July 17, 2026
Problem solved? LOL, not so fast
Three ways people respond to a problem (other than solving it)
People aren’t fixing problems — they’re dodging, dragging, and cashing in
TLDR: The article argues people often respond to problems by moving them, preserving them, or replacing them instead of fixing them. Commenters turned that into a sharper, funnier roast, saying the real missing category is denial — and that many people keep problems around on purpose.
A consultant posted a deceptively simple idea on his blog: when trouble shows up, people don’t just solve it. They also push it somewhere else, keep it alive, or create fresh chaos. In plain English: your headache at work may not disappear at all — it may just get handed to another team, protected by people who benefit from it, or replaced by an even newer mess. That alone would be spicy, but the real fireworks were in the comments, where readers immediately started adding their own categories like they were building a disaster bingo card.
The biggest crowd-pleaser? A brutally short amendment: “There’s a fourth: deny.” That one landed like a mic drop, because apparently many readers think the most common response to a problem is pretending it does not exist. Another commenter took aim at the article’s polite wording around people who keep problems alive “inadvertently,” snapping, “‘Inadvertently’? Seldom.” Ouch. That turned the whole discussion from thoughtful workplace theory into a mini scandal about whether institutions are clueless… or fully in on the game.
And then came the comedy relief. One reader offered three bonus reactions to problems: “Weaponize it. Study it. Blog about it.” Which, honestly, several people seemed to feel was a little too real. The mood was equal parts knowing laughter and exhausted cynicism: yes, people solve problems sometimes — but the comments section is pretty sure they also monetize them, reshuffle them, and write think-pieces about them first.
Key Points
- •The article identifies three responses to problems besides solving them: pushing problems around, preserving problems, and promoting new problems.
- •'Pushing problems around' is described as local optimization that improves one area while worsening another, especially in medium and large organizations.
- •The article uses Clay Shirky’s idea, later called the 'Shirky Principle' by Kevin Kelly, to explain how institutions may preserve the problems they are built to solve.
- •Readers are advised to identify stakeholders who benefit from a problem’s continued existence and account for them in any plan to solve it.
- •The article argues that solving one problem often creates or reveals others, and says diagrams can help groups agree on which problems are worth fixing.