{"id":603,"date":"2011-01-02T12:01:09","date_gmt":"2011-01-02T12:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saasoft.com\/blog\/?p=603"},"modified":"2011-01-02T12:01:09","modified_gmt":"2011-01-02T12:01:09","slug":"the-rubik-cube-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hcse.blog\/?p=603","title":{"rendered":"The Rubik Cube Problem"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Look what popped out of Santa’s sack!<\/p>\n

I have not seen\u00a0one of these for years and it brought back memories of hours of frustration and time wasted in attempting to solve it myself; a sense of failure when I could not; a feeling of envy for those who knew how\u00a0to; and a sense of\u00a0indignation when they\u00a0jealously guarded the secret of their “magical” power.<\/p>\n

The Rubik Cube got me thinking –\u00a0what sort of problem is this?<\/p>\n

At first\u00a0it is\u00a0easy enough but it becomes quickly apparent that\u00a0it\u00a0becomes more difficult the closer\u00a0we get to the final solution – because our\u00a0attempts to reach perfection\u00a0undo our previous good work.\u00a0 It is very difficult to\u00a0maintain our initial improvement while exploring new options.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This insight struck me as very similar\u00a0to\u00a0many of the problems we face in life and the sense of futility that creates a powerful force\u00a0that resists further attempts at change.\u00a0\u00a0Fortunately, we know that it is possible to solve the Rubik cube – so the question this raises is “Is there a way\u00a0to solve it\u00a0in a rational, reliable and economical\u00a0way from any starting point?<\/em>”<\/p>\n

One approach is to\u00a0try every possible combination of moves until we\u00a0find the solution. That is the way a computer might be programmed to solve it –\u00a0the zero intelligence or brute force approach.<\/p>\n

The problem here is that it works in theory\u00a0but fails in practice because of the number of possible combinations of moves. At each step you can move\u00a0one of the six faces in one of two directions – that is 12 possible options;\u00a0and for each of these there are 12 second moves or 12 x 12\u00a0possible two-move paths; 12 x 12 x 12 =\u00a01728 possible three-move paths; about 3 million six-move paths; and nearly half a billion eight-move paths!<\/p>\n

You get the idea –\u00a0solving it this way is not feasible unless you are already very close to the solution.<\/p>\n

So how do we actually solve the Rubik Cube?\u00a0 Well, the instructions that come with a new\u00a0one tells you –\u00a0a combination of two well-known ingredients: strategy and tactics. The strategy is called goal-directed<\/strong> and in my instructions the recommended strategy is\u00a0to solving each layer\u00a0in sequence. The tactics are called heuristics<\/strong>: tried-tested-and-learned sequences of actions that are triggered by specific patterns.<\/p>\n

At each step\u00a0we look for\u00a0a small set of patterns and when we find one we follow the pre-designed heuristic and that moves us forward along the path towards the next goal. Of the billions of possible heuristics we\u00a0only learn, remember, use and teach the small number that\u00a0preserve the progress we have already made – these are our magic spells<\/em>.<\/p>\n

So where\u00a0do these heuristics come from?<\/p>\n

Well, we can search for them\u00a0ourselves or we can learn them from\u00a0someone else.\u00a0 The first option holds the\u00a0opportunity for new insights and possible breakthroughs – the second option\u00a0is quicker!\u00a0 Someone who designs or discovers a better heuristic\u00a0is assured a place in history – most of us\u00a0only ever learn ones that have been\u00a0discovered or taught\u00a0by others\u00a0– it is a much quicker way to solve problems.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

So, for\u00a0a bit of fun\u00a0I compared\u00a0the two approaches using a\u00a0computer: the\u00a0competitive-zero-intelligence-brute-force versus the collaborative-goal-directed-learned-and-shared-heuristics.\u00a0 The heuristic method won\u00a0easily every time!<\/p>\n

The Rubik Cube\u00a0is an example of a mechanical system<\/em>: each of the twenty-six\u00a0parts are interdependent,\u00a0we cannot move one facet independently of the others,\u00a0we can only move groups of\u00a0nine at a time.\u00a0Every action\u00a0we make has\u00a0nine consequences – not just\u00a0one.\u00a0 To solve the whole Rubik Cube system problem\u00a0we must be mindful of the interdependencies\u00a0and adopt methods that preserve what works while improving what does\u00a0not.<\/p>\n

The human body is a complex biological system. In medicine we have a phrase for this concept of preserving what works while improving what does not: “primum non nocere<\/em>”\u00a0which means “first of all do no harm”.\u00a0 Doctors are masters of goal-directed heuristics; the\u00a0medical model of diagnosis\u00a0before prognosis before treatment is a goal-directed strategy and\u00a0the common tactic is to\u00a0quickly and accurately pattern-match from\u00a0a small set of carefully selected data.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In reality we all employ goal-directed-heuristics\u00a0all of the time – it is the way our caveman brains\u00a0have evolved.\u00a0\u00a0Relative success comes from having a more useful\u00a0set of heuristics – and these can be learned.\u00a0\u00a0Just as with the Rubik Cube – it is quicker to learn what works from someone who can demonstrate\u00a0that it works and can explain how it works\u00a0– than to always laboriously work it out for ourselves.<\/p>\n

An organisation is a bio-psycho-socio-economic system: a set of interdependent parts called people connected together by relationships and communication\u00a0processes we call culture.\u00a0\u00a0Improvement Science is a set of heuristics that\u00a0have been\u00a0discovered or designed\u00a0to guide us\u00a0safely and reliably\u00a0towards any goal we choose to select – preserving what\u00a0has been shown to work and challenging what does not.\u00a0\u00a0Improvement Science does not define the path it only helps us\u00a0avoid\u00a0getting stuck, or going around in circles, or getting hopelessly lost while we are on the life-journey to our chosen goal.<\/p>\n

And Improvement Science is learnable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Look what popped out of Santa’s sack! I have not seen\u00a0one of these for years and it brought back memories of hours of frustration and time wasted in attempting to solve it myself; a sense of failure when I could not; a feeling of envy for those who knew how\u00a0to; and a sense of\u00a0indignation when … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “The Rubik Cube Problem”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,17,24,35,42,43,46],"tags":[73,93,122,129,211,218,248,264,269,275],"class_list":["post-603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-6m-design","category-examples","category-improvementology","category-reflections","category-how","category-why","category-teach","tag-computer-simulation","tag-diagnosis","tag-goals","tag-heuristics","tag-problem-solving","tag-prognosis","tag-rubik-cube","tag-strategy","tag-system","tag-tactics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hcse.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hcse.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hcse.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hcse.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hcse.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hcse.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hcse.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hcse.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hcse.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}