Have you ever noticed that certain problems have elusive, unidentifiable elements confounding your efforts?

I first encountered this when I was in my first year as a school teacher.  No matter what I tried I couldn’t convince a certain student to come to school regularly.  I tried bribes (gift cards the student couldn’t use due to lack of transportation to the store).  I tried threats (detention which the student also did not attend).  I tried calling home (no parents around and phone was often disconnected).

I realize now there were other factors impacting the problem; home relationships, peer relationships, nutrition, poverty, sleep/stress, mental health, transportation, literacy, and learning challenges.  I was using simple solutions for a complex problem.

It’s easy to get caught in the clutter and bramble of the problem and forget to step back and assess whether it is simple, complicated or complex.  I find the lists below useful as a first step.

• requires expertise, experience and relationships.
• begins with an uncertain outcome.
• attempts to understand how the components of the problem and solution inter-relate and intersect.
• cannot be identically replicated in another context.
• challenges established rules and protocols.
• is emergent and dynamic.
• ‘raise a child’

• requires expertise and experience.
• begins with a predictable outcome.
• specifies the separate parts of the solution and how they fit together.
• can be replicated by following the lessons learned in previous attempts.
• relies on established rules and protocols.
• ‘build a rocket’

• does not require expertise, experience or relationships.
• begins with a definite assured outcome.
• has a prescriptive set of steps or process.
• can be replicated if the same steps are followed each time.
• ‘bake a cake’