Whats the best way to “solve” a problem? It’s by not solving it, its by dissolving it.

Back in the day, the Ohio Match Company had an issue. They were constantly getting sued because customers were burning their hands when lighting a match.

What happened is customers struck the abrasive on the front of the matchbook, then the sparks ignited the other matches causing an unexpected fire that burned the hand. How could you solve this problem?

Resolving a problem

Resolving is plucking solutions from experience. It takes from what’s worked in the past to get an outcome that’s good enough. It’s a mental shortcut that takes what’s worked before and applies it again and again.

The Ohio Match Company tried to resolve the problem by adding warning labels that tells customers to close the flap fully before striking matches to avoid burning their hands. But this had little to no impact, customers still burned their hands constantly.

Solving a problem

Solving a problem looks to create an optimal solution rather than a good enough solution. Solving relies on experimentation and research rather than experience. Solving is looking for the optimal solution by iteration and research. If you are engineering or researching something for optimal performance, you are looking for a solution.

Dissolving a problem

There’s a better way to deal with a problem other than solving it, that’s to “ dissolve” it.

Dissolving is about removing the need for a solution. It’s about redesigning the overarching system so the problem cannot exist, and that’s exactly what the Ohio Match Company did.

One day, a young man went to the Ohio Match Company and offered them a way to eliminate burnt hands and lawsuits its product was causing. He said it wouldn’t add to the cost of production, and they could implement it right away. What did he propose?

He proposed to move the abrasive to the back of the matchbook so the sparks couldn’t reach the other matches when striking a match.

He redesigned the matchbook so the problem could not exist anymore. Ever since then, all their matchbooks have been created this way.

Problems often come from the previous solution. Solving a problem is a constant process of creating a solution, introducing new problems, and solving those new problems. Yes, design is about solving problems, but design is also one of the few disciplines equipped to take it a step further and dissolve a problem.

Resources and rabbit holes

Russell Ackoff, a gifted an prominent systems thinker and someone who I reference in the article told this story. Here, he also discussed the 3 kinds of problems in this lecture.

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Originally published at https://tangentdesign.substack.com on March 15, 2022.