What Problem Are You Trying to Solve?
Figure that out first.
I asked my engineering students, “Where do problems come from?” and they just looked at me stupefied, like I was posing some kind of crazy rhetorical question just to set up another 30 minute in-class rant philosophizing about their chosen profession.
Which, of course, I was.
Read the full article for free at https://seagertp.substack.com/p/what-problem-are-you-trying-to-solve.
Just because engineers are outstanding problem-solvers doesn’t mean they have any skills in problem formulation. In engineering school, we drill our students in problem-solving, but as far as they know these problems come from professors, from worksheets, from politicians, bureaucrats, or middle managers... . And the answers to all the odd numbered problems can be found at the back of the book.
Engineers typically have no idea where problems come from, and it’s my fault. As an engineering instructor, I’ve failed to give my students opportunities to practice problem formulation, because I (like my colleagues) have been so caught up in drilling them on problem-solving.
So I’ve gotten better at asking, “What problem are you trying to solve?”
