As an engineer, I want to solve problems. As a consultant, I’ve learned that’s not enough.
Life rarely gives us neat, well-defined problems.
It gives us messy situations, with argumentative stakeholders, unreliable data, and tensions over culture and power.
We don’t operate in a laboratory. We operate in a wicked messy swamp, requiring soft skills to address practical issues.
You can see the world as full of problems to solve, or as problem situations to improve.
Success looks different in the second view.
It’s not about the “right answer” but about getting stakeholders to commit to the next action.
Because without commitment, even the best solution goes nowhere.
That means:
- learning your way through the situation
- negotiating between perspectives
- agreeing a direction
- and committing real resources.
And here’s the twist:
When you focus on what people actually need and, you often end up with better solutions anyway.
References
John Mingers. 2011. Soft OR comes of age – but not everywhere
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