Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.
Ranier Maria Rilke, Letters To A Young Poet
Too often people jump to the answer before fully understanding the question.
I see this happen with companies often, especially in “brainstorming” meetings and customer interviews.
Most “brainstorming” meetings I attend look something like this: somebody presents a loosely defined goal, a few solutions are presented, the majority of the group jumps at one of the solutions early on, and then explores that solution. Not only isn’t this true brainstorming—brainstorming involves clearly defined problems and getting as many ideas out as possible without evaluation—it can never hope to produce a great solution: ill-defined problems lead to weak solutions.
