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Ask HN: How do you work through large ideas?

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Re: Ask HN: How do you work through large ideas?

#41

Post by carapace »

The first thing you should learn is how to operate your own brain. It's the most sophisticated information-processing "machine" in the known Universe but it doesn't come with a manual.

Fortunately, many have been written. In addition to conventional stuff like memory training, vocabulary building, etc. I highly recommend exploring (self-)hypnosis.

To your question: your mind is much larger, if you will, than the part you're conscious of moment to moment. You can learn to let it do thinking for you. (In fact, you have: language, walking, etc. your mind learns and operates vastly complex systems. That's why the brain is so large. It uses something like 20% of the oxygen you take in.)

Subjectively, you cram your brain with information (mostly via reading and direct experience. Take a train trip, etc. Get out and gather primary data.) Then sleep on it, often literally. Next thing you know, in the shower, or while buttering your toast, out of the inky blue will come some great insight, or a solution to some problem. (Be sure to keep a pad of paper and pencil handy at all times, esp. by your bedside.)

HTH, ta!

Re: Ask HN: How do you work through large ideas?

#43

Post by carapace »

simonebrunozzi wrote: post #32

If it's of any consolation, I too have these "grand" ideas. My obsession for the past ~30 years (I'm 40-something now) has been "how to build the city of the future".

I'm fascinated by that question too. What have you come up with? (Your blog domain listed in your HN profile seems kaput.)

Have you heard of Paolo Soleri's "arcology" concept? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcology

Re: Ask HN: How do you work through large ideas?

#44

Post by cj »

mazer_r wrote: post #39
cj wrote: post #35

Using your example, my personal approach would be: 1) Figure out how to organize a democracy of 10 people. 2) Once you got that down, bump the number to 100 people, and identify / solve any new problems that arise. 3) Bump the number again to 1000. Rinse & repeat until you get up to 100 million. In simpler terms, break the problem / idea into something you can confidently solve in a reasonable time frame, even if the…

I like this “scaling” thought experiment technique very much in a variety of problems I face. It often makes things clearer to think in those terms. However, I think the 100, 1k, 100M approach might have drawbacks to finding the _best_ solution because the final iteration carries forward assumptions from the previous iterations. In CS terms, we may arrive at a local maximum this way, instead of the global max.

Good points.

In startup terms, generally it's necessary to start with a MVP, from which you build on. The iterative approach is effective at ensuring you make progress toward the problem you're solving, but I agree, the risk is that you might end up carrying forward or "inheriting" problematic assumptions which can impede your ability to effectively solve the larger problem in the long run.

On the flipside, the iterative approach at the very least will help you understand the problem domain thoroughly from multiple perspectives (iterations), even if that means you periodically need to throw out all of your work and start again from scratch.

Re: Ask HN: How do you work through large ideas?

#47

Post by bArray »

I have a few points I roughly use:

1. What is the most simple representation of the idea? What in the MVP (minimal viable product)? How can you reduce this to it's simplest form?

2. What sub-problems or sub-ideas need to be tackled in order to realize this larger project? Try to figure out which ones must be solved first and which ones can be solved independently.

3. Try to find existing solutions to your abstractions - there's a good chance you're not the first to ask these questions. If there isn't something existing, repeat from step 1.

A ridiculously important part to solving these smaller tasks is to figure out how they can be tested. You don't want to get to the end and figure out some part doesn't work as it needs to.

Re: Ask HN: How do you work through large ideas?

#48

Post by thread_id »

Start with defining Vision, Goals, Objectives

Also you need a wall onto which you can cast an Ontology with Nodes and Edges. Then deep dive research into relevant topics while simultaneously refining your VGO. Every foray into a topic should yield additional nodes and edges to your Ontology.

Continuously check and adjust. Refactor and pivot when new knowledge and data points in a new direction.

Re: Ask HN: How do you work through large ideas?

#49

Post by NiceWayToDoIT »

You have not said what kind of idea? Is it a physical system, web application, is it a change of laws, does it require human behavioural change?

Depending on what you are building, there are multiple approaches.

There are two sayings 'You can't see the forest for the trees' and 'You can't see the tree for the forest' ... Basically, with any massive problem, we have to find a middle ground, we need to understand the existence of the forest but also every single tree.

When thinking about large systems, you need to know enough about many subjects so you can cover most of the problems. Ability to see the society but also a single person and his psychology and what drives people is crucial.

Like the answer to the question "How to eat an elephant?" - "Start with the first bite."

In regards to the concrete idea you mentioned maybe you should look into Global Challenge New Shape Library - https://globalchallenges.org/new-shape-library/ you will find many ideas there, I was one of the 14 finalists out of 2700 submissions....

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