Problem Solving
-DA,
- [Grissom admits to a mistake]
- Gil Grissom: What?
- Nick Stokes: Well, it's just that most people don't admit to being wrong.
- Gil Grissom: I'm wrong all the time. It's how I get to "right".
I was overjoyed to find out TVNZ loaded up all seasons of CSI:Crime Schene Investigation months ago. I was watching Season 9 Episode 9 the other night and pretended I didn't know that my dearest and most treasured Gil Grissom was leaving. He taught me a lot. I can't wait to finish watching all 16 seasons so I can watch them all over again.
Whenever I face a problem, I ask myself “What would Grissom do?” It's not in the list of problem-solving techniques/processes… well it should. He's not a Web Developer at all but I admire his methodology and passion when he works on a case.
My Problem
It was Sprint 2, we were asked to setup our blog - yes this one that you're in right now. I hit a road block. I was overwhelmed. The problem - setup blog. I was able to solve it in the end (exhibit A) but it was definitely not in a way as elegant as I wanted to.
After the stellar pep talk from my husband, I had to get to work. The first technique I tried… Try something! Usually the hardest step is the first one and the only way to find out how something will turn out is to just try it out! Type it on your code-editor, hit run, see what happens! When that was out of the way, the creative juices started to flow, not saying smooth sailing followed though, it was a big project afterall (at least to me!).
I'd say I Googled about 70% of the time I worked on the blog - I wasn't particularly good at CSS and for the life of me I simply couldn't remember all the HTML tags. I did some form of “console.logging” i.e., saving my workfiles then refreshing the browser so I can see what the blog looks like at different stages of the build. Since I did not have some straightforward plan to get the blog done, the Rubber ducky method was the way to go for me and I have my husband to thank as he patiently listened even sneaked a suggestion or two (it pays to get a live rubber ducky!). He may not have understood most of the things I wanted to achieve and that was ok, it compelled me to express and layout my plan in non-technical terms.
Grissom: “If you try and chase two rabbits you end up losing them both.”
Reflecting on the Problem and the Solving
The week of Sprint 2 truly enlightened me. There were so many things which I could have handled with more grace. The Rubber ducky method was great but maybe should have led with that. Googling was a necessity but not all the time. To this day I still find myself clicking link after link, opening tab after tab and it is a conscious effort to stick to studying what I need at the moment and do the extras later. Work in progress.
I am a novice at writing pseudocode and reading error messages and I really want to be more fluent. In another blog CSS Box Model - My Sushi Sample), I showed you how to make sushi. Let's make a glass of Milo this time.
Not everyone takes their Milo the way that I do, some might even prefer something else like tea! So this can get messy real quick and it helps to break down the steps in plain human language before diving into programming.
HELP. Last but definitely not the least. It may not always be because I'm stuck, it could also be because I'm in need of someone to validate what I think I know or there is another perspective I'm not seeing. So far this has been an easy technique as evidenced by the activity in Discord. It's just awesome!
- Gil Grissom: Repeat after me. Silk, silk, silk.
- Nick Stokes: Silk, silk, silk.
- Gil Grissom: What do cows drink?
- Nick Stokes: Milk.
- Gil Grissom: Cows drink water. They produce milk.
End of blog.