Solutions Don't Stay Solved

Definition

Ackoff closes the book by arguing that solving a problem is not a terminal event: "few problems, once solved, stay that way. Changing conditions tend to unsolve problems that previously have been solved." Because of this, an effective problem-solving system needs more than the ability to generate solutions — it needs a standing capability to monitor implemented solutions against expectations, detect when the environment has invalidated them, and scan ahead for the new problems that successful solutions routinely create.

In the Book

Chapter 12 opens with a consulting case: Ackoff's team recommended an oil company lease tankers rather than build them, based on a projected oversupply of leasable tankers — a well-reasoned solution that was overturned almost immediately when the Egyptian-Israeli conflict closed the Suez Canal and created a worldwide tanker shortage overnight. Because the shift was so visible, the company adapted quickly; Ackoff notes that solution decay is usually far less conspicuous but no less real, which is why "the wise problem solver constantly monitors solutions to past problems to be sure they are meeting his expectations." He pairs this with the observation that solutions that do stay solved often generate new problems of their own (buying a car solves a commuting problem but creates insurance, maintenance, and parking problems), and formalizes the implication as a system: a decision-making subsystem, an information subsystem that gathers and reprocesses data on the problem-object and its environment, and a diagnosis/monitoring function that compares actual performance against expectations and flags deviations — all interdependent enough that treating them separately degrades the whole.

Why It Matters

This reframes "solving a problem" from a single act of choice into an ongoing commitment to watch a solution against a changing environment, which matters anywhere a plan, policy, or fix is adopted once and then left unattended on the assumption that the underlying conditions that justified it are still true. It also warns against declaring victory too early: a fix that removes today's complaint without anticipating the problems it will spawn has only relocated the work, not finished it.