The best solutions are often the most obvious ones. Right in the midst of finding solutions, the obvious is hard to see (for most people). Ultimately, the obvious is seen and the solution dawns on everyone involved.
But then, because of this obviousness, none of the dozen people who broke their heads with complicated pseudo-solutions look at the final, obvious solution with an “ah ha” feeling. Everyone sees it as “of course, yes, this is obvious!”
The person who did introduce the obvious solution to the table has to live with this. This is the curse of the system.
The best problem-solvers are people who help others declutter the complicated, messy, sophisticated labyrinth they create in trying to find a solution for a problem and show them the obvious.
Most people I’ve met are not the best problem-solvers. They are people who live by the old adage (that needs to be retired soon), if it’s stupid and it works, it’s not stupid and end up creating complicated, ill-thought-out, short-term hacks that are not solutions at all. These folks think that solving a problem (or creating something to help people do things) is a sophisticated affair that involves a lot of things — things like a lot of talent, knack, experience, brains, knowledge, expertise etc.
But then, that’s not what’s required.
What is truly required is an aversion to complexity, an affinity to simplification and, many times, a ruthless reductionist approach… it is only these things that help us see the obvious.
Aside: it’s funny how much of a misnomer “the obvious” is.
Despite being obvious, these solutions don’t come easily or quickly. Simple is not easy to embrace, complexity is not easy to let go of (because of our large preoccupations with ego) and most importantly, reductionism is mistaken to be fatal.
The guy who came up with the obvious solution spent ages thinking about the problem (and fighting the urge to come up with solutions before asking the right questions — a fight many people never fight and those who do, lose). The epiphany of the obvious solution comes after many battles.
But there is no celebration of this victory. And that’s because when the guy reveals the solution to his comrades, they say, “But of course!”