
COL Michael Wyly, USMC (ret). As recounted in Robert Coram's book, Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War, it was as a major that Wyly was appointed by MAJ GEN Bernard Trainor to be in charge of tactics at the Marine Corps' Amphibious Warfare School. And he was directed to "fix" the tactics curriculum. He consulted an expert, Bill Lind, to find some new thinking about tactics. Lind recommended John Boyd. Wyly invited Boyd to brief his class, and he opened the class to all students. This incident turned out to be a significant link in the chain — or node in the web, really — of events that remade thinking about both tactics and strategy of the U.S. military, and, eventually, industry. Wyly's approach fits the pattern described here: find an expert to recommend an expert. Photo courtesy Norman Fulkerson via his blog, "Modern American Heroes."
Whether it's an application user interface, a piece of equipment, a redesigned process, a marketing strategy, or whatever, when the unexpected occurs, we ask experts to explain how to proceed, or to fix the problem. When they can fix it, that's great, but when they can't, our first thoughts are usually that the expert we called is perhaps not expert enough. That's the easy case, so let's set it aside.
The more difficult case is that the experts we called are skilled enough, and might even be the best there is, but they're expert in the wrong field. How can this happen? What are the consequences? How can we prevent it?
Three important mechanisms can lead to calling the wrong expert.
- Limited authority to choose
- We can't always choose the expert we need. Budget restrictions, signature authority, and expert availability sometimes dictate the choice.
- Control mechanisms and expert availability can both generate risk. Account for this risk in risk plans.
- Incorrect diagnosis
- Sometimes we diagnose the problem incorrectly, either by honest mistake, or by overestimating our own diagnostic expertise.
- Unless you have diagnostic expertise, let experts perform the diagnosis.
- Undue influence by experts
- Sometimes an expert employee, consultant, or contractor recommends an expert, not on the basis of suitability, but as a favor to the expert being recommended, or because of constraints imposed by the recommender's employer.
- Validate recommendations for their objectivity.
Calling in the wrong expert can have serious consequences:
- Wasting time and resources
- Experts (and all people) are vulnerable to what psychologists call a mental set. If the problem solution lies within the expert's domain of expertise, nobody can address it better. But if the problem solution lies elsewhere, we waste time and resources eliminating all possible solutions within the expert's domain.
- Damaging assets
- Before the wrong experts deduce that the problem solution lies outside their domains of expertise, damage to assets is possible. The experts might even be the agents of the damage.
- Learning
- The one benefit Sometimes we diagnose the problem
incorrectly, either by honest mistake,
or by overestimating our own
diagnostic expertiseof choosing the wrong expert is the potential to learn the importance of choosing the right expert. That learning can lead us to re-examine the expert-choosing process.
To prevent recurrences, consider two measures. First, avoid diagnosing problems. For example, if the computer can't communicate with the network, don't assume that the computer is defective, or that the network connection is defective. Simply report that the computer can't communicate with the network. Second, consider calling on an expert to tell you what kind of expert you need. In healthcare, this role has been called diagnostician, but the role is emerging in many fields. Before calling an expert, find a "diagnostician" for the relevant problem domain.
Most important, if you know that expert identification isn't working well in your organization, don't guess why. Consult an expert. Top
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Related articles
More articles on Problem Solving and Creativity:
Problem Defining and Problem Solving
- Sometimes problem-solving sessions are difficult because we get started solving a problem before we
know what problem we're solving. Understanding the connection between stakeholders, problem solving,
and problem defining can reduce conflict and produce better solutions.
Backtracking in Incremental Problem Solving
- Incremental problem solving is fashionable these days. Whether called evolutionary, incremental, or
iterative, the approach entails unique risks. Managing those risks sometimes requires counterintuitive action.
Hill Climbing and Its Limitations
- Finding a better solution by making small adjustments to your current solution is usually a good idea.
The key word is "usually."
Problem-Solving Preferences
- When people solve problems together, differences in preferred approaches can surface. Some prefer to
emphasize the goal or objective, while others focus on the obstacles. This difference is at once an
asset and annoyance.
Workplace Politics and Type III Errors
- Most job descriptions contain few references to political effectiveness, beyond the fairly standard
collaborate-to-achieve-results kinds of requirements. But because true achievement often requires political
sophistication, understanding the political content of our jobs is important.
See also Problem Solving and Creativity and Critical Thinking at Work for more related articles.
Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout
Coming April 21: Choice-Supportive Bias
- Choice-supportive bias is a cognitive bias that causes us to evaluate our past choices as more fitting than they actually were. The erroneous judgments it produces can be especially costly to organizations interested in improving decision processes. Available here and by RSS on April 21.
And on April 28: The Self-Explanation Effect
- In the learning context, self-explanation is the act of explaining to oneself what one is learning. Self-explanation has been shown to increase the rate of acquiring mastery. The mystery is why we don't structure knowledge work to exploit this phenomenon. Available here and by RSS on April 28.
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