The Optimization Trap 4

What we mostly don’t realize, is that many constraints are assumed rather than real. These constraints are imposed or assumed based on the needs of the problem solver, not the needs of the problem.

Think about that, the problem solver assumes constraints that suit them in trying to solve the problem. These Are not necessarily the true constraints of the problem.

Constraints can be used to simplify the range of solutions, the resources required, the time involved, and in some cases the internal company politics.

However, the issue is that in many cases the application of constraints in the pursuit of optimization can severely limit the results that are achieved. In the worst case this can lead to a belief that nothing further can be achieved. This is the true optimization trap.

For real success, optimization needs to be conducted with an understanding of the true constraints.

Occam's Razor

Last week I attended the RCM/EAM conferences in Las Vegas and I want to thank all those that came up and said ‘Hello’. It was great to meet some readers of this tip sheet and understand your situations better.

As you would expect at a conference many different solutions to many different problems were presented and discussed. Some of the solutions were quite simple in their requirements and execution and some seemed to be quite complex. Based on the questions that were being asked, and the discussions that I participated in, it occurred to me that the attendees could be categorized in one of two ways. They either preferred the simple solutions or they preferred the complex solutions. There didn’t seem to be much middle ground.

What struck me though was that sometimes it seemed that simple solutions were rejected principally for the reason that they were simple. This led me to thinking about Occam’s Razor.

William Occam was a Franciscan Friar in 14th Century England and is attributed with developing a principle that states that ‘the explanation of any phenomenon should make as few assumptions as possible, eliminating those that make no difference in the observable predictions of the explanatory hypothesis or theory’.

OK, so that is a mouthful and the principle is often paraphrased as "All other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best."

Why would anyone want to complicate the solution and make their own life more difficult?

The thing about Occam ’s Razor is that it is not completely objective. If it is used to compare two scientific hypotheses then one can tell whether one hypothesis provides a solution with less complication than another hypothesis.

However, when it comes to management solutions often the differentiation is much less clear. In fact, Occam’s Razor in this case really is subjective. That is, the pre existing views and opinions of the individual will usually guide whether they think that an approach will actually provide the solution. Then of course there is the issue of assumptions and whether we realize that we are making them or worse still when we treat assumptions as facts.

So next time you are in a position where you need to evaluate a solution, whether it is presented as a case study at a conference, by a peer or by a vendor, try this three step approach:

1. Listen Objectively.
Listen to the person and what there are saying. Often it seems that we stop talking only to think about what we will say next. Try just listening without judgment.

2. Ask yourself if you have any prejudice.
Perhaps you have tried something similar before or you have never tried it and so have no experience. Perhaps you are data driven and the approach seems too intuitive. If you are aware of your own prejudice you can ask better questions to test the solution rather than just rejecting the idea outright.


3. Determine what assumptions are being made.
Look for what is not being said. Do you really know what the data tells you? Do you have data or information – these things are not the same.


Taking these three steps will help you to determine whether you are looking at the simplest solution, and surely a simple solution that works is always better.

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