Split Problem Definition From Problem Solving
Run two meetings so you solve the real problem, not the first one named
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 83%
Parrish observes that in meetings full of smart, ambitious people, someone offers a plausible-sounding problem definition and everyone immediately starts solving it, without anyone pausing to ask whether it's the real problem. Because solving the wrong problem doesn't hurt in the moment, the cost shows up later as miscommunication, frustration and lost time. The safeguard is to break one meeting into two: a problem-definition meeting whose only job is to establish the actual problem, and a separate problem-solution meeting. This doesn't require more total time; a half-hour definition meeting plus a half-hour solution meeting works. Ideally a night sits between them, but even morning-and-afternoon on the same day helps. Only truly urgent decisions justify collapsing the two.
Origin
Parrish drew the safeguard from his years working in operations, where teams routinely separated problem-definition from problem-solution meetings by a day unless a situation was genuinely urgent. It appears as an organisational safeguard in Clear Thinking.
Core principles
- 01The source of most decision failures is solving the wrong problem
- 02Smart type-A people rush to solve before defining
- 03Solving the wrong problem hides its cost until later
- 04A pause to verify the problem is worth the small delay
- 05Definition and solution deserve separate, protected time
How to run it
- 1
Convene a definition-only meeting
Gather the group with the single explicit goal of defining the problem, and make clear that no solutions will be discussed yet.
Watch out Type-A people instinctively jump to solutions; state the no-solving rule up front.
- 2
Interrogate the problem definition
When a definition is offered, deliberately ask whether it's the actual problem or merely one that sounds reasonable and close.
Pro tip The reflex to accept the first plausible definition is exactly what this meeting exists to resist.
- 3
Insert a gap
Ideally leave a night between definition and solution; if the timeline is tight, at least separate them into morning and afternoon.
- 4
Hold the solution meeting
Reconvene specifically to solve the now-verified problem, keeping total time comparable to a single meeting.
- 5
Reserve collapsing for true urgency
Only merge the two when a decision genuinely must be made in the next few minutes.
Watch out Treating routine decisions as urgent defeats the safeguard and reintroduces wrong-problem solving.
In the wild
A team gathers, someone throws out a problem definition that sounds reasonable, and everyone immediately starts solving it. Nobody pauses to ask if it's the real problem. It's probably close, but not quite right, and because solving the wrong problem feels fine in the moment, the group leaves reinforced and satisfied. Later the true problem keeps cropping up, generating miscommunication, frustration and lost time that nobody traces back to the original meeting. Splitting it into a half-hour definition meeting and a half-hour solution meeting, ideally with a night between, would have surfaced the real problem before effort was spent.
→ Separating definition from solution catches the wrong-problem trap before it becomes expensive downstream chaos.
Common mistakes
Accepting the first plausible problem
A definition that merely sounds reasonable is treated as correct, so the team solves something close to but not actually the problem.
Labelling everything urgent
Collapsing the two meetings by default because a decision 'can't wait' reintroduces exactly the wrong-problem solving the split prevents.
Is it for you?
Best for
Managers and teams whose meetings leap straight to solutions on important, non-urgent decisions.
Not ideal for
Genuinely urgent situations requiring action in the next few minutes.
From the transcript
“we can break the problem definition from the problem solution meetings”
“nobody's actually paused and been like hey is this the actual problem”
From the episode
How To Become A Clear Thinker - Shane Parrish - #714
Shane Parrish