1. Recreate problem in prod - How was it triggered? I did a bit of digging and noticed that it happened when very specific conditions occurred.
2. Recreate it locally - Got an error message, i.e. `SomeVar is not defined`.
3. SomeVar - Why is it `undefined`? I started working backwards and realized that the `SomeVar` functionality was working as intended, but it's what was being fed into it that was the issue.
4. Working backwards - I had a hunch as to why the error was occurring when I started, and when I worked backwards I realized that I was partially correct.
5. More research - In regards to point 4, I learned what else was missing (i.e. why I was partially correct about my hunch).
6. Start coding - Since the issue was in prod, I put in a pretty shoddy hotfix. It worked, but it tacked on some logic into code that was already pretty confusing (due to a lot of conditional scenarios in the UI).
7. PR - I opened a PR, but to my Sr Dev's point the solution worked but the code wasn't clean.
8. Sr Dev chat - We had a quick chat, and even though the issue was in prod only a few people had it happening to them (the feature wasn't widely used). Also, unless we were actively losing money due to a prod issue, a hotfix isn't needed and we can take the time to write cleanly.
9. Coding - I realized that there was an even easier way to write the code without introducing confusing logic. I scrapped about 95% of what I had and put in something that not only worked, but was much cleaner. I also wrote some tests, as per the Sr's recommendation.
10. Updated PR - I followed-up with the Sr, who thanked me for revising the code and for writing the tests.
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Although I reached the original solution and the new one on my own, having discussions with the Senior Dev was incredibly beneficial.