[sheikheddy]

The way progress is made on tall and wide problems is different. On tall problems, you make progress "climbing", and don't move forward much until you reach the peak, and then it's behind you all at once. For wide problems, you can make a little headway "forward" in little increments, which is easier to track.

I think a lot of wide problems could be approached as tall problems, but the incentive structure in some places is set up to measure how much "forward" movement is made each day, so you're punished for "climbing" since people think that you're staying still instead of doing work.