Are Your Lights On?


Part 1: WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?

1. A PROBLEM

What is the problem?
Who has a problem?
What is the essence of your problem?

2. PETER PIGEONHOLE PREPARED A PETITION

How can we determine “What is wrong?”
What is wrong?
What can be done about it?

3. WHAT’S YOUR PROBLEM?

A problem is a difference between things as desired and things as perceived.
Phantom problems are real problems.

Part 2: WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?

4. BILLY BRIGHTEYES BESTS THE BIDDERS

Don’t take their solution method for a problem definition.
If you solve their problem too readily they’ll never believe you’ve solved their real problem.

5. BILLY BITES HIS TONGUE

Don’t mistake a solution method for a problem definition – especially if it’s your own solution method.

6. BILLY BACK TO THE BIDDERS

You can never be too sure you have a correct definition, even after the problem is solved.
Don’t leap to conclusions, but don’t ignore your first impression.

Part 3: WHAT IS THE PROBLEM REALLY?

7. THE ENDLESS CHAIN

Each solution is the source of the next problem.
The trickiest part of certain problems is just recognizing their existence.
If you can’t think of at least three things that might be wrong with your understanding of the problem, you don’t understand the problem.

8. MISSING THE MISFIT

Don’t leap to conclusions, but don’t ignore your first impression.
Test your definition on a foreigner, someone blind, or a child, or make yourself foreign, blind or childlike.
Each new point of view will produce a new misfit.

9. LANDING ON THE LEVEL

How could we change the problem statement to make the solution different?
What am I solving?

10. MIND YOUR MEANING

Once you have a problem statement in words, play with the words until the statement is in everyone’s head.

Part 4: WHOSE PROBLEM IS IT?

11. SMOKE GETS IN YOUR EYES

Whose problem is it?
Don’t solve other people’s problems when they can solve them perfectly well themselves.
If it’s their problem, make it their problem.

12. THE CAMPUS THAT WAS ALL SPACED OUT

Whose problem is it?
If a person is in a position to do something about a problem, but doesn’t have the problem, then do something so he does.
Try blaming yourself for a change – even for a moment.

13. THE LIGHTS AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL

Whose problem is it?
If people really have their lights on, a little reminder may be more effective than your complicated solution.

Part 5: WHERE DOES IT COME FROM?

14. JANET JAWORSKI JOGGLES A JERK

Where does this problem come from?

15. MISTER MATCZYSZYN MENDS THE MATTER

Where does this discourtesy come from?

16. MAKE-WORKS AND TAKE CREDITS

Where does the problem come from?
There’s two kinds of people in the world…

17. EXAMINATIONS AND OTHER PUZZLES

Where does the problem come from?
Who sent this problem?
What’s he trying to do to me?

Part 6: DO WE REALLY WANT TO SOLVE IT?

18. TOM TIRELESS TINKERS WITH TOYS

In spite of appearances, people seldom know what they want until you give them what they ask for.

19. PATIENCE PLAYS POLITICS

Not too many people, in the final analysis, really want their problems solved.

20. A PRIORITY ASSIGNMENT

Do we really want a solution?
We never have enough time consider whether we want it, but we always have enough time to regret it.
The fish is always last to see water. 

Ideas – don’t be afraid to share yours

TED (owned by The Sapling Foundation) fosters the spread of great ideas. It aims to provide a platform for the world’s smartest thinkers, greatest visionaries and most-inspiring teachers, so that millions of people can gain a better understanding of the biggest issues faced by the world, and a desire to help create a better future. Core to this goal is a belief that there is no greater force for changing the world than a powerful idea. Consider:
  • An idea can be created out of nothing except an inspired imagination. 
  • An idea weighs nothing.
  • It can be transferred across the world at the speed of light for virtually zero cost.
  • And yet an idea, when received by a prepared mind, can have extraordinary impact.
  • It can reshape that mind’s view of the world.
  • It can dramatically alter the behavior of the mind’s owner.
  • It can cause the mind to pass on the idea to others.
OUR COLLABORATION ACROSS
THE 
INFORMATION DOMINANCE CORPS
IS CAPABLE OF CHANGING THE MANNER IN WHICH 
THE NAVY CONDUCTS  COMBAT AT SEA 
AND PREVENTS WAR. 
OPNAV N2/N6 is actively seeking your ideas.  SHARE THEM. Create a better future. It’s where you’ll spend the rest of your career.

Sometimes feedback takes awhile

I write MANY letters to a diverse group of people I’ve met and to people I’d like to meet.  I wrote to this officer seven years ago.  He’d been assigned to a job I had in Hawaii and I had some advice for him.  Turns out, it was useful advice and he took a moment to let me know.  I appreciate that.  It gives me hope that some of the senior officers in our cryptologic community will one day pick up a pen and respond to those long-unanswered letters I sent them.  Like the writer of this letter, they have NO EXCUSE (but may have a reason) for not writing sooner.

One of the things I like to do most is to send letters of CONGRATULATIONS to officers selected for promotion.  I’ve also sent a number of letters to non-selects advising them not to give up on the Navy and to stick around for another look.  It’s worked out for most of them.  Generally speaking, people appreciate an encouraging word.  Pick up a pen and send someone you know (or would like to know) an encouraging word.

10 Reasons I Have Enjoyed Blogging Here

In no particular order.

1.  It allowed me to engage with a wonderful author and to write the Chapter 1 opening vignette for a New York Times/Wall Street Journal/Amazon best-selling business book.  Dr. Stephen Covey and Bono ‘open’ for me.  Multipliers by Liz Wiseman is available HERE.
2.  It gave me the opportunity to help a Pulitzer prize winning author with research for his story on The SeaWitch in TIME magazine with a link HERE.
3.  It has allowed me to remain connected to the Navy’s cryptologic community, which I love. The community dissolved and was reconstituted.
4.  It earned me an invite to speak at a Women In Defense forum and to contribute ideas to numerous professional publications.
5.  It has allowed others to freely express their frustrations on a variety of topics important to them. 
6.  It allowed me to expand the network of Sailors of all paygrades that I mentor and with whom I share lessons learned.
7.  It allowed me to collaborate with the former CNO on avenues to gain recognition of the Navy as a TOP 50 Employer in the United States.
8.  It allowed me to keep alive the memory of some stellar Sailors.
9.  It has allowed me to write every day, which I love.
10.  It has connected me to some great Navy veterans and many others who proudly serve today.

Show a little courtesy


A courtesy is a form of polite behavior and excellence of manners. You will find that Navy life creates many situations, not found in civilian life, that require special behavior on your part. Customs and courtesies help make life orderly and are a way of showing respect.

Customs are regular, expected actions. They have been repeated again and again and passed from one generation to the next. Courteous actions show your concern and respect for others.  Take some time to show a little courtesy now and then.