All You Need to Do Is

I get a little irritated when I see folks here and elsewhere identify “solutions” that gloss over a key requirement, that others will be required to do things they’re unlikely to do without adequate incentives or penalties. When someone can just ignore the problem-solver with no perceived ill-effects, they usually will.

When the problem-solver doesn’t have the first clue how to persuade those folks to go along with the plan, they’re actually describing a solution that might as well have a magic lamp and conclude with “and they all lived happily after.”