Forcing your solution on a problem

Fri, 18 May 2007 13:46:22 GMT

There is a something that I think many of us are guilty of from time to time. When you become proficient in a particular language or technology, it is very tempting to want to apply your tool of choice to solve whatever problem that comes along, even if a more objective perspective might show that there is a far more appropriate solution.

My Uncle John is in town visiting from New Hampshire, so I stopped at my parents' house yesterday after work to chat with him for a bit. He and my father have at least 60 years of combined electrical engineering experience, and it is always interesting to me how many parallels there are between the problems and solutions in their industry when compared to the problems and solutions that I experience in software development. My uncle was talking about the problem of choosing the solution before you understand the problem, and how designer engineers often try to force their particular niche into circuitry design, whether it is the right solution or not. Obviously as a programmer I have seen the same behavior, and have certainly been guilty of it myself. He told me that when doing presentations, he has often told this story:

"So last night I was on my way out to the parking lot and I came across this guy under the big light out there. He was down on his hands and knees looking around. When I asked what he was doing, he told me that he had dropped his keys and was looking for them. Having a few extra minutes I figured I would help out so I asked him 'OK, how big of a radius are we looking in here?' while spreading my arms out in the area he was looking. The guy looked up kind of perplexed and said 'No, the keys are over there...' pointing across the lot '... but the light is much better over here'."

It didn't matter what the problem was. The guy had his solution whether it fit or not. I think it is healthy for us to remind ourselves not to fall in that trap.

Grand Canyon... It's on!

Mon, 11 Jul 2005 05:00:00 GMT

My father and I decided that this was the year that we would hike the North Rim to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. I know this seems crazy, but it is actually a paperwork challenge to be able to hike the Grand Canyon. There is an application process in which you have to fax your request in the 1st day of the month 6 months before the intended date of your trip with a detailed itinerary, including where you will be sleeping and when. We sent faxed our paperwork in and held our breath on the 1st of April, 6 months before we hoped to go in September. After no word for a month we finally contacted them, only to find out that we had been rejected. Discouraged, but not beaten, we laid out the calendar to see if there was another time that would work. We decided that November would be acceptable, albeit a little colder. It should be in the 60s in the bottom of the canyon though where we will spend the majority of our time. Once again, we laid out our itinerary and faxed in on July 1. My dad received a letter today dated July 6, 2005 telling him that they were sorry, but they were unable to accept out application. He spent a good hour walking around the house cussing and feeling terribly disappointed. A bit later my mom noticed there was another letter from the Grand Canyon dated July 7, 2005.

Dear Mr. Shuck, we have accepted your request to hike the Grand Canyon on the dates of November 1, 2 and 3, 2005. Enlcosed are your passes, which you will need to affix to your backpack and carry with you in the canyon. There is no need to stop by the back country headquarters before departing on the trail.

So in 3.5 months, I will be taking this in....

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Forcing your solution on a problem

Grand Canyon... It's on!