Guest Opinion: It's time to try a problem-solving approach that really works Guest Opinion: It's time to try a problem-solving approach that really works (September 01, 2004)

by Bill Cutler

I have a challenge for both citizens and government leaders of Palo Alto: We can make a breakthrough, getting beyond the fumbling, muddling, wrangling and bungling that so typify governance in our great nation.

The fact is our old way of debating issues is obsolete -- in the face of contemporary complexity it actually causes polarization and harm.

The tragedy is that methods to deal with complex, contentious issues are available. They are not widely known, not even on the radar scopes of most people.

The new approach is not mysterious. When they first hear about it, people usually agree it would be the better way to go, if .... Yet somehow they can't make the leap. Those "other people" won't go along, and there isn't time to convince them.

Imagine you've taken a job digging a ditch, in the old days when all you've got is a pick and shovel. I show up, offering a modern backhoe. Clearly it would be faster, better and take less effort, but it's unfamiliar. You don't know how to use it. Under a deadline, you can't risk taking time to learn. So you finish in the same old pick-and-shovel way -- then another short-deadline job to dig another ditch comes along.

Perhaps this analogy is a bit extreme, but failing to shift our civic approach now is like sticking with the pick and shovel. A little disruption now will yield a big payoff in smoother, quicker and better resolution of the endless stream of complex, contentious issues we seem to come up with in Palo Alto.

Most local issues run into two deadly barriers, which experts in this field have termed plunging and lunging. When faced with complex, often ambiguous situations, most of us plunge past them straight into details before ever grasping the big picture.

Then, surrounded by details, we try to avoid getting lost by lunging at the first plausible-looking solution. We never take time to understand the problem fully or explore the range of possible solutions.

So here's the backhoe: the principles of sound solution-discovery.

1) Engage all stakeholders as partners in the solution-discovery process. Empower them, and elicit the expression of their values, interests and priorities.

2) Create a definition of success, agreeable to all stakeholders, that defines both the problem and the qualities of a resolution. Resolve inconsistencies and conflicts later in the process. 3) Set up a strategy, agreeable to all stakeholders, for exploring the full range of possible solutions -- ensuring that no good possibilities are overlooked.

4) Set up an evaluation method, agreeable to all stakeholders, that will select and validate the better solution. This is the stage where resolution of conflicting interests happens.

6) Then and only then, undertake consideration of possible solutions.

Of course it's not that cut-and-dried. There will be back-and-forth moves, exploring dead ends and re-defining the problem, chasing a moving target.

Just keep in mind the general direction. Build later steps on earlier work, as initial problem awareness (and almost total ignorance) evolves to understanding the solution and why it is the best that can be done.

Will these principles work? They got us to the Moon and created a myriad of other wonders in military, space and commercial spheres. They are used in fields as diverse as architecture and mediation.

We've had some close approaches to success locally -- creation of the San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers Authority, the Municipal Waste Water Treatment Goals Project and the Charleston-Arastradero Corridor study. The leaders of those efforts had an intuitive feel for the principles, and to the extent the principles were used the results were good.

So who will take the first step out of the pick-and-shovel rut? Any public official can direct its use in her or his area. Any developer could take this route to a better-planned project, enjoying quick and painless approval, yielding more profit, sooner.

The City Council can mandate it for all complex, contentious issues under city jurisdiction. A group of civic leaders could demand its use, and institute an educational process to introduce it to the public and train practitioners.

The current hot-button issue is the proposed Environmental Services Center in the baylands -- and it's not too late to bring better tools to that job. The Dumbarton Bridge southern approach is looming on the horizon, and we'd better start preparing to tie down that 800-pound gorilla.

Bill Cutler is a retired aerospace-system engineer exploring how to apply system-based solution-discovery approaches to complex civic issues. He can be e-mailed at bigbillcutler@aol.com.

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