The problem is not always the problem

[louh]

Nigel Jacob says this very frequently. Similar to #3?

You can't ask city officials what "the problem" is because you'll be told something that's not the real problem - e.g. symptoms of the problem, but not the cause. Sometimes the real problem is outside their department.

A good metaphorical example of this occurred in January: when David Eaves, needing to depart for the airport, asked for someone to call him a taxi.

Problem statement: "I need a taxi." Solving this is easy. But:
The unstated, real problem: "I need to get to the airport."
This opens the problem to other potential solutions, like taking the BART (near the office and goes directly to airport; significantly cheaper!)