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A Guide to Problem-Solving for Software Developers with Examples

If I ask you, out of the blue, what’s the role of a developer, what would you answer? Coding all day? Drinking coffee? Complaining about the management?

To me, a developer is first and foremost a problem solver, simply because solving problem is the most important (and the most difficult) part of our job. After all, even if our code is perfect, clear, performing great, a masterpiece of form and meaning, it’s useless if it doesn’t solve the problem it was meant to solve.

So, let’s dive into problem-solving today. More specifically, we’ll see in this article:

How to define a problem, and the difference sometimes made between problem-solving and decision-making.
Why some problems should not be solved.
The two wide categories of problems you can encounter.
Why it’s important to correctly define the problem, and how to do so.
How to explore the solution space.
Why deferring a problem might be the best decision to make in specific situations.
Why reflecting on the whole process afterward can help you in the future.

This article is mostly based on my own experience, even if I apply here some ideas I found in books and papers.

We have our plan. Now, it’s time to dive deep into the difficult, but rewarding, process of problem-solving.

Problem-Solving and Decision-Making

“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.” “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.” “The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master — that’s all.” Lewis Caroll Source

Words are ambiguous; they can mean different things for each of us. So let’s first begin to agree on the definition of “problem-solving” here, to be sure we’re on the same page.

Let’s first look at the definition of the word “problem” in a dictionary:

According to the American Heritage Dictionary , a problem is “a question to be considered, solved, or answered”.
According to the Oxford Learner’s dictionary , a problem is “a thing that is difficult to deal with or to understand”.

In short, in any problem, there is some degree of uncertainty. If you’re certain of the solution, the problem is already solved. Nothing would need to be “considered, solved, or answered”.

Information is useful to reduce this uncertainty. The quantity is often not the most important, but the quality will be decisive. If I tell you that 90% of my readers are extremely intelligent, would it help you to solve a problem in your daily job? I bet it wouldn’t. It’s information nonetheless, but its usefulness for you is close to zero.

This is an extreme example, but it highlights an important point: before collecting any data, define your problem clearly; then, according to the problem, decide what data you need. Yet, many companies out there begin to collect the data and then decide what problem to solve. We’ll come back to that soon in this article.

So, to summarize, a problem is a situation with some degree of uncertainty. Sometimes, this uncertainty needs to be reduced to come up with an appropriate solution, or, at least, a decision to move forward to your specific goal.

Is there a Problem to Solve?

Whenever you (or somebody else) see a problem, you should always ask yourself this simple question first: is it really a problem, and should we solve it now ?

In other words, ask yourself the following questions:

Why is this problem important to solve?
Would be solving the problem creates some value? What value?
What would happen if the problem was not solved?
What desired outcome do we expect by solving the problem?

If the problem doesn’t bother anybody and solving it doesn’t create any value, why allocating effort and time to solve it?

It sounds obvious, but it’s an important point nonetheless. More often than not, I see developers heading first in solving problems without asking themselves if they should solve them at the first place.

The most common examples I can think of are useless refactoring. I saw developers refactoring parts of codebases which never change, or is rarely executed at runtime. In the mind of the developer, the code itself is the problem: refactoring is the solution.

I remember a similar case: a developer refactored part of the codebase which was basically never used. We discovered, months later, when we had more and more users using this specific part of the codebase, that the refactoring didn’t really simplify anything. To the contrary; we had to refactor the code again. The first refactoring tried to solve a problem which didn’t exists.

Of course, the developer could argue that the value created is a “cleaner” codebase, but it’s arguable, especially when the code is neither often modified nor used. The value created here is not clear, and it would have been easier if the first refactoring never happened. In this specific situation, I recommend refactoring when you actively change part of the codebase for another reason (implementing a new feature for example).

Whether a problem is worthy to be solved is subjective. It also depends on the problem: if the solution is clear and straightforward, it might be useful to solve it, if the consequences of the solution are also clearly known and the risks are low. Unfortunately, these kinds of problems, in practice, are quite rare.

