What problem?

It’s tempting to treat problems as individual transactions. Cut into bite-sized pieces, problems look like this…

• I did <something>.
• I expected <that> to happen.
• <This> happened instead.

I’m a solver. The <this>:<that> delta taunts me. It dares me to try to fix it.

The context matters, though. This missed expectation is part of an ongoing dialog. Who’s this for? What’s the impact of missing this expectation?

When the problem is that my toaster won’t turn on, maybe it’s OK to just start troubleshooting that. But how long do I spend on my toaster, before I come talk with you about the toast you ordered?