I am often scolded at work for one strange quality - sometimes I fiddle with a task for too long, no matter if it is a manager or a programmer, which seems unsolvable. It seems like it's high time to quit, move on to another, and I keep tinkering and tinkering. It turns out that everything is not so simple.
I read a wonderful book here, which again explained everything. I love this - here you act in a certain way, it works, and then - bam, and you find a scientific explanation.
In short, it turns out that there is a very useful skill in the world - to solve unsolvable problems. That's when the hell knows how to solve it, is it possible in principle. Everyone has long abandoned, declared the problem unsolvable, and you - tinkering all the way.
Recently, I wrote about the inquisitiveness of the mind, as one of the key, in my opinion, qualities of a programmer. So, this is it. Do not give up, look, try options, come from different sides, until the task finally breaks.
A similar quality, it seems to me, is key for a manager. Even more important than for a programmer.
There is a task - for example, to double the efficiency indicators. Most managers don't even try to solve this problem. Instead of a solution, they look for reasons why this task is not worth taking on at all. The excuses sound compelling, perhaps because the top manager is, frankly, reluctant to take on the task either.
So here's what the book says. It turns out that solving unsolvable problems develops the skill of solving solvable problems. The more and longer you fiddle with unsolvable ones, the better you solve simpler problems.
Oh, by the way, the book is called Willpower by Roy Baumeister.
I have been fond of such garbage since childhood, for a very prosaic reason. I lived in the village in the 90s, I didn’t have my own computer, I went to play with friends. And, for some reason, I really liked quests. Available were Space Quest, Larry and Neverhood. And there was no internet.
The quests of that time are not like the current ones. Items on the screen were not highlighted, there were five cursors - i.e. Each item can be acted on in five different ways, and the result will be different. Since objects are not highlighted, then pixel hunting is impossible (when you move the cursor around the entire screen and wait for something to be highlighted).
In short, he sat all the way until they kicked him out of the house. But all quests passed. Then I fell in love with unsolvable problems.
Then I transferred this practice to programming. Previously, it was a real disaster when the salary depended on the speed of solving problems - but I can’t do that, I need to get to the bottom of the matter, understand why it doesn’t work, achieve the desired result.
The plant saved the situation - there, in general, it doesn't matter how long you sit with the task. Especially when you are the only programmer in the enterprise, and there is no boss who will remind you of the deadlines.
And now everything has changed. And I, frankly, do not understand those who stop at 1-2 iterations. They reach the first difficulty, and their hands drop. Don't even try other options. They just sit down and that's it.
Partly, the picture is spoiled by the Internet. A little that does not work out - they run to google. In our times, you either figure it out yourself, or you don't. Well, the maximum is to ask someone. However, in the village there was no one to ask especially - again, because the social circle is limited due to the Internet.
Now the ability to solve the unsolvable helps a lot in my work. In fact, the option to quit and not do it is not even considered in the head. Here, it seems to me, there is a fundamental point.
The habit of solving the unsolvable makes one look for a solution, and the absence of this habit makes one look for excuses. Well, or call mom in any incomprehensible situation.
This is especially evident in the work with personnel. Usually there are requirements that a novice employee either meets or does not. Well, or there is a training program, according to the results of which a person either came up or not.
And I don't care. I want to make a programmer out of anyone. Simply checking for compliance is too easy. This is a solvable problem. Even the secretary can handle it. But to make Pinocchio out of logs - yes. It's a challenge. Here you have to think, look, try, make mistakes, but continue.
So, I sincerely recommend solving unsolvable problems.
Source: habr.com