"The Difference between Focusing on Problems and Focusing on Solutions "

A lesson about over thinking things!

Case 1
When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space, they found out that
pens would not work at zero gravity (ink won't flow down to the writing
surface). To solve this problem it took them one decade and $12 million.
They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down, underwater,
on practically any surface including crystal and in a temperature range
from below freezing to over 300 degrees C. And what did the Russians do
when faced with a similar situation...?? They used a pencil.

Case 2
One of the most memorable case studies on Japanese management was the case
of the empty soap box, which happened in one of Japan 's biggest cosmetic
companies. The company received a complaint that a consumer had bought a
soap box that was empty. Immediately the authorities isolated the problem
to the assembly line, which transported all the packaged boxes of soap to
the delivery department. For some reason, one soap box went through the
assembly line empty. Management asked its engineers to solve the problem.
The engineers worked hard to devise an X-ray machine with high-resolution
monitors manned by two people to watch all the soap boxes that passed
through the line to make sure that they were not empty. No doubt, they
worked hard and they worked fast, but the company spent a whopping amount
to do so. But when a rank-and-file employee in a small company was posed
with the same problem, he did not get into complications of X-rays, etc.,
but instead came out with another solution. He bought a strong industrial
electric fan and pointed it at the assembly line. He switched the fan on,
and as each soap box passed the fan, it simply blew the empty boxes out of
the line.

Moral
Always look for simple solutions. Devise the simplest possible solution
that solves the problems.