional courses by paying additional fees. Should academicians who haven’t for once worked in the field or have lost touch of the real-life challenges, business challenges be allowed to dictate the curriculum?
- Extension of the above point. The graduate courses set in the early or middle of the 20th century still demands we set aside 3 years or 4 years for acquiring the degree. Does it take the advent of Wikipedia and other information available on the internet to reduce the number of years taken to finish the degree? (Got to know about this from one of Rory Sutherland’s podcast)
