If I had an hour….

Albert Einstein has often been quoted (although it may be apocryphal) as saying “If I had an hour to save the world, I would spend the first 55 minutes defining the problem, and the last 5 minutes pursuing the solution.” Even though it appears there is no solid evidence that Albert really said this…unless you count that the top 100 hits on Google for the quote pretty much universally attribute to him, or at least to no one else…it’s worth pondering nonetheless.

What does this statement say to me, or to you, as a manager/leader/problem solver? One interpretation is that you should spend an adequate amount of time thinking about the questions “What problem am I trying to solve?” before initiating action designed to solve it. Put another way, don’t spend time and energy trying to fix something until you know what you are wanting to fix, and – importantly – how you will know if you have fixed it. When you take the opposite approach you are guilty of following the “Ready…Fire…Aim!” method of management, which rarely results in success.

Another perspective (thank you Jelena Vencl Ohlrogge!), one which makes a lot more sense if you are REALLY trying to save the world, or even if you are trying to plug the hole in a boat, is that you should spend a relatively (not relativitily) longer amount of time making sure that you have considered all of the important sides of an issue before you take too much action. In this case, you might ponder the issue for 30 minutes, try a few tentative solutions, regroup and think some more, try a more refined approach, etc. etc. This is certainly in keeping with a lot of the theory about lean startups, agile approaches, and “failing forward” that is popular in business thinking today.

In either event, the combination of a lot of thought coupled with a little strategic action, is probably a good way to go in most business solutions, and in many life situations as well. As another wise saying goes (and this one is truly anonymous) “Please engage brain before putting mouth in gear”!