There are two things you shouldn’t do with a problem or mistake: just ignore it, or just fix it. Just ignoring it really annoys people, so don’t do that. But sometimes just fixing it isn’t much better – especially if someone else caused the problem in the first place. That’s because (with many problems) if all you do is "fix them" the same thing will happen again. And that soon gets really annoying. Annoying for the person fixing the problem (of course) but just as annoying for the person who may actually be causing the problem. If things keep going wrong they’re left wondering why you, or your processes, are so … dumb. That's why the most important thing to do with problems is understand them. Because when you understand them you can prevent them happening again. Maybe the problem is something to do with your own processes, and the solution is to change them. Maybe the problem is something the other person is doing, and the solution is to modify how they operate. Either way, suddenly you’re acting smart, not stupid, and chances are the problem will go away. Cheers, Ian PS Yes Virginia, I’m talking about us. :) If we call we’re just trying to understand what’s happening, so we can make things go better in future. And yes, sometimes s@#$ does just happen, and all you can do then is fix it and try harder.