# The power of framing a problem

- **期号**: SRE Weekly Issue #286（2021-09-05）
- **作者**: Lorin Hochstein
- **链接**: https://surfingcomplexity.blog/2021/08/22/the-power-of-framing-a-problem/

## 简介

> Tell a good story, and you can make things happen.

As SREs, we often know what needs to be done, but convincing others is a hard-won skill.

## 正文

I’m enjoying [Marianne Bellotti’s](https://www.marianne-bellotti.com/) book [Kill It With Fire](https://bookshop.org/books/kill-it-with-fire-manage-aging-computer-systems-and-future-proof-modern-ones/9781718501188), which is a kind of guidebook for software modernization projects (think: migrating legacy systems). In Chapter Five, she talks about the importance of momentum for success, and how a crisis can be a valuable tool for creating a sense of urgency. This is  the passage that really resonated with me (emphasis in the original):

Occasionally, I went as far as looking for a crisis to draw attention to. This usually didn’t require too much effort. Any system more than five years old will have at least a couple major things wrong with it. It didn’t mean lying, and it didn’t mean injecting problems where they didn’t exist. Instead, it was a matter of storytelling—taking something that was unreported and highlighting its potential risks. These problems ***were** problems,* and my analysis of their potential impact was always truthful, but some of them could have easily stayed buried for months or years without triggering a single incident.


This is a great explanation of how describing a problem is a form of power in an organization. Bellotti demonstrates how, by telling a story, she was able to make problems *real* for an organization, even to the point of creating a crisis. And a crisis receives attention and resources. Crises get resolved.

It’s also a great example the importance of storytelling in technical organizations. Tell a good story, and you can make things happen. It’s a skill that’s worth getting better at.

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