/problem-solving-strategy

Before asking for help, here is a strategy to work through a problem.

BSD 3-Clause "New" or "Revised" LicenseBSD-3-Clause

Problem solving strategy

Andrew Potter, UNEP-WCMC. Licensed under BSD.

Before asking for help, here is a strategy to work through a problem.

  1. Try to identify the error or the problem you are having so that you would be able to explain what is happening to another person.
  2. Don’t ask for help yet.
  3. Google the issue, possibly copy and paste the error message if there is one, but try to remove any information from the error which might be specific to your code such as file names or class names.
  4. Spend 20 minutes searching online – if there are results for this problem.
  5. Go back to the issue for another 20 minutes and try to resolve.
  6. If you still cannot solve this issue, move onto another problem if possible and return to this later on.
  7. Finally go back and try again for 30 minutes.
  8. If you cannot make any more progress, then ask for help, with a summary of the information you have discovered and what you have learnt from this problem.