Types of Problems

I would define here two wide categories of problems: the problems with a (or multiple) clear solution (what the literature call “problem-solving”), and the problems without clear solution (it’s sometimes called “decision-making” instead of “problem-solving”).

In fact, if the problem you’re trying to solve has a clear, accepted answer, it’s very likely it has been solved already. It’s often the case for mechanical, technical problems. For example, let’s say that you need to order a list; you just have to search on the wild Internet how to do so in your programming language of choice, and you’re done! You can ask an “AI” too, or stack overflow, or whatever.

In my experience, most technical problems have one (or multiple) accepted solution. I won’t speak about these kinds of problems at length in this article, since they’re the easiest to solve.

When you’re in front of a problem which has no clear solution (even after doing some research), it’s where things get more complicated. I’d argue that most problems you’ll face, as a software developer, are of this category. Problems which are directly linked to the domain of the company you work with are often specific (because they depend on the domain), and complex.

For example, I’m working for a company providing a learning platform for medical students who want to become doctors, among other services. This context is changing because the real world is changing; medicine is no exception.

Recently, we had to create new data structures for the knowledge we provide; these data structures are directly linked to the domain (medicine) here. But what data structures to create? How can they adapt to the ever-changing environment? How to capture the data in the most meaningful way, with understandable naming for other developers?

Decisions had to be made, and when there are no clear solutions, you need to come up with a couple of hypothesizes. They won’t feel necessary like solutions , but rather decisions to take to move forward toward the desired outcome. It often ends up in compromises, especially if you’re working in a team where the members have different opinions .

Also, architectural decisions have often no clear solutions because they depend, again, on the changing context. How to be sure that an architectural decision is good today and in three months? How can we make the architecture flexible enough to adapt to the blurry future?

As developers, we deal with complex codebases, which are somewhat linked to the even more complex real world. It’s difficult to know beforehand the consequences of our decisions, as well as the benefits, the drawback, and the potential bugs we introduce.

Before jumping into the solution space however, we first need a good detour in the problem space.

Defining the Problem

Correctly stating the problem.

After determining that we indeed have some kind of problem, it’s tempting to try to find a solution directly. Be patient: it’s better to look at the problem more closely first.

If you don’t specify well the problem, you might not solve it entirely. It’s also possible that you end up solving the wrong problem, or the symptoms of a problem, that is, other minor problems created by a root problem. Often, the ideal scenario is to find the root problem, even if you don’t want to tackle it first. In any case, it’s always useful information.

For example, not long ago, our users didn’t find the content they were searching for, using our search functionality on our learning platform.

We could have directly solved the problem by asking the search team to adjust that for us, but this problem was only a symptom. It wasn’t the first time that we had to spend time and energy trying to communicate to the search team what we wanted to fix; the real root problem here was that we didn’t have any ownership of our search results.

The solution: we created a better API communicating with the search team, to be able to adjust ourselves the search results in a more flexible manner.

When looking at a problem, a good first step is to write it down. Don’t do it once; try to find different formulations for the same problem.

Writing is nice (I love it!), but other ways to represent ideas can be really useful too. You can try to draw what you understand from the problem: a drawing, a diagram, or even a picture can help you understand the problem.

From there, you can ask yourself: do you have enough information to take a decision? The answer will be mostly based on the experience of the problem solver, there is no magical formula to be sure that you can and will solve the problem.

You should also try to look at the problem from different angles, to really frame it correctly. The best way to do so is to solve problems as a team.

Solving Problems in a Team

Trying to describe and think about a problem is a great beginning, but it’s even better if you do it as a team. You can exchange experience, opinions, and it’s easier to look at a problem from multiple angles when multiple developers are involved.

First, make sure that everybody in the team is aware of the problem. Defining it altogether is the best. If you have a doubt that somebody is not on the same page, you can re-explain it using different words. It might bring more insights and ideas to the discussion.

Don’t assume that everybody understands the problem equally. Words are powerful, but they are also ambiguous; never hesitate to ask questions (even if they seem stupid at first), and encourage the team to do the same. If your colleagues see that you’re not afraid to ask, it will give them confidence to do the same.

