Quotes About Problem-solving

You are to imagine a Realworld room with three light bulbs in it. Outside the room are three electric switches. You may only enter the room once, and you may only have one switch on when you enter the room. How can you work out which switch operates which light?

Engineers like to solve problems. If there are no problems handily available, they will create their own problems.

Einstein once said, "If I had 20 days to solve a problem, I would take 19 days to define it,

You can blame people who knock things over in the dark, or you can begin to light candles. You're only at fault if you know about the problem and choose to do nothing.

Effective PMs simply consider more alternatives before giving up than other people do.

Taking responsibility for situations, regardless of who caused them, always helps to expedite resolving

Being a good lead is all about switching hats: knowing which level of abstraction to work at to solve a problem. It's rarely a question of intelligence; instead, it's picking the right perspective to use on a particular challenge.

Many smart people can recognize when there is a problem, but few expend the energy to find a solution, and then summon the courage to do it.

Politics is a kind of problem solving. No matter what organizational challenge you face, and how frustrating it might be, it's just another kind of problem to solve.

Look for smart ways around a problem or faster ways to resolve them. Make effective use of the people around you instead of assuming you have to do everything yourself.

diverse teams make better mousetraps.

A Polish man is hired to paint lines on the highway. On the first day he paints ten miles, and his employer is amazed. On the second day he paints just five miles, and on the third day he paints only one mile of road. Disappointed, his boss asks, "What's the problem? Why are you painting less and less each day?" The Polish man replies, "Well, every day I have to walk farther and farther to get back to the paint bucket.

Two men are in a public bathroom, in adjoining stalls. One man calls over to the other, "Hey, there's no toilet paper in this stall, do you have any over there?" The second man replies, "No, sorry, I don't have any, either." The first man asks, "Well, do you have a newspaper?" The second man says, "No, sorry." The first man pauses then asks, "Do you have change for a twenty?

Q: Did you hear about the constipated mathematician? A: He worked it out with a pencil.

The only time a question should be asked is when all other possibilities of finding the answer for yourself have been eliminated.

The muscle memory of filtering away all the wrong versions of what you're doing improves the more time you're on a film set. I feel like my problem-solving algorithm got kicked up a notch.

Maintaining patience, being generous, and helping your peers takes time, and no small amount of emotional fortitude. But it brings an exponential difference in your team's ability to problem-solve.

Plain question and plain answer make the shortest road out of most perplexities.

Cooper requires him to turn out and find a dry twig; and if he can't do it, go and borrow one.

My boys were experts in all sorts of things, from the stoning up of a well to the constructing of a mathematical instrument. An hour before sunrise we had that leak mended in shipshape fashion, and the water began to rise.

Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.

what is out of the common is usually a guide rather than a hindrance. In solving a problem of this sort, the grand thing is to be able to reason backwards. That is a very useful accomplishment, and a very easy one, but people do not practise it much. In the every-day affairs of life it is more useful to reason forwards, and so the other comes to be neglected. There are fifty who can reason synthetically for one who can reason analytically.

Lestrade had learned by more experiences than he would care to acknowledge that that brain could cut through that which was impenetrable to him.

I am sure, Mr Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your results.' 'I reached this one,' said my friend, 'by sitting upon five pillows and consuming an ounce of shag.