Problems have hidden, repeatable structures. Here's my attempt to name them:
1. Smashed Watch
There are so many issues at once that fixing one has no benefit unless you fix others too.
2. Leaky Pipe
Fixing one problem causes the others to intensify. If you plug up one leak in a pipe leaking in multiple places, that increases the water pressure causing the other spots to leak more.
3. Shark Laser
A proposed solution is not aiming at a meaningfully important problem, so it doesn’t matter how well you get it to work or how much you enhance it.
4. Oil Land
A big problem is so close to being solved that the benefits will accrue to whoever first bothers to put a little effort into it.
5. Lead to Gold
A problem is so hard that humans aren’t even close to being smart enough or technologically advanced enough to solve it. We toil away pointlessly at trying to solve it.
6. Booby Trapped Garden
A problem is really hard to solve for reasons that are not at all apparent from the outside, leading to lots of attempts to solve it, all of them miserable failures.
7. Feature Creep
The problem keeps growing in scope. It cannot be solved because attempts to solve it keep increasing the definition of what the problem is considered to be.
8. Sleeping Horror
The problem is not that likely to happen, but if it does, it will be horrible. Nobody bothers to try to solve it because they assume it probably won’t happen, and plus, there are more immediately pressing concerns. The horror wakes up eventually.
9. Middle Court Shot
A problem could be solved pretty easily, but it falls between multiple people’s responsibilities. Hence nobody takes responsibility for it, assuming someone else will do so.
10. Will-o’-the-wisp
A problem that nobody can solve because nobody understands what is causing it.
11. Tug of War
A problem for one group that can’t be solved without making another group substantially worse off.
12. Piñata
A minor problem or non-existent problem that is promoted as a major problem for political benefit, or so as to distract from harder to solve bigger problems.
13. Too Much Salt
A problem that’s created by the solution used to solve another problem.
14. PlayPump
A problem created by well-intentioned do-gooders due to naivety.
15. Death Spiral
One problem creates another problem which creates more problems leading to an unsolvable cluster of problems.
16. Loose Thread
A problem that would have been very easy to solve if it were worked on early isn’t solved because it seems too minor to worry about. It keeps getting worse and worse until it’s very costly to fix.
17. Sleeping Dog
A potential problem that only actually becomes a problem if you try to solve it.
18. Hated Equilibrium
A situation where most everyone is unhappy with the state of affairs, but no one can unilaterally make the situation better on their own. The parties can’t find a way to coordinate so that required actions occur simultaneously, so they get stuck in the bad state.
19. Moving the Ocean
A significant problem where the cost of solving it is so high that it’s not even worth solving.
20. Chesterton’s Fence
Something that appears to be a problem was actually put there on purpose as the solution to a (now hard to spot) problem, and so is, in fact, not actually a problem.
21. Demonic Problem
A problem that seems like it will wreck you if you make it your job to try to solve it, and you are absolutely correct. Yet for some reason you are tempted to try.
22. Ship of Theseus
A problem that is not real, and only seems real because of confusion or the complexity required to think about it clearly.
23. Scylla
A really awful problem whose solution is itself so bad that it’s only barely worth implementing.
24. Ocean of Pain
A problem so big that you can only hope to solve some tiny part of it, which demotivates people from even trying to do that.
25. Paper Straw
A problem that is only very slightly important, but it’s socially rewarded to pretend it is much more important than it is. Eventually some people may even forget they are pretending.
26. Toilet Crusade
A problem that is actually important, but it is so unsexy that almost nobody wants to try to tackle it.
27. Sophie’s Choice
A problem you are faced with where you will feel you’ve acted unethically or experience remorse no matter which option you choose.
28. Cursed Treasure
A problem such that whoever solves it will be punished, or suffer severe negative consequences.
29. Living Mummy
A problem such that, no matter how many times it is solved, it will eventually emerge again.
30. Drowning Child
A problem that you become morally obligated to try to solve as soon as you encounter it or witness it clearly enough.
31. Sinking Ship
A hard-to-solve problem that everyone avoids trying to solve for fear they will get dragged down with the ship (or blamed for it sinking).
I like this setup because it shows that not all problems are difficult for the same reason. Some problems are overlooked. Some problems are misdiagnosed. Some problems generate new problems as we try to solve them.
The categories that come most immediately to mind for me are Sleeping Horror, Hated Equilibrium, and Middle Court Shot, as many important global issues seem to fit these patterns.
It is helpful to inquire not only, “How great is the problem?” but also “What sort of problem is it?” That knowledge may help us choose better solutions.”