How to Solve a Social Problem I: Focusing
Are you interested in changing the world? Solving world hunger? Saving the planet from catastrophic climate change? You know that solving any social problem takes hard work, knowledge, money, and focus. You can run around doing a little of this and a little of that. This article describes a simple method for avoiding the running around and picking something to focus on.
Making progress on a social problem requires focus. But, how do you do that? Three main options seem to exist. The first option is to simply join a movement with a goal you can support. The second popular option is to find and borrow an idea. The third option, the focus of this article is the last option — study the problem and choose a focus for yourself.
Focusing Questions:
If you ever wanted to start a nonprofit or a movement, you may have asked several questions. The most obvious question would probably be “What can I do about _____________?” If climate change is on your mind, you ask yourself what you can do to fight climate change.
“What can I do?” is the first of these focusing questions. Write down your answer. Keep the question broad — climate change versus renewable energy for example. Then write down some aspects or dimensions of the problem. The language doesn’t matter, the act of writing down the parts of your Big Problem is what matters. If you want to fight climate change, your list might look like mine:
- Population
2. Deforestation
3. Meat consumption
4. Fossil fuels
5. Renewable energy
6. Water conservation
7. Social inequality
That list is pretty broad and pretty abstract. I’d want to narrow it down further. Perhaps some instinct makes me focus on renewable energy. What aspects of renewable energy need to be worked on? Affordability, reliability, and public understanding come to mind.
The next series of questions will help you focus. Here are the questions:
- What aspect of the problem do we understand reasonably well? (This is a question about the available scientific or technical knowledge, not what you personally know.)
- What resources do you have available to help attack the problem? (Think about money, expertise, volunteers, relationships, and tools/technology.)
- What aspects of the problem have attracted the most public interest? (The answer can change quickly, sure, but it can’t hurt to focus on something people already know about.)
- What aspect of the problem would have the most impact on the problem if we worked on it?
To put it differently, these questions get at Ability, Interest, Knowledge, and Impact. You want to adopt a strategy where ability is high, (public) interest is high, knowledge is extensive, and impact is great.
Some Final Notes on Focusing:
That last paragraph describes an ideal situation. If you could rate Ability, Interest, Knowledge, and Impact on a scale of 1 to 5, you can’t expect to ever come up with a program that scores a 5 on all four of those focusing factors. The goal here is to get as close as you can in a short time.
Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good, and so on.
If this rather abstract lesson on focusing resonates, give it a try. And please do share or comment.
