Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Tools for Better Thinking

untools.co

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 140 posts

Re: Tools for Better Thinking

#91

Post by elric »

dathanb82 wrote: post #67
shahbaby wrote: post #53

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.

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.

What I do then is record that in my journal. Usually I never look at it again. But sometimes it's incredibly useful to be able to go back and revisit my thought process, especially in the face of a bug.

Re: Tools for Better Thinking

#92

Post by HourglassFR »

koolhead17 wrote: post #58

Reading autobiography of Benjamin Franklin makes me feel we don't need tools but willingness within. He had a notebook and pen with him.

To be fair, a notebook and a pen are fantastic thinking tools. You maybe could argue that the tools provided here are not that useful but thinking tools in general are a necessity, Daniel Dennet makes some compeling arguments for this.

"You can't do much carpentry with your bare hands, and you can't do much thinking with your bare brain". — Bo Dahlbom

Re: Tools for Better Thinking

#93

Post by ivalm »

shahbaby wrote: post #53

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.

I have this experience. If I am struggling with something and can’t find an answer on the web I will write down a stack overflow/cross validated/math question. More often than not simply formulating the question well will help resolve the problem. If I still can’t figure it out I post and come back in an hour. Again, even if no one answered rereading the question after making some space often helps answer the question to myself.

Re: Tools for Better Thinking

#94

Post by izzle49 »

shahbaby wrote: post #53

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.

Yep I have been doing the same too, writting out and drawing out things to get it out of my head and onto paper seems to help quite a bit.

Re: Tools for Better Thinking

#95

Post by _f9cu »

Just meditate, please do not load more pain to head. The article shares some good techniques, use the same techniques using pen and paper and it is healthier.

P.S. Its a personal preference, I'm not trying to put down the tool, its great and can be used as a training material for better thinking.

Re: Tools for Better Thinking

#96

Post by foobar_ »

Speed vs quality is a big one. You could even call it speed vs accuracy and add a third factor like cost. This is largest the difference between the biggest companies like Android vs Windows vs Apple and even programming languages like PHP vs Python.

Most companies optimise for speed and a lower cost and wonder why their products are a pile of crap. Optimising for speed also means taking more ethical shortcuts and bad code in hope of rectifying them later and sacrificing everything for faster outcomes. Worse is better and let us just dump plastic everywhere while donating to social causes.

On the flip side in deciding for quality you take longer time to release, more standards to full-fill and being overall more responsible for the product which might take more time to market. A better quality also implies more cost for the end product and might actually create a complex product. A bag which is environmentally safe might have complex incantations needed to clean it for the next use.

Re: Tools for Better Thinking

#97

Post by gexla »

ImprobableTruth wrote: post #51
gexla wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get that. But I'm also skeptical of any product / service which attempts to bolt on Roam-like features. Note taking apps have been around for a long time, and now all of a sudden it's a hot new thing to add bio-directional links? The developers talked about starting out not knowing what they would end up with but that they would know when they saw it. That process took them two years (?) of exploration and developm…

Hell, even if they had straight up invented backlinks I wouldn't be willing to deal with an application that costs $15 per month and gives me absolutely no control over my data. The possibility that an outage could cause me to lose work alone prevents me from ever giving it a shot. And the idea that even though the copycats deliver to me the superior product, I should still give what amounts to charity to Roam becaus…

> The possibility that an outage could cause me to lose work alone prevents me from ever giving it a shot.

They have an excellent data download option in the app. You can download in Markdown or JSON and then restore. The JSON format restores everything. The Markdown format restores syntax. I download both with every session.

> And the idea that even though the copycats deliver to me the superior product, I should still give what amounts to charity to Roam because they designed a nice interface just strikes me as absurd.

Where in my comment did I mention Roam being inferior? Right now it's the opposite. Copycats are offering bolt-on roam-like features which don't work the same. The developers don't have the same understanding of the problem that the Roam developers have.

Why is Roam blowing up right now when it's just another note taking app? People are seeing something in it that they haven't seen in other apps. Bolting on copy-cat features isn't going to capture whatever magic Roam is doing. People are doing themselves a disservice by looking for a Roam alternative. If you tried Roam and believe it sucks, then you aren't looking for an alternative, you're just looking for something with links (Roam does way more than that though.)

I have no personal stake in the app. I'm just amazed at the reviews that Roam has got. I have seen loads of people say that Roam has changed the way they take notes. Some even say it has been life changing. The service has been blowing up.

Re: Tools for Better Thinking

#98

Post by daemoncoder »

typicalbender wrote: post #57
shahbaby wrote: post #53

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.

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've heard this concept called the cardboard colleague - you explain the problem to a cardboard cutout representing a colleague instead of an actual person. Of course it remains a concept, I don't think anyone would go so far as make one :-)

Re: Tools for Better Thinking

#99

Post by drcongo »

shahbaby wrote: post #53

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.

Yes! I've lost count of the number of times I've started a ticket on GitHub and through the process of typing it all out solved my own problem without ever submitting the ticket.

Re: Tools for Better Thinking

#100

Post by andrepd »

typicalbender wrote: post #57
shahbaby wrote: post #53

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.

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…

>That and the number of times taking a 10 minute walk has been more productive than hours of debugging time is frankly mind boggling.

I can't keep track how many times I has an idea that got me unstuck while peeing in the bathroom.

Post reply on HN