The ambiguity can also build overtime, after the problem was discussed. That’s why it’s really important to document the whole process, for anybody to be able to look at it again and fix the possible creeping misconceptions. Don’t try to describe everything, but try to be specific enough. It’s a delicate balance, and you’ll get better at it with experience.

If you don’t like writing, I’d recommend you to try anyway: this is a powerful skill which will be useful in many areas of your life.

Regarding the team of problem solvers, diversity is important. Diversity of opinion, experience, background, you name it. The more diverse the opinions and ideas are, the more chances you’ll have to solve the problem satisfyingly (more on that later). If the members of the team have enough respect, humility, and know how to listen to their colleagues , you’re in the perfect environment to solve problems.

As developers, we’re dealing with moving systems, because they need to reflect the ever-changing business domain of the company you’re working with. These problems are unique, and even if similar problems might have been solved in the past, they’re never the exactly same. The differences can have an impact on the solution, sometimes insignificant (allowing you to re-apply the solution found previously), sometimes important enough to change the solution entirely.

Exploring the Solution Space

Now that we’ve defined the problem, thought about it with our team, tried to look at it from different angles, it’s time to try to find solutions, or at least to make a decision.

What is a good decision? The one which will bring you closer to your desired outcome. It sounds obvious, but there can be some ego involved in discussions, which will push us to try to be right even if it’s not the best solution in the current context. Our personal incentives can conflict with the company’s best interest; it’s always good to try to stay aware of that.

The solution should also be the simplest possible, while still moving forward to the desired outcome. It should also have an acceptable level of risk when we decide to apply the solution. In my experience, complicated solutions are the ones which come up first: don’t stop there. Take some time trying to find the best solution with your team.

For example, here’s what we do with my actual team:

We define the problem altogether.
We try to think about different hypothesizes. Not only one, but a couple of them.
We write the benefits and drawbacks of each hypothesis (which can lead to more ideas, and possibly more hypothesizes).
We commit to a hypothesis, which then needs to be implemented.

What I meant by “hypothesis” here is a solution which might work; but only the implementation of the hypothesis can be considered as a solution. Before the implementation, it’s just an informed guess. Many things can go wrong during an implementation.

This process looks simple, but when you have multiple developers involved, it’s not. Again, if each member of the team have good soft skills and some experience, it can be an enjoyable and rewarding process. But you need a good team for it to work efficiently (that’s why it’s so important to ask the good questions when joining a company). It’s even better if the members of the team are used to swim in uncertainty, and take it as a challenge more than a chore.

The process described above is just an example; in practice it’s often more chaotic. For example, even when a decision is made, your brain might still continue to process the problem passively. If you find some flaws in the hypothesis you’ve committed to, congratulations! You have now a brand-new problem.

I can’t emphasize it enough: try to be as detached as possible from your ideas, opinions, and preferred hypothesizes. The goal is not for you to be right and feel good, but for your company to move in the good direction. It’s hard, but with practice it gets easier.

I also want to underline the importance of finding both benefits and drawbacks for the different hypothesizes you (and your team) came up with.

To find good solutions, we might also need to reduce the uncertainty around their possible consequences. Doing some external research can help, like gathering data around the problem and the possible hypothesizes. In the best case scenario, if you can find enough data, and if you feel confident that you can move forward with a hypothesis, that’s already a great victory.

If you don’t have enough external information to reduce the uncertainty to a level you feel comfortable with, look at your past experience. Try to find problems similar to the one your deal with in the present, and try to think about the solutions applied at the time, to see if they could also be applied in your current case. But be careful with this approach: complex problems are context-sensitive, and the context you were in the past will never be exactly the same as the present and future contexts.

For example, I recently changed the way we display search results in our system, because we had some data indicating that some users had difficulties to find what they really wanted to find. The problem: users have difficulties to find the good information; it’s a recurrent problem which might never be 100% solved. That said, thanks to the data gathered, we found an easy way to improve the situation.

The data was very clear and specific, but it’s not always the case. More often than not, your data won’t really prove anything. It might only show correlations without clear causality. It will be even more true if you begin by gathering data without defining first the problem you try to solve. You can find problems looking at some data, that’s true, but it needs care and deep understanding of what you’re doing; looking at data when you know exactly what you want to solve works better.

Using this kind of process, the hypothesis is often some sort of compromise. That’s fine; committing to a hypothesis is not the end of the process, and there will be other occasions to revisit and refine the solution.

If you don’t feel comfortable with the level of uncertainty of the problem (or the risk involved by applying your hypothesis), you need to dig more. Writing a prototype can be useful for example, if you hesitate between two or more approaches. If your prototype is convincing enough, it can also be useful to gather feedback from your users, even if the ones testing your hypothesis will always be more invested if they test a real-life functionality, instead of a prototype which might use dummy data, or be in a context which is too remote from the “real” context.

In my opinion, prototypes are not always useful for complex problems, because a prototype only test a new feature at time T, but doesn’t allow you to see if the solution stay flexible enough overtime. That’s often a big concern: how will the solution evolve?

But prototyping can still help gather information and reduce the uncertainty of the problem, even if the prototype doesn’t really give you the solution on a silver platter. It’s also great for A/B testing, when you’re in the (likely) case when you have not much information about the real needs of your users. You could ask them of course, but nothing guarantee that they know themselves what these needs are.

If you don’t find any satisfying hypothesis to your problem, you might also challenge the desired outcome. Maybe a similar, simplest hypothesis, with slightly different outcomes, could work better? If it makes things easier, faster, and less complex, it could be the best solution. Don’t hesitate to challenge your stakeholders directly on the desired outcomes.

Deferring the Problem

In some cases, you might be hesitant to try to solve a problem if there is still too much uncertainty around it. In that case, it might be best to defer solving the problem altogether.

Deferring the problem means that you don’t solve it now ; you keep things as they are, until you get more information to reduce the uncertainty enough.

We had a problem in the company I worked with some time ago: we have dosages which can be discovered in articles, but users didn’t really find them, and nobody really knew why. Because of this lack of information, the problem was not tackled right away, but differed. From there, data have been collected overtime, allowing us to understand the scope of the problem better.

Don’t forget that deferring a problem is already taking a decision. It might be the less disruptive decision for the application and its codebase, but it’s s decision nonetheless, and it can have consequences. Seeing a differed problem as a decision will push you to think about the possible consequences of your inaction, and you’ll look at it as a partial “solution”, with some uncertainty and risk associated to it.

In my experience, deferring the problem works well only when you try to actively seek more data to solve it later. It can be some monitoring to see how the problem evolves, or some data taken from users’ actions. Sometimes, simply waiting can also give you important information about the nature of the problem.

What you shouldn’t do is try to forget the problem. It might come back in force to haunt your sleepless nightmares later. Avoiding a problem is not deferring it.

Here’s another example: we began recently to build some CMS tooling for medical editors, for them to write and edit content on our learning platform. We had one GraphQL API endpoint at the beginning, providing data to two different part of the application:

Our CMS for medical editors.
Our learning platform for medical students.

We knew that using one single GraphQL endpoint for these two types of users could cause some problems.

But we didn’t do anything about it, mostly because we didn’t see any real, concrete problem, at least at first. When a minor symptom, related to this unique endpoint, popped up, we spoke about it, and we still chose not to do anything. We preferred deferring the problem once more, to try to solve the real problem (one API for two different kinds of applications) later.

Finally, when we had enough symptoms and some frustration, we decided to split our graphQL API in two different endpoints. It was the best moment to do so: we had enough information to come up with a good decision, we applied it, and we stayed vigilant, to see how our applied hypothesis would evolve.

Moving fast and breaking things is not always the best solution. In some situations, waiting a bit and see how things evolve can allow you to solve your problems in a more effective way. But, as always, it depends on the problem, its context, and so on.

Reading this article, you might have wondered: how much information is enough to be comfortable enough to apply a solution? Well, again, your experience will be the best judge here. You’ll also need to consider carefully risks, benefits, and drawbacks. It doesn’t mean that you need to chicken out if you don’t have 100% certainty about a problem and some hypothesizes; being a software developer implies to have some courage and accept that mistakes will be made. It’s not an easy task, and there is no general process to follow in any possible case.

In short: use your brain. Even if you’re totally wrong, you’ll have the opportunity to fix the bad decisions you’ve made before the implementation, during the implementation, and even after it. We don’t code in stone.

The Implementation: The Value of Iteration

You’ve gathered with your team, tried to define the problem, found multiple hypothesizes, and agreed to try one of them. Great! Problem solved.

Not so fast! We still need to apply the hypothesis, and hope that it will become a good solution to the problem. Doing so, you’ll gather more information along the way, which might change your perspective on the problem, on your hypothesizes, and can even create some baby problems on its own.

It’s where the agile methodology is useful: since we’ll never have 100% certainty regarding a problem and its possible solution, we’ll learn more about both while implementing the hypothesis. That’s why it’s so valuable to iterate on the implementation: it gives you more information to possibly adjust your code, or even the problem, or even switching hypothesizes altogether. Who knows? A solution which is not implemented is just a guess.

If the hypothesis applied is not the ones you would have personally preferred (compromising, or even giving up on your preferred solution is common in a team), only applying it will tell you if you’re right or wrong; that is, if the hypothesis can become a solution solving the problem, at least in the present context.

If you’re worried about how a specific solution will evolve overtime, it’s more complicated, because an implementation won’t give you the information you seek. Still, implementing a hypothesis can be a great source of learning (the most valuable to me is when I’m wrong, because I learn even more). If you think that your hypothesis can have better outcome at time T, you might also try to implement it and compare it. Again, it’s where prototyping is useful.

When applying the solution, you need to look at the details of the implementation, as well as the big picture, to judge if the solution you’re creating is appropriate (leading to the desired outcome). This is a difficult exercise. In general, a developer should be able to reason on different levels of abstraction, more or less at the same time. Again, if you’re aware of it, your experience will help you here, and you can also push yourself to think of all the possible risks and consequences at different levels.

If you work in a team, try to participate (at least a bit) into the implementation of the solution. It’s not good to create silos in teams (that is, only a couple of members have some information others don’t have).

You can go as far as looking at other projects, and ask yourselves these questions:

Did we had similar problems on these other projects? How did we solve them?
What was the context of these projects? Is it similar to our current context?
What did we learn from these other problems, and their implementation? Is the implementation similar to what we’re doing now?

In any case, I would definitely recommend you to write a development journal. I write mine for years, and it has been valuable in many cases. I basically write in there:

The interesting problems I had.
The decisions made.
How the implementation of the solution evolved overtime.
The possible mistakes we made along the way.

It’s a great resource when you have a problem and you want to look at your past experience.

To evaluate your decisions overtime, nothing will beat a good monitoring process: logs, tests, and so on. It’s what the book Building Evolutionary Architecture call “fitness functions” for example, some monitoring allowing you to measure how healthy your architecture stays overtime. It doesn’t have to stop to the architecture; you can think about different monitoring system to see how something evolve, especially if the solution has still a lot of uncertainty regarding its benefits, drawbacks, and risks.

You can also do that retrospectively: looking at how the code complexity evolve overtime using Git for example.

Retrospective on the Process

We defined the problem, implemented a solution iteratively, and now the problem is gone. That’s it! We made it! Are we done now?

Decisions are sometimes not optimal, and implementing a solution successfully doesn’t mean that there wasn’t a better (simpler) one to begin with. That’s why it can be beneficial to look back and understand what went right, and what went wrong. For example, we can ask ourselves these questions:

Looking at what we learned during the whole process, is there a potentially better hypothesis to solve the problem in a simpler, more robust way?
What are the benefits and drawbacks we missed when speaking about the different hypothesizes, but we discovered during the implementation? Why we didn’t think about them beforehand?
What other problems did we encounter during the implementation? Did we solve them? Did we differ some? What should be the next steps regarding these new problems?
What kind of monitoring did we put in place to make sure that the solution won’t have undesired outcomes overtime? Can we learn something with this data?

Reflecting on past solutions is a difficult thing to do. There is no way to logically assess that the decision taken was better than others, since we didn’t implement the other hypothesizes, and we didn’t look at them overtime to appreciate their consequences. But you can still look at the implementation of the solution overtime, and write in your developer journal each time there is a bug which seems directly related to the solution. Would the bugs be the same if another solution would had been applied?

Bugs are often not an option; they will pop up, eventually. Nonetheless, it’s important to make sure that you can fix them in a reasonable amount of time, and that you don’t see them creeping back in the codebase after being solved. Some metrics, from the DevOps movement (like MTTR for example) can help here. Sometimes, bugs will show you a better, more refined solution to the original problem; after all, bugs can also give you some useful information. They are also the most direct result of the implementation of your solution.

If you want to know more about measuring complexity (which can be also used to measure complexity overtime after applying a solution), I wrote a couple of articles on the subject .

Humility in Problem-Solving

It’s time to do a little summary. What did we see in this article?

We need to ensure that the problem we found is really a problem we need to solve. Is there any value to solve the problem? Is it even a problem?
Try to determine what kind of problem you have: a problem which can have multiple, specific, known answers (like a technical problem), or a problem which depends on the real-life context, without known solutions?
Defining the problem is important. Try to define it using different words. Write these definitions down. Does everybody in your team understand the problem equally?
It’s time to explore the solution space. Draft a couple of hypothesizes, their benefits, drawbacks, and risks. You can also do some prototyping if you think it would give you more information to take the best decision.
Do you have enough information to implement a hypothesis, becoming effectively a solution? If it’s not the case, it might be better to keep the status quo and try to solve the problem later, when you’ll have more information. But don’t forget the problem!
If you decide to implement a solution, do it step by step, especially if you’re unsure about the consequences of your decisions. Implement an independent part of the hypothesis, look at the consequences, adjust if necessary, and re-iterate.
When the solution is implemented, it’s time to reflect on the whole process: did we solve the problem? What other problems did we encounter? Maybe another solution would have been better? Why?

As I was writing above, most problems you’ll encounter will be complex ones, embedded into a changing environment with different moving parts. As a result, it’s difficult to train to solve problems in a vacuum; the only good training I know is solving real life problems. That’s why your experience is so important.

Experience build your intuition, which in turn increase your expertise.

You’ll never have 100% certainty that a solution will bring you the desired outcome, especially if you are in front of a complex problem with a blurry context. If you are absolutely convinced that you have the good solution without even beginning to implement it, I’d advise you to stay humber in front of the Gods of Complexity, or they will show you how little you know.

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How to Enhance Problem-Solving Skills – A Guide for Software Developers

April 09, 2024

Explore the art of problem-solving in software development with our insightful guide. Discover essential strategies for tackling challenges, including understanding the problem, strengthening mathematical foundations and practicing with coding challenges.

How to Enhance Problem-Solving Skills – A Guide for Software Developers

Problem-solving is the foundation when it comes to software development. Software developers must always have innovative solutions to face challenges appropriately. In this article, we will discover methods of problem-solving and also the improvement of the problem-solving technique itself. Let's consider all the key strategies and see how we can enhance our approach to overcoming developmental obstacles.

Understand the Problem Before You Solve It

The first and most crucial step in the problem-solving process is understanding the problem itself. This forms the foundation for everything that follows and ensures that you're not just looking for any solution, but the right one. The following five steps are key in the process of understanding a problem:

Clear definition of the problem - break the problem into parts and define each of them.
Gather all relevant information - view the problem from multiple perspectives and analyze all available information pertinent to the problem.
Identify the fundamental causes of the problem - determine what triggers the problem and make it conscious so that in the future you can be prepared to avoid the occurrence of this problem or solve it more quickly.
Visualize the problem - Use diagrams or data flows for clearer insight into the problem.
Rephrase the problem - Sometimes, stating the problem differently can reveal new solutions.

Taking the time to truly understand the problem before attempting to solve it creates a solid foundation for your problem-solving efforts. This approach makes the solving process simpler and increases the chances of finding the best and most effective solution.

Dive into the essence of the problem, analyze, remember, and always think in the direction of solving. This will allow you, as a software developer, to be a step ahead of both problems and competitors in this field.

Strengthen Mathematical Foundations

At the core of the software development process lies a deep understanding of the problem, a process that is far more nuanced than it appears at first glance. The better you understand what you're dealing with, the easier it will be to find a solution. Mathematical foundations contribute to the thinking process, analytical perspective, and ultimately, problem-solving.

As software developers, you should take improving your mathematical knowledge seriously. Whether it's through courses, academic research, or practical application, the goal is to sharpen your analytical thinking. For software developers seeking a customized strategy to enhance their mathematical skills, seeking advice from experts, such as those found in various specialized courses, Denver math tutors , or through additional education, can be immensely beneficial for skill enhancement.

Such resources can provide you with personalized attention and the nuanced understanding necessary to elevate your mathematical ability.

The benefits of strengthening mathematical foundations include:

Improved logical thinking and analysis
Enhanced ability to conceptualize complex problems
Greater precision in coding and algorithm development
Increased efficiency in identifying and solving problems
Deeper understanding of computational complexity and optimization

Practice with Coding Challenges and Competitions

Engaging in coding challenges and competitions is a powerful way to sharpen your problem-solving skills. These platforms offer a wide range of problems, from simple algorithmic puzzles to complex software development tasks, pushing you to apply theoretical knowledge in practical scenarios.

Participating regularly exposes you to diverse problem types, encouraging adaptability and quick thinking. It's a practice arena where learning from mistakes is just as valuable as solving the problem. Beyond individual growth, these challenges often connect you with a community of like-minded individuals, offering peer learning opportunities and feedback.

This exposure to collective wisdom and diverse approaches enriches your problem-solving toolkit, making you a more versatile and competent software developer. Engage with these platforms to test your limits, learn efficiently, and prepare yourself for real-world software development challenges.

Adopt a Test-Driven Development (TDD) Approach

Test-Driven Development (TDD) is a software development methodology where tests are written before the actual code. This approach flips the traditional coding process on its head, prioritizing the creation of specific tests for functions before those functions are fully developed.

The idea is to refine and debug code in short, verifiable steps, enhancing both the quality of the software and the problem-solving skills of the developer. Here's how to adopt a TDD approach:

Start by defining the requirements of the new feature or functionality you're developing.
Write a test that fails because the feature doesn't exist yet.
Write the minimum amount of code needed to pass the test.
Refactor the code for optimization without changing its behavior.
Repeat the process for each new piece of functionality, gradually building up the software in a controlled, error-minimizing manner.

Incorporating TDD into your workflow can significantly improve your problem-solving skills by encouraging a disciplined, thoughtful approach to coding. It forces you to consider all possible scenarios for your functions, leading to more robust and error-resistant software.

TDD can be particularly beneficial for software developers working on complex projects like an intranet search engine . This methodology ensures that every aspect of the search engine is tested and validated against real-world requirements, minimizing bugs and enhancing performance.

Breaking down the coding process into manageable steps and focusing on creating tests first can tackle intricate problems more effectively and deliver solutions that are both reliable and efficient.

Learn from Real-World Projects and Case Studies

Exploring real-world projects and dissecting case studies can dramatically boost your problem-solving prowess as a software developer. There's something incredibly valuable about stepping into the shoes of those who've navigated the complex maze of software development before you.

Choose projects or case studies that spark your curiosity or touch on areas you're keen to get better at. Delve into the tactics used, the hurdles that popped up, and the clever ways they were tackled. Focus intently on the thought process behind decