In their book Human Problem Solving (1972, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall), Allen Newell and Herbert Simon outlined the problem space theory. The theory states that humans solve problems by searching for a solution in a problem space. The problem space describes these initial and desired states and possible intermediate states. It can also contain specific constraints and rules that define a context of the problem. In the software industry, people operating in the problem space are usually customers and users.
Each real problem demands a solution, and as soon as we search good enough in the problem space, we can outline which steps are we going to take to move from the initial state to the desired state. Such an outline and all the details about the solution form a solution space.
The classical story of problem and solution spaces, which get completely detached from each other during the implementation, is the story of writing in space. The story says that in 1960s space nations realized that usual ball-pens wouldn't work in space due to lack of gravity. NASA then spent a million to develop a pen that would work in space, and Soviets decided to use good old pencil, which costs almost nothing.
This story is so trustworthy that it is still circulating and was even used in the West Wing TV show with Martin Sheen playing the US president. It is so easy to believe not only because we are used to wasteful spendings by government-funded bodies, but mostly because we have seen so many examples of inefficiency and misinterpreting real-world issues, adding enormous unnecessary complexity to proposed solutions and solving problems that don't exist.
This story is a myth. NASA also tried using pencils but decided to get rid of them due to issues of produced micro-dust, breaking tips, and potential flammability of wooden pencils. A private company Fisher Pen Company had developed what is now known as a space pen using their investments. Later, NASA tested the pen and decided to use it. The company also got an order from the Soviet Union and pens were sold across the ocean. The price for everyone was the same, $2.39 per pen:
Here you can see the other part of the problem space versus solution space issue. Although the problem itself appeared to be simple, additional constraints, which we could also call non-functional requirements, made it more complicated than it looks like at first glance.
Jumping to a solution is very easy, and since each of us has a rather rich experience in solving everyday problems, we can find solutions for many issues almost immediately. However, as Bart Barthelemy and Candace Dalmagne-Rouge suggest in their article When You're Innovating, Resist Looking for Solutions (2013, Harvard Business Review https://hbr.org/2013/09/when-youre-innovating-resist-l), thinking regarding solutions prevent our brain from keeping to think about the problem. Instead, we start going deeper into the solution that first came to our mind, adding more levels of details and making it more and more fit to be an ideal solution for a given problem.
One more aspect to consider when searching for a solution to a given problem. There is a danger of fixating all attention on one particular solution, which might be not the best one at all but came first to your mind, based on previous experiences, current understanding of the problem and other factors:
The exploratory approach to find and choose solutions involves more work spiking alternative ways to solve the problem, but the answer that is found during this type of exploration will most probably be much more precise and valuable. We will discuss more fixation on the first possible solution later in this chapter.