It can be great to be solutions-oriented, but it’s problematic to start with solutions.
Just because you have a preference for a hammer, screwdriver, or saw or these are convenient options already in your toolbox, doesn’t mean they’re the best tools to solve the problem.
Your toolbox of go-to solutions may even undermine your ability to solve the problem thanks to a cognitive bias known as the law of the instrument. As Abraham Maslow said, “I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.”
If you want to solve a problem, start by doing the work to see, understand (building a People Periscope can help with this), and frame the problem.
From there, you can orient yourself to exploring and testing out possible solutions—ones that can truly solve the problem..
