The best problem solvers I know don't actually solve problems. They redefine them until they're easy. Spent the weekend reading "Are Your Lights On?" by Weinberg & Gause. It's a problem-solving book from the 80s. Everything in it applies to building AI products today. // FROM THE BOOK "We can never be sure we have a correct definition. Even after the problem is solved." This broke my brain a bit. Then I realized it's liberating. // REAL EXAMPLE Client comes to me: "Our brand is inconsistent." Old me would: • Audit everything • Build massive design system • Spend months "fixing" it Now I ask: • WHO perceives inconsistency? • WHAT does inconsistent mean to them? • WHEN does it matter? Often discover: • Sales team needs deck templates (solved in 1 day) • Product team needs component library (solved in 1 week) • "Inconsistency" = different people solving different needs // THE TRAP Book calls it "taking their solution method for a problem definition." Client: "We need a brand guidelines document." Me (old): "Okay, here's 50 pages." Me (now): "What problem does the document solve?" Often discover they don't actually know. // THE SHIFT Stop being a problem solver. Become a problem definer. // THE 3X RULE "If you can't think of at least 3 things that might be wrong with your understanding of the problem, you don't understand the problem." I use this constantly. Can't think of 3 reasons a user would click that button? You don't understand the user yet. Can't think of 3 ways your "solution" creates new problems? You don't understand the system yet. // PRACTICAL Next time you're stuck: List 3 ways you're wrong about: • The problem • The solution • The user • The constraints • The value Not 1. 3. First 2 are obvious. Third breaks the pattern. That's where insight lives.