The art of problem solving

The Art (Craft) of Problem Solving.

A washing machine and laundry that is stuck at the bottom of it – this everyday problem taught me a lesson in problem solving. The lady that works at our house, Ndeapo, showed me, not told me for her English is minimal, the laundry within the space in-between the drying basket and the machine. In other contexts, we call this the interstitial space ( was Drosophila or the Mitochondrion? Oh MolBio) in any case it is that space in between.

We set out to remove the things from it. First I tried reaching, but no matter how thin my forearm may appear to be, it did not pass to the bottom. Then, Ndeapo handed me the umbrella and I tried and then she tried, we poked around at the bottom hoping to somehow bring out. These trials brought us no success. So we decided to try another instrument, a long, narrow stick, but again we had no luck in griping the clothes at bottom.

What did I want? I wanted to get the clothes out. So what did I want? I needed something to grab the clothes so I could yank them out. Enter the coat hanger. Alas there was no way it reached the bottom. Plus it kept on hooking the basket. Our next recourse was to combine two earlier methods the umbrella and stick. We pinched the articles of clothing in between, but there was no way to pull them out.

This is the point where I became frustrated and tried again, in vain, to reach for the stuff with my arm. I still could not get through and had I been calmer I would have remember the fact. But then Ndeapo unwound the coat hanger. Ingenious! What did I want - a hook1 Now what to do when my hook can’t reach? Make it longer. We were excited and so I went in with the hook, but it just did not hook. Somehow, the material was not catching. Then I thought, I want something to stick into the clothes, then I can slide them up along the wall. The umbrella had a pointed end so I attempted. Knowing that I wanted force to stick into the damp material, I applied force. Then I dragged it up along the wall and due the small interstitial space, the pressure remained on the clothing and I dragged up along the walls until I could grab it.

My focus on what I wanted really allowed me to identify how I could do. Using old tools in new, crisp ways can solve the problem. However, I also used the new long hook for the next article. I just decided to give another go, I wanted to ride on the wave of confidence. At first, it was just not hooking and I was about to give up. But then I calmed myself down and I was patient and concentrated. I give it my all and I managed to hook onto something and I fished it out ( a pair of underwear) followed by a sock

The last item remaining was the most challenging. It is only found in Bulgaria and I wonder how it got the bottom of our washing machine in Namibia. This instrument we keep by our shoes, it is called “Oobuvalka” and it is long and thin, with a curved surface like a spade. At one end it has a hole. I knew that I had to use the hook to get in that small hole. Of course the hook did not work, because it is a hook and how to hook a hole that is on the surface of something. But I knew what I wanted. A long spiky thing. I used the other end of the unwound coat hanger. And after unbending it a bit more, I went in. I caught the hole easily, to my surprise. The harder part was dragging it out. It would slip out of the hole as I pushed up along the wall. So then it dawned on me. I needed to grab the “oobuvalka” when it came within my reach. And that is what I did. So I combined the hook thing with a reach technique at the end. It solved my problem.

The question “What do I want?” states the obvious. However, it sometimes the obvious is strangely camouflaged amongst the many thoughts that run through the mind at the encounter of a problem.