PROBLEM TYPES

 

Two professors who study the science of complexity - Brenda Zimmerman of York University and Sholom Glouberman of the University of Toronto have proposed a distinction among three different kinds of problems in the world. 

a. Simple Problems

• e.g. baking a cake from a mix.
• There is a recipe. Sometimes there are few basic techniques to learn.
• But once these are mastered, following the recipe brings a high likelihood of success.

        b. Complicated Problems

• e.g. sending a rocket to the moon.
• They can sometimes be broken down into a series of simple problems. But there is no straightforward recipe.
• Success frequently requires multiple people, often multiple teams, and specialized expertise.
• Unanticipated difficulties are frequent.
• Timing and coordination become serious concerns.

        c. Complex Problems

• e.g. raising a child.
• Once you learn how to send a rocket to the moon, you can repeat the process and perfect it. One rocket is like another rocket. But not so with raising a child. Every child is unique. Although raising one child may provide experience, it does not guarantee success with the next child.
• Expertise is valuable but most certainly not sufficient. Indeed, the next child may require an entirely different approach from the previous one.
• And this brings up another feature of complex problems: Their outcomes remain highly uncertain. Yet we all know that it is possible to raise a child well. It's complex, that’s all. 

                                                       (Source: from the book The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande)

As per the Law of Physical Universe - When you encounter a problem, you also find a way to solve it. 

But we tend to forget this law when we encounter problems in our lives. We feel that our problems or the problems faced by us are unique and nobody else is effected by such a problem. We do that because we want to feel special and this is one of the way to make ourselves feel special.