There are are already many fine books and articles describing how to design good solutions to problems. This is not one of them.
Instead, it is primarily intended to help one recognize inadequate or inappropriate solutions, and to notice when an implementation starts to go wrong.
This collection has also grown into a depository of many simple principles, ideas, and concepts that can be of use when analyzing problems and situations. Beyond that, it also includes many examples of applying such ideas. It perhaps even provides a way of viewing the world in general that might make it easier to understand. Chapter 6 goes so far as to deal with religious issues.
Perhaps life in general should be considered a form of problem management.
Note that not all of this is complete, and that changes and additions will occur without warning. The first section, based on "The Sellens Question" was written in 2006, and was the inspiration for the rest of the collection, mostly new, but some culled from previous writing. Except for minor edits and HTML updates, the vast majority of these articles were written between 1995 and 2010.
Suggestions and comments are welcome.
If you should find any of these pages useful, please create links to them. This will increase their search-engine reputation and make it easier for other people to find them.
It is hard enough to remember my opinions, without also remembering my reasons for them!
— Friedrich Nietzsche
Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.
— Winston Churchill
People lie!
— Gregory House
It's not that people don't understand, people don't want to understand.
— Ray Butterworth