Hidden symptoms

When we look upstream for a solution to a problem, it forces us to look at the whole system rather than at just a single symptom. This allows us to potentially bundle what would be multiple band-aids for individual symptoms into single systematic solutions.

Designing public benches such that homeless people cannot sleep on them is exactly this kind of (objectionable) band-aid to a systematic problem. Designing the benches this way is cheaper than solving the problem as a whole. But there are many symptoms of this problem, and finding an upstream solution can help us resolve more of these symptoms together.

It is worth going as far upstream as possible so that we can solve for as many symptoms as possible. The cost of an upstream solution should be compared against the cost of all the symptoms that follow.