What exactly is an "information problem"?

What is an information problem? Probably not what you think.

It's best not to think of an information problem like you think of normal daily problems where things break, software crashes or your girlfriend looks like she's going off you.

Think of an information problem as a goal to be achieved. This gets you to concentrate on achieving what you want to achieve, rather than messing about with symptoms of the problem.

e.g. you're contantly late to school because your bike's falling apart. You seem to spend the entire weekend replacing bits, tightening bits and hoping the front wheel's not going to fall off again at high speed. What's the real problem? Being late to school. Instead of asking "How can I fix my bike?", you should be framing the question as "How can I get to school on time?" That is the problem. Looking at the problem in this way - sort of lateral thinking, or getting to the heart of the real problem - can lead to an effective solution: get rid of the bike and take the bus. If you have the measles, doctors do not prescribe cosmetics to cover up the spots. They attack the real problem: the measles.

If you get the problem nailed properly during the analysis section of solving the problem (see the SDLC) you stand a better chance of reaching an effective solution.

So, when approaching a situation where things are not as you want them to be, do not express a problem as "I need to fix..." Express it as "I need to achieve...", or "The problem is to..."

With the bike example, do not ask "How can I fix the bike?", but "How can I achieve getting to school on time?"

Twenty-six IT students are desperately printing SAC output at the end of the period, the bell has gone and print jobs are still processing.

What is the problem?
(a) the printer is too slow, or
(b) how to get SACs printed faster?

The answer is (b) - the goal to achieve is to get the work printed faster. This might involve replacing the printer with a faster one, but since the question has been framed as a goal, it opens up many other avenues of investigation - e.g. adding a second printer during SAC times, reducing the size of graphics in the SACs, adjusting the way the network handles print jobs etc.

What really counts in problem solving is achieving a certain outcome. How the outcome is achieved is a side issue. Concentrate on the outcome you want to achieve: do not lock yourself into a narrow plan of attack because you're only seeing the symptoms rather than the big picture of the desired outcome.

STUFF TO DO (hey, wow - actual activities for the first time on the IT Lecture Notes!)

Here are some situations. For each situation, state the information problem.

1. You urgently need to put some pictures into a document that is due tomorrow, but the scanner keeps freezing.

2. The pay office keeps producing incorrect pay cheques for workers because the software does not understand the new tax laws.

3. Native animals are being killed by fast-moving traffic on a busy road that crosses the animals' feeding route.

4. On your way to an important meeting at night, you run out of petrol in your car. The only service station nearby is closed.

Answers below...

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ANSWERS

1. The problem is to finish the document on time, complete with pictures.

Not "The problem is to fix/replace the scanner".

It might be the problem is not in the scanner, but in the scanner's device driver. If you concentrate on getting the pictures into the document instead you might end up achieving your goal without the scanner, e.g. use a digital camera to photograph the pictures, or find equivalent pictures on the internet and insert them instead.

2. The problem is to produce accurate pay cheques.

Not "The problem is to replace the payroll software".

3. The problem is to get the the animals acros the road safely.

Not something like, "The problem is to slow the traffic down". This was a real-life problem. The solution was to create tunnels under the road for the animals to use.

4. The problem is to get to the meeting on time.

Not "The problem is to find petrol". If you fixate on only one solution, finding petrol, you blind yourself to other solutions, such as calling a taxi.