Bryan’s Ramblings

I have heard the term “good problem” a few times in the past couple of weeks and I wonder what it really means. I’ve particularly heard it in the context of three situations that have been presented to me as “good problems”:

1. “The company has so many products in their pipeline that they don’t yet have the resources to handle their production.”
2. “The employee is so desired by other groups that he has plenty of departments to choose from to transfer to.”
3. “The baseball team has more infielders than they really need, but they are all talented.”

These all seem to stem from the idea that having too much of something is a “good problem” to have. I guess I don’t see the distinction. A problem is a problem. Sure, having too many products, job offers, or infielders certainly beats not having enough products to make money, being unemployed or only having a second baseman. Still, it seems that what are often considered “good problems” really aren’t “good” at all, but just “better” than some arbitrary alternative. Wouldn’t you rather have just a few really good products that make a ton of money and that you can produce in an efficient manner? Wouldn’t you rather just have a job that you are satisfied with and that pays you enough money? Wouldn’t you rather just have four really good ball players who each play a single infield position well and can hit for average and power? I would think so. If you are spending money to develop products that you can’t make, or wasting it on infielders who you can’t play, or constantly looking for where the grass may be greener, you are probably tackling the wrong “problem”, or at least not going about solving it the right way.

I think our society today lives in a culture where having options is a good thing. We make our own choices in this day and age, so the more options we have, the better off we feel. But when does having too many options become a real “bad” problem? I mean, we have so many choices of restaurants to eat at, stores to shop at, brands to buy, and channels to watch that we just take them all for granted. That’s what capitalism is really all about, right? A series of “good problems” to have? I think “good problem” is an oxymoron. It just doesn’t make sense to me.