Problem Solving

the title Problem Solving is an all encompassing concept, so all encompassing that it can never be dealt with at a comprehensive stretch in any book. Problem solving can cover anything as simple as finding out ways to solve problems in day to day life to identifying a design pattern for a big software project. Now that's a range!!

Well, in my recent work experience in a maintenance portfolio, I was involved in a lot of bug fixes and debugging. I was able to find out a protocol for finding fixes.

1) Replicate the problem
There's use in finding a solution only if the problem is replicable. Solving an inconsistent problem does not make any sense despite the choice of something waiting 24X7 for a trigger to happen. If the problem is happening in prod or cert, make it happen in dev. You're not just recreating the problem but are also recreating the environment in which the problem occurs. If the problem is not replicable, then may be some anomaly is missing in the environment.

2) Corner down the problem scope
If there are some template text or some warning or error messages thrown in the problem, then find the file that outputs this message. Bang! You're almost there. Usually this is a java class or a perl script or a cgi that outputs a warning or error message when something goes ka-boom.

3) Understand the causative
Now that the file which reacts is cornered, understand the situations in which the message is thrown. Try finding out how close these conditions were in the error causing environment. You're there.

4) Fix it :)

ah-ah-ah-ah-achoooooooooooo!!!!!

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