When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space, they found out that the pens wouldn’t work due to the zero gravity and ink not being able to flow to the writing surface. They proceeded to develop a pen, at the cost of $12 million, that worked anywhere. Underwater, upside down and, of course, at zero gravity.
The Russians encountered the same problem…what was their solution?
They used a pencil.
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A Japanese company received a complaint that a consumer had bought a soap box that was empty. The problem was isolated to the assembly line, which transported all the packaged boxes of soap to the delivery department. For reasons unknown, one soap box went through the assembly line empty. Engineers were brought in to solve the problem, which they did by devising an X-ray machine with high-resolution monitors manned by two people to watch all the soap boxes that passed down the line to making sure they were full.
When a production worker in smaller company was faced with the same problem he didn’t get into expensive X-rays manned by personnel.
His solution?
He set up a strong industrial electric fan and pointed it at the assembly line. As each soap box passed the fan, it simply blew the empty boxes out of the line.
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So don’t over-think the problem as the solution may be a lot simpler then you realize.
Rube Goldberg would be proud of these stories…
.-= Tamahome Jenkins´s last blog ..Exciting Site Updates! =-.
Hi Rod,
Focusing on the solution instead of on the problem seems easy from the perspective of your post story.
I think the reason why it’s more difficult for most people to focus that way is that they insist on a particular solution.
Using a pencil instead of a pen won’t work for people who insist on having things written in ink.
I’ve noticed that you no longer have dofollow blog.
Have you encountered any problems with dofollow and solved it by eliminating it altogether? Was that the only solution?
I still have dofollow even though I implemented it later than you and have no problems with it at all.
I also have keyword luv.
I’m interested to know what your view is on that.
Vance
.-= Vance Sova´s last blog ..Alex Jeffreys Marketing With Alex Las Vegas Workshop 2010 =-.
Hi there Rod!
Just stopping by to say fantastic stuff! I love the simple solution idea. The human race always want to make things more complicated that it is!
Thanks for sharing!
Keep up the good work
Dev
.-= Dev Maritz´s last blog ..5 Crucial Steps to Ensure That You Achieve Your Goals =-.
A very valuable lesson extremely well made here Rod! Thanks for sharing. The fan vs x-ray will be something I’ll carry with me for a long time.
Rob
.-= Rob Bradley´s last blog ..Vegas… =-.
Rod,
How’s it going? It’s been a while.
Your post reminds me of the old addage, “Can’t see the forest for the trees”.
Quite often we are so close to a problem, that we cannot see the logical solution. Very often it requires a fresh viewpoint to overcome a problem.
I believe Albert Einstein once said “Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.”
I myself have often been stumped by a problem, that has been solved within minutes by a fresh pair of eyes. Then when you see the solution, it is all so obvious.
Regards,
Rob
.-= Rob Willis´s last blog ..Happy Anniversary =-.
Hi Rob,
I’m doing well, thanks. How about yourself.
Quite true about the fresh eyes or even outlook. Walking away from a problem and taking a break or working on something else for awhile can also help a person look at something differently.
Cheers,
Rod
Hi Rod,
Sorry, it’s been a while since I visited…
I like the story about the pencil, very funny.
Keeping things simple really is the way to go with our online businesses. Many people get lost amongst all the information and never get started.
I’m making progress, but still a few things to get right. Just need to spot the simple answer…
Thanks
Keith
.-= Keith Purkiss´s last blog ..How you can solve 7 problems, and go having NO SALES and NO SUBSCRIBERS to $3149.71 in 3 months. =-.
Hi Rod
We over-engineer everything don’t we, given half a chance.;
Along with “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” idea it sounds like keeping it simple is the way to go-always.
Look forward to hearing from you if you go blog hopping.
Best wishes
Mike
.-= Mike´s last blog ..Welcome Masterclass 2010 Students! =-.