Squiggly sprint 24: Day 2 - Problem Solving

Day 2 of the 2024 Squiggly Sprint, and today the topic was Problem Solving.

For a relatively short topic, this gave me a lot of food for thought on what I would write. I have run support teams for over a decade, so I’m a professional problem solver, so I have a lot of ideas on topic. Sometimes, these are contradictory, but I think this reflects the naturally chaotic nature of the support role.

One of my favorite pieces of advice from an old boss is “Look at a problem like if you don’t make progress on it today, you aren’t getting paid for today.” That is really a piece of advice about keeping momentum going in solving problems. This resonates with one of the ideas from the podcast today on Minimum Viable Progress, where you do something quick that can be evaluated. This is really important for a support engineer as they have to keep ticking questions over.

Conversely, one of the things I look for in interview candidates is the fact that they won’t let a problem go. I often tell the story of Dean Callaghan in his final interview with me. The first thing I said when we sat down was ask if he had anything he wanted to ask, at which point he started talking about how he had been thinking about one of the questions from the previous interview and had some further thoughts on it. I just sat back and thought that he was so bothered by not having a perfect answer that he had been thinking about it for two weeks, and thus he would be a great addition to the team. I was proven correct.

One thing which Helen and Sarah touched on today, which I will expand on, is the idea of getting feedback from others. The examples they gave were based on getting feedback fast, and leaving your ego out of it. Something to consider in getting feedback is who are the right people to approach for feedback, as different people can offer different insight at different stages. 

Different people like to think and communicate in different ways. Some people thrive in meetings where there is little in the way of an agenda, and ideas can flow freely. This might be better early in the process. 

Other people like a firm agenda with a definite proposal. This might be better later on in a process when you are narrowing down the options. 

If you go to someone for feedback and there is a clash of styles in what you both expect, it can lead to unproductive discussion. Being upfront about what you need from a meeting and recognizing the strengths of each individual at different times is essential for effective feedback.