The Shape of Complexity
When working alone and tasked to solve a problem or implement a feature, I seem to follow a similar pattern of clarity, leading to confusion and frustration, and back to clarity.
At the outset, most problems seem simple. Then we dig in, get lost in a few rabbit holes until there’s a moment of clarity (often triggered by a shower), and climb out confident we’ve solved the problem.
I’m not alone in this either. Teams go through this all the time but on a larger scale. Avoid spinning your wheels for too long by asking questions or finding someone to pair with you. A rubber duck never answers.
Comments
Yes, this leads me to have some specific personal rules to avoid being caught in a deadlock when the problem is more complex that I initially thought. For example sometimes I start it from beginning, where I look at it as a simple problem, and this time I don’t make it complex.