Living on a private drive has its perks—quiet, scenic, no speeding delivery trucks flying by. But it also means one thing: no curbside trash service. Twice a week, I walk our trusty “trash wagon”—an old child’s wagon repurposed for household duty—a quarter mile down to the dumpsters.
I don’t mind the walk. In fact, I kind of enjoy it. The wagon is perfect: sturdy, with a comfortable handle and little corner posts (originally for a canopy) where I can loop the bag handles so nothing falls out. All week, the trash and recycling pile up neatly in the wagon parked in our garage, ready for its bi-weekly trek.
But one day, I spotted something that stopped me in my tracks—my husband driving down the street with the wagon loaded in his truck bed.
When he got home, I asked, “What were you doing with the trash wagon?”
He grinned, beaming with pride. “I got rid of it and bought us a nice trash can!”
I gasped. “But… why?!”
“So Louis”—our sweet but very dopey dog who LOVES digging in the garbage—“can’t get into it anymore and make a mess in the garage!”
Problem solved… or so he thought.
But here’s the kicker—while he solved one problem, he created another. Without the wagon, I now had to wrestle with a four-foot-deep trash can. Instead of just reaching in and grabbing bags, I’d have to practically dive into the garbage to retrieve the stuff at the bottom. Not exactly the efficiency I was going for.
The Business Lesson: Solving the Right Problem
This little household saga isn’t just a funny story—it’s a classic example of how we often solve problems in business. We fix the symptom without understanding the system.
My husband had good intentions. He saw a mess on the garage floor (thanks, Louis) and eliminated the cause: an open trash wagon. But he didn’t understand the full picture of how the wagon functioned—how it made my job of hauling trash easier, cleaner, and faster. He solved his version of the problem without understanding mine.
Managers often do the same thing. We step in to “improve” a process, eliminate a bottleneck, or cut a cost—but if we don’t fully understand the workflow from start to finish, we risk creating bigger headaches than the ones we’re solving.
What Leaders Can Learn From the Trash Wagon
- Understand the Whole Process
Don’t just look at outcomes—look at the path to those outcomes. Who touches the work? What tools do they rely on? What little efficiencies make their job easier? - Ask Before You Act
A quick conversation could have saved my husband a trip to the dump (and me from wrestling with a deep trash can). Leaders should ask the people closest to the work what problems they’re facing—and what’s already working well—before making changes. - Avoid Creating Secondary Problems
Every solution has a ripple effect. Before implementing a change, ask: What will this impact downstream? Will it create new challenges for someone else? - Involve the Right People in Problem-Solving
Sometimes the best solutions come from the people who deal with the problem every day. As managers, we don’t always need to be the fixers—but we do need to be the facilitators of better ideas.
The Bottom Line
My husband was proud of his quick fix—and to be fair, it did solve one issue. But it also made another part of the process more difficult. In business (and life), effective problem-solving isn’t just about patching leaks—it’s about understanding the bigger system and involving the people who know it best.
Sometimes leadership looks like asking better questions, listening to the people closest to the work, and remembering that not all problems are as simple as they seem.
And sometimes, it looks like keeping the trash wagon.
