This morning I heard about Kidlin’s law, which instantly resonated. It’s one of those simple truths that seems obvious once you hear it, but can change your approach to solving problems.
If you write a problem down clearly and specifically, you have solved half of it.
I like that. It’s very hard to solve a problem without defining it carefully.
Another version goes like this.
If you can’t write your problem down clearly, you don’t understand it.
This follows a rule I believe I learned from C.S. Lewis, which says that if you can’t explain something in clear, simple language, you don’t understand it. (Some people call that the Feynman Technique — that is, breaking an idea down and explaining it simply.) One application of that idea is that if you can’t explain a concept without a lot of jargon you don’t understand it.
I love proverbs, and I love these problem-solving mental models / sayings. Kidlin’s Law highlights the importance of clarity in problem-solving. But what if you don’t have clarity yet? That’s where Rubber Duck Debugging comes in. You explain the problem to a rubber duck, which sounds silly, but it helps you organize your thoughts around and your understanding of the problem. That can help you find the solution.
The other benefit of rubber duck debugging is that you’re enjoying a nice hot bath while you do it.
There are a lot of variations on these basic concepts.
Thinking Aloud Protocol — Speaking a problem out loud forces you to slow down and articulate each step. That can make gaps in reasoning more obvious.
The Five Whys — By repeatedly asking “Why?” you can expose the root cause of an issue — especially if you write down the whys and your responses.
Dialectical Thinking — By arguing both sides of an issue you challenge your assumptions and expose blind spots. You end up with a more nuanced understanding of an issue.
The Socratic Method — Ask yourself probing questions, as if you were your own philosophical opponent. (The chorus of voices in my head does that to me all day long!!)
Another technique I particularly like is slightly different. It’s called Structured Procrastination. You work on a problem for a while, then you put it out of your mind and work on something else entirely. Maybe a Sudoku, or a difficult chord progression on the guitar. Then you come back to the original problem.
The idea is that your loud, obnoxious and bumbling conscious mind is getting in the way. You need to allow your quiet, smart, subconscious mind to work on the problem for a while.
Learning these mental models and tricks is crucial for everybody, but especially for those of us with a few grey hairs. The natural plasticity and youthful horsepower of the brain starts to decline, but you can make up for that by thinking smarter, not harder.
