It's patently obvious that different people observe and interact with the world in numerous, complex ways. When a problem is presented to one person, they may find that the solution to said problem is simple, while others will be completely baffled.

    I have found that my problem solving scheme is very analytical. This should not come as much of a surprise, given the field of work I have chosen as a career. When I am presented with a problem, I will normally break it up into graspable components. I will attempt to ascertain as much pertinent information as possible regarding the subject, before devising a possible solution. I have come to find that I crave actual facts above all else. It has been my experience that if I rush to judgment or to a solution regarding a particular issue, I will end up being wrong, either partially or fully. The old idiom definitely holds true: "Engage brain before opening mouth".

    As a result of this, I have also found that I may be wedded to a particular solution for longer than I should. I find it difficult to think outside the box, to arrive at a new paradigm, except in some rare cases.

    I have also found that many people do not have the spatial comprehension that I do. Some employees require a more complete level of tutelage than others. As an example of this, I cite an older woman with whom I work with, her name is Carmella. Carmella is in her late 50's to early 60's, a smaller Italian woman, who has spent the last few years as a sewer at a large cap manufacturing company. She currently performs light assembly at our plant. As part of my job at Science First, it is my responsibility to show employees new assembly job operations that they have not performed previously. I was recently tasked with showing her how to assembly a Pipette, for which she had a golden sample to work from. An image of this Pipette is shown to the right:

    It is not a particularly complex product, however, she still needed thorough guidance in order to assemble it correctly. Initially she had inserted the handle backward, a clear sign that she lacked even a basic understanding of the function of the product. It was obvious that she did not have any sort of background (or, most likely any interest) in being able to disassemble and reassemble mechanisms of any sort. What is second nature to me, was "Greek" to her. Once shown the process however, she was more than capable of completing the task, she was just unable to find the most efficient assembly path on her own. Carmella is highly proficient at assembling anything, even electrical products, she only needs the demonstration and training to complete the task correctly.

    Another person that looks at the world much more differently than I is my 2 1/2 year old son, Maxwell. Max obviously looks at challenges much differently than I as he has little or no experience with how the world (or a particular situation) works. His solution to many problems is "force it". If something, say a toy train track (Geotrax) track is split apart and causing derailments, he will hit or bang on the joint in an attempt to try to force it in place. It's easy for me to see that it would take a simple realignment of the track in order for it to be re-coupled, but he does not appreciate finesse as of yet. Obviously, as stated previously, Max's lack of experience greatly dictates his problem solving capabilities.

    Lastly, I brought my wife into the fray for one more perspective. She is an extremely bright woman with a PhD and a position as a Research Scientist. Her methods are always very analytical. I tasked her with the assembly of a toy for our son, Max. My approach to this would have just been to put it together, gleaning the proper placement of the parts from their size and shape. Instructions? who needs instructions? Well, my wife does, not that there's anything wrong with that. She thoroughly examined the instructions before even placing any two of the parts together. She had no difficulty assembling the toy, she just used a different path than I would have.

    This reminds me of some technical calls I field at work. Some people will call in and complain that the instructions are not clear enough, or detailed enough. They say that there should be pictures for every operation detailed in the instructions. Some people also treat the instructions as if they were "law of the land", and as such they are unable to veer even the remotest amount or to think for themselves. As an example: one person that called regarding our Toy Motor Kit instructions could not figure out that the word "sectin" was really supposed to be "section". He indicated that he spent considerable time surfing the net in an attempt to find out what a "sectin" was. He was very unhappy that there was this simple misspelling in the instructions. Other people will complain that the diagrams are not clear, or that we do not detail every step with an appropriate diagram or picture.

    All these examples show how differently people will approach problems in different manners, and that one particular method will never encompass all situations or people.

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