71–80 of 140 posts
I've found that the most underrated problem solving tool is simply typing out my thought process. I used to be the type who asked a lot of questions until I realized that formulating the question was often more important than getting the answer.
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It's amazing how much a technique like rubber ducking[1] helps to work through issues. The number of times I've felt like I have no idea how to solve a problem until the moment after I ask someone else is incredible. I think the act of thinking how to explain the problem to someone else really helps trigger the problem solving side of the brain. That and the number of times taking a 10 minute walk has been more produ…
I was stuck debugging a chip for a day until I finally decided to write to the FAE. I sit down, write my problem in the simplest possible language, list all the tricks I tried and asked for a solution. Then I'm reading my email to make sure everything is in order and voila - one last thing to try. and that step worked.
Or do you mean ‘fae’ as in fairies?
Edit: speeling
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When asking for help solving a problem, I start writing a question to ask someone, and then as I start explaining what I've tried (to try to be respectful of their time and them not have to repeat anything I've done) more and more things to try occur to me. By the time I've tried all the things that occur to me while describing the problem, I've solved the problem. That's the way it works out more often than not.
Exactly this. What is really weird, though, is that I have occasionally tried to promote this approach to people that ask my help, simply by asking them to write the request to me instead of calling. Also, getting the help request in written helps me to think the case and open issues in my own pace uninterrupted by discussion. The weird part? I have a strong feeling that more and more often (luckily not too often yet…
I've found that the most underrated problem solving tool is simply typing out my thought process. I used to be the type who asked a lot of questions until I realized that formulating the question was often more important than getting the answer.
This. I've gotten a new appreciation for Stackoverflow in the past year or so. Half of the drafts I write do not end up as published questions, just because the writing process itself is often helpful in figuring out what ever problem I have with my code.
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When asking for help solving a problem, I start writing a question to ask someone, and then as I start explaining what I've tried (to try to be respectful of their time and them not have to repeat anything I've done) more and more things to try occur to me. By the time I've tried all the things that occur to me while describing the problem, I've solved the problem. That's the way it works out more often than not.
Exactly this. What is really weird, though, is that I have occasionally tried to promote this approach to people that ask my help, simply by asking them to write the request to me instead of calling. Also, getting the help request in written helps me to think the case and open issues in my own pace uninterrupted by discussion. The weird part? I have a strong feeling that more and more often (luckily not too often yet…
I’ve asked people to not give me dimensions for a work request over the phone because it leads to potential for transcription errors and mis-hearing...
If you type it out and send it to me, or write it down and send a photo / scan, and it’s wrong... that’s your fault.
And they seem genuinely put out by me not wanting to be responsible for a mistake.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was stuck debugging a chip for a day until I finally decided to write to the FAE. I sit down, write my problem in the simplest possible language, list all the tricks I tried and asked for a solution. Then I'm reading my email to make sure everything is in order and voila - one last thing to try. and that step worked.
What does FAE mean in this context? Or do you mean ‘fae’ as in fairies? Edit: speeling
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Yesterday there was a Show HN about Obsidian[0] which you might be interested in. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23324598
you need an account for it though, right? meaning they have access to your stuff. and because they use unique formatting such as `![[filename]]`, it may not be easily cross-compatible
You might also check out Zim.
Lovely idea and presentation! Will come very handy at times. Something I feel like is missing: Statecharts. Very powerful to be able to reason about state changes without having to deal with the explosion of states that state machines often ends up with. Sometimes also called hierarchical state machines.
I just started digging deep into this for a project this week and I am already in love. Highly recommend this book: https://www.state-machine.com/doc/PSiCC2_Excerpts.pdf
I made another comment about statecharts a while ago, listing some more resources and other comment threads on HN containing bunch of useful experience, resources and general information, starts here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22747409
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Exactly this. What is really weird, though, is that I have occasionally tried to promote this approach to people that ask my help, simply by asking them to write the request to me instead of calling. Also, getting the help request in written helps me to think the case and open issues in my own pace uninterrupted by discussion. The weird part? I have a strong feeling that more and more often (luckily not too often yet…
Yep. I’ve asked people to not give me dimensions for a work request over the phone because it leads to potential for transcription errors and mis-hearing... If you type it out and send it to me, or write it down and send a photo / scan, and it’s wrong... that’s your fault . And they seem genuinely put out by me not wanting to be responsible for a mistake.
Humans need handling.