178 What Problem Are You Solving It has been said that computers are great at generating questions. They just can't figure out the right question. Engineers are problem solvers. That is 99% of their education. Thing is—are they solving the right problem. Businesses have adopted the open office architecture for many years. It solves a business cost problem—get more people per square foot. They publicly justify it, though, as solving the people collaboration problem. But they create a people productivity problem. The signal v noise blog from BaseCamp called Library Rules proposes an interesting solution. The open office has existed for centuries. And it works fantastically. It's called a library. Check out library rules for your open office dilemma. Solving technology problems is a lot of fun for engineers. They look at everything as a technology problem. But then there are problems that are not technology. Such as people problems. Take a look at Facebook's problems right now. They are not technology; they are ethical. A generation of engineers have worked hard at solving process control problems. I reflect on a chat I had with Schneider Electric process automation leaders Gary Freburger and Peter Martin about solving business problems in addition to technology problems.

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