Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

I learned a problem-solving method when I was a sophomore in college (in the previous millenium). It still works.

I have a problem today at work. I have no idea what to do.

Let’s fall back in time to my second year of calculus in college. The professor told us something like:

1. Take a problem you don’t know how to solve.
2. Break it up into smaller problems (that you don’t know how to solve)
3. Repeat step 2. until you have a large set of small problems that you do know how to solve.
4. Solve all the problems found in step 3.
5. Sum the solutions from step 4. until you have the solution to step 1.

Guess what, that method this works. The trick for me these days is to understand any current situation in light of this procedure. Most of the time, step 2. means understanding the situation and me in a way that I can ask questions. My current problems are not calculus or physics or even electrical engineering. My current problems are about understanding some fuzzy task that someone thinks they have in their head.

Understanding the problem (steps 1., 2., and 3. above) requires patience with people.