My Thoughts

Why Most Business Problem Solving Tools Are Like Using a Hammer to Fix Your WiFi

Three months ago, I watched a project manager spend forty-seven minutes creating a fishbone diagram to figure out why the office printer kept jamming. The answer? Someone had been feeding it the wrong paper size for two weeks. But there she was, mapping out every possible root cause from humidity levels to planetary alignment, when a quick chat with the admin assistant would've solved it in thirty seconds.

This is the problem with business problem solving tools. We've become so obsessed with frameworks and methodologies that we've forgotten the most powerful tool we have: actually talking to people who know what's going on.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not anti-framework. I've been training teams in Perth, Melbourne, and Brisbane for over sixteen years, and I've seen these tools work miracles when used properly. The issue is that 78% of managers (yes, I made that statistic up, but it feels about right) treat problem solving tools like magic wands instead of what they actually are: structured ways of thinking.

The Tool Addiction Problem

Here's what happens in most Australian businesses: someone discovers LEAN Six Sigma, or Design Thinking, or the latest problem-solving methodology from Harvard Business Review, and suddenly every issue needs the full treatment. Your coffee machine's broken? Better run a SWOT analysis. The new intern doesn't know how to use the photocopier? Time for a root cause analysis workshop.

I once worked with a mining company in Western Australia where they had seventeen different problem-solving templates. Seventeen! The supervisors spent more time deciding which framework to use than actually solving problems. It was like watching someone debate whether to use a Phillips head or flathead screwdriver while their house burned down.

The real kicker? Their most successful problem solver was an old-timer named Jack who'd never heard of half these tools. His method was simple: walk around, ask questions, listen to answers, try something, see if it works. Revolutionary stuff.

What Actually Works (And What Doesn't)

Let me be blunt about something that might ruffle some consulting feathers: most problems don't need elaborate tools. They need attention and common sense.

Take the 5 Whys technique. Brilliant in its simplicity, deadly when overused. I've seen teams go twelve whys deep trying to figure out why someone forgot to update a spreadsheet. By the seventh why, they were discussing childhood trauma and early learning experiences. Sometimes the answer really is "Sarah was busy and forgot." Full stop.

But here's where I'll defend these tools until my dying breath: when you're dealing with complex, systemic issues, they're absolute gold. I worked with a logistics company that was haemorrhaging money on late deliveries. The obvious answer seemed to be "hire more drivers." But when we mapped out the actual process using value stream analysis, we discovered the real bottleneck wasn't driving time - it was the forty-minute morning briefing that served no actual purpose except making management feel important.

That's when problem solving frameworks earn their keep. Not for everything, but for the stuff that matters.

The Australian Way of Problem Solving

There's something uniquely Australian about how we approach problems, and it's not always flattering. We have this tendency to either completely ignore issues until they explode, or go completely overboard with analysis paralysis. No middle ground.

I remember facilitating a session for a retail chain where we spent three hours debating the perfect problem statement format while customers were literally walking out of their stores because the checkout system was down. The solution was a phone call to IT support, but we were too busy crafting the ideal problem-solving process.

This is where tools like brainstorming sessions can actually hurt rather than help. Not because brainstorming is bad, but because we use it as a way to avoid making decisions. "Let's workshop this" becomes code for "let's avoid responsibility for another week."

The Tools That Actually Matter

After sixteen years of watching teams succeed and fail, here are the problem-solving tools that consistently deliver results:

The Walk-Around Method: Seriously. Get up, walk to where the problem is happening, and talk to the people doing the work. This solves about 60% of business problems immediately. Jack from the mining company was onto something.

The Stupid Question Technique: Ask the obvious questions that everyone assumes have obvious answers. "Why do we do it this way?" "What happens if we don't?" "Who decided this was necessary?" You'll be amazed how often nobody actually knows.

The Time Box: Give yourself or your team exactly one hour to come up with three possible solutions. Not perfect solutions, not comprehensive solutions, just workable ones. Then pick one and try it. The enemy of good enough is perfect.

The Phone Call: Call someone who's solved this problem before. Revolutionary, I know. But most businesses act like they're the first organisation in history to face inventory management issues or staff retention problems.

The fancy tools - fishbone diagrams, DMAIC processes, design thinking workshops - they have their place. But they're like prescription medicine: powerful when used correctly, dangerous when overused, and completely useless if you're treating the wrong symptoms.

When Frameworks Actually Help

I'm not completely cynical about structured problem-solving approaches. There are times when you absolutely need them, and I've seen them transform businesses.

A manufacturing client in Adelaide was losing contracts because of quality issues. Everyone knew there were problems, but nobody could pinpoint exactly where or why. That's when we brought out the heavy artillery: statistical process control, failure mode analysis, the works. It took six weeks of detailed investigation, but we found fourteen different points where tiny variations were compounding into major defects.

That couldn't have been solved with a quick chat or common sense. It needed tools, data, and systematic analysis. The client now swears by structured problem-solving methods, and rightly so.

But here's the thing they also learned: not every quality issue needs the full forensic treatment. Sometimes a bolt just needs tightening.

The Real Problem with Problem Solving Tools

The biggest issue isn't the tools themselves - it's how we teach people to use them. Most training focuses on the mechanics: how to draw a fishbone diagram, how to facilitate a brainstorming session, how to run a root cause analysis. But nobody teaches judgement.

When do you use which tool? How do you know when you're overthinking? What's the difference between a problem that needs analysis and one that needs action?

I've started including a "tool selection flowchart" in my workshops, but honestly, it usually comes down to experience and intuition. The same intuition that tells you when a headache needs paracetamol versus when it needs a doctor.

What Nobody Talks About

Here's something that'll get me in trouble with the consulting industry: sometimes the best problem-solving tool is doing nothing. Not every issue needs fixing. Some problems solve themselves, some aren't actually problems, and some are symptoms of larger issues that you can't address right now.

I worked with a tech startup that was obsessing over their employee turnover rate. They implemented retention programs, conducted exit interviews, analyzed engagement surveys - the full treatment. Six months later, they realised the "problem" was that they'd been growing so fast they couldn't tell the difference between normal turnover and concerning trends.

The solution wasn't a tool or a process. It was perspective.

Making It Work in Reality

If you're going to use problem-solving tools effectively, here are some hard-won lessons from the trenches:

Start with the simplest possible approach. Can you solve this with a conversation? Do that first. Need data? Collect the minimum viable amount. Require analysis? Pick one tool and use it properly rather than three tools poorly.

Set time limits on everything. Problem analysis expands to fill the time available, just like meetings. If you can't identify the core issue in two hours, you're probably overthinking it.

Include the people who actually do the work. This should be obvious, but you'd be amazed how many problem-solving sessions happen in boardrooms with people who haven't touched the actual process in years.

Remember that tools are just tools. A hammer doesn't make you a carpenter, and a fishbone diagram doesn't make you a problem solver. Practice and judgement do.

The Bottom Line

Business problem solving tools are like exercise equipment. Incredibly useful when used regularly and properly, expensive dust collectors when ignored, and potentially harmful when used incorrectly.

Most problems don't need elaborate frameworks. They need attention, honesty, and action. But when you encounter the problems that do need systematic analysis - the complex, multi-faceted issues that resist simple solutions - having the right tools and knowing how to use them becomes invaluable.

The trick is knowing the difference. And that, unfortunately, isn't something you can learn from a flowchart.

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