The best form of problem solving is to avoid problems altogether.
At the point you have a “fire” in your organizaiton you have to fight it. But it is better to create systems that avoid fires taking hold in the first place.*
This is a simple idea. Still many organizations would perform better if they took this simple idea to heart. Many organizations suffer from problems, not that they should solve better, but problems they should have avoided altogether.
By John Hunter, see more of my trip to Rocky Mountain National Park.
A stronger management system based on continual improvement using experimentation based practices (PDSA etc.) while viewing the organization as a system should reduce the need for heroic action to fix problems.
Related: Add Constraints to Processes Carefully – Righter Incentivization – The Edge-case Excuse – The Trouble with Incentives: They Work – Practicing Mistake-Promoting Instead of Mistake-Proofing at Apple
* This idea is sensible for management systems and cities; for forests that have evolved complex ecosystems in which fires play a roll it may well not be a wise strategy (as the US Forest Service has learned).
