It often helps to include the word too in the definition (e.g., "too big," "too
small," "growing too slowly," "growing too fast"). These last two phrases (about
"growing") remind us that problems deserving our attention don't necessarily
exist "todayn but are (at least potentially) in prospect for the future, whether near
or distant.
However, it does not help to think in terms of deficit and excess when your
problem is an already well-structured decision problem, for example, "Dump the
dredging spoils either in the Bay or somewhere out in the Pacific Ocean." Nor
does it help if your challenge is to invent ariy way to accomplish some defined
objective, for example, "Find some grant funds to close the anticipated gap between
revenues and expenditures." These decision- and invention-type "problems" are
problems for the policy analyst but are not the sort of problems I am addressing
in this section.