Someone has a problem. A real one. They’re under pressure, they need to deliver, and they don’t have the time or space to explore all the options. So they pick a solution that works for them right now. It’s a bit short-sighted, but it does the job from their point of view.

The catch is that this solution rarely stays with just them. Very often, it quickly becomes a problem for someone else. And that someone else doesn’t only get the original problem in a new form; they also inherit new problems created by the chosen solution. Instead of removing the original issue, it gets buried under extra complexity.

This happens when external and surrounding conditions are ignored. The original decision doesn’t consider who else will be affected, how the solution fits with other tools or processes, or how long it will be around. The focus is on “does this work for us?” rather than “what happens to others when we do this?”

That’s how problems and solutions spread. One team’s convenient workaround becomes another team’s constraint. A custom format, a one-off integration, a parallel process — each local fix reshapes the environment for everyone else. Over time, people start building solutions to other people’s solutions, not to the original problem.

The pattern repeats: someone solves their own problem in isolation, others adapt around it, and each adaptation adds new side effects. You end up with layers of workarounds: decisions made years ago still dictating how things must be done today, even if the original reasons are gone or unclear.

Eventually, what’s left are wicked problems. Not wicked in a theoretical sense, but in the everyday, frustrating way: there are no clean solutions, only trade-offs. Every option has serious downsides. Any attempt to “fix” things means choosing between different bad workarounds. You can’t touch one part of the system without creating pain somewhere else.

At that stage, you’re not just dealing with the original problem anymore. You’re dealing with the accumulated consequences of many short-sighted solutions that never took the wider context into account. And your new decisions risk becoming the next layer in the same pattern.

Breaking this cycle starts with a small shift: when you solve your own problem, think about where your solution ends up. Who will have to live with it? What other systems or people will it affect? Could this become someone else’s problem on top of their existing ones?

You can’t avoid all side effects, and you can’t design the perfect answer. But you can be more deliberate. Treat your solution not just as a fix for you, but as something that enters a shared environment. Otherwise, over time, all that’s left are wicked problems and bad workarounds to choose between.