“The fact that I have no remedy for all the sorrows of the world is no reason for my accepting yours. It simply supports the strong probability that yours is a fake.”
H. L. Mencken
I worked for a marvelous Japanese corporation, for most of my career. It was something that gave me a sense of pride.
While at the company, I was exposed to many aspects of Japanese business culture, and one aphorism/credo was basically “Don’t complain, unless you have a solution.” In short, keep the focus on solving problems, and delivering results. Complaints, for the sake of complaining, do nothing but affect morale, and introduce needless “busywork,” that distracts from the task at hand.
This particular corporation was highly focused on delivery, so that mindset makes a great deal of sense.
My issue with it, is that it often encouraged half-baked “solutions.” People would accept the first “solution” proposed –especially if a manager proposed it, and would stop looking for other solutions.
“There’s always an easy solution to every human problem; Neat, plausible and wrong.”
H. L. Mencken
Frequently, the proposed “solution” was one that sounded good, but would fail “in the details.” This is incredibly common. These “details” will often not become apparent, until the work is well under way; especially if there was a great deal of pressure to start on it immediately (like a manager not having the patience for a careful review of their “obvious solution”).
Oftentimes, solving problems is hard. Engineers tend to get a great deal of training, and are usually paid well, because they solve hard problems.
I’ve found it’s a bad idea to accept “just any” solution; especially if the problem has not been thoroughly understood.
It’s OK to say “I don’t have a solution, but I’m game to help figure one out.”