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It’s surprising usually how little they actually figure out. It takes 2 more murders to help them along. It’s just fiction but it’s probably not far from the truth
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So basically be a modern day right winger? Because your first 3 things there get you labeled as such - on HN and elsewhere. The last 3 get you banned. If we are going to play a game of what you’re allowed to assume and what you aren’t allowed to assume, then you aren’t a detective, you’re a pawn for someone else’s bidding and their strategic movements. Ditto for believing and challenging whatever “facts” you are allo…
I can't believe you introduced partisan politics into a post about how to solve problems. Well I guess not believe in anything is a first step anyway.
But if we just keep that aside for a millisecond, doesn't he have a valid point in a way? Isn't it reputational suicide these days to question the popular narrative in many regards? (And yes, let the downvotes roll in, thereby proving my point :))
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I'd love to see a list of these books when they exist: Rex Feral - Hit Man Stick and Rudder: An Explanation of the Art of Flying ... By the way, there is a section of the article where they mention books: The book Blackstone’s Senior Investigating Officers’ Handbook (5th ed, 2019) by Tony Cook is a unique one-stop guide to all the processes and actions involved in conducting major investigations, presented in a clear…
I love this genre of books. A previous request clued me into “Freedom of the Hills” and “The Mariner’s Weather Handbook” “ The most complete guide to marine weather analysis, tactics, and storm avoidance. Teaches traditional forecasting based on current observed conditions, as well as the latest tools including facsimile charts and the Internet. An easy-to-use tool for sailors, power boaters, professional seamen, and…
A lot of these principles are great for investigating complex bugs/incidents. e.g: - Assume nothing - Believe nothing - Challenge and check everything - use a mindmap - seek alternative explanations - recruit a devils advocate
So basically be a modern day right winger? Because your first 3 things there get you labeled as such - on HN and elsewhere. The last 3 get you banned. If we are going to play a game of what you’re allowed to assume and what you aren’t allowed to assume, then you aren’t a detective, you’re a pawn for someone else’s bidding and their strategic movements. Ditto for believing and challenging whatever “facts” you are allo…
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Agreed. At the bottom of any long-to-debug issue I've encountered is some assumption I absolutely knew to be beyond suspicion that turned out to be wrong. (That said, it's easy to say in retrospect. In the moment there is always judgement about what to verify first, and of course its always the last thing you check that turns out to be the problem)
Well it would be silly to keep checking once you’ve already found the problem, surely? /s
Some problems have a single root cause, some have multiple independent root causes, and some issues present when root causes have an interaction type effect.
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Agreed. At the bottom of any long-to-debug issue I've encountered is some assumption I absolutely knew to be beyond suspicion that turned out to be wrong. (That said, it's easy to say in retrospect. In the moment there is always judgement about what to verify first, and of course its always the last thing you check that turns out to be the problem)
Well it would be silly to keep checking once you’ve already found the problem, surely? /s
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I can't believe you introduced partisan politics into a post about how to solve problems. Well I guess not believe in anything is a first step anyway.
I understand that that is kind of a taboo thing to do. It's like an unwritten rule and it makes sense. But if we just keep that aside for a millisecond, doesn't he have a valid point in a way? Isn't it reputational suicide these days to question the popular narrative in many regards? (And yes, let the downvotes roll in, thereby proving my point :))
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The first three have solved just about every problem that I've ever encountered in software, even in systems that I had absolutely no clue about (which made the first two quite natural ;) ). Debugging and troubleshooting isn't art or magic, it's just being very boringly methodical and building from the ground up. A single assumption and you're off to a dead end, a single thing taken on hearsay and you will repeat wha…
I have noticed that when a Stack Overflow question says "the problem can't possibly be X, because ", that is very often exactly where the problem is (and is a misunderstanding).
Probably you could extend your theory to 'first google result for question 'x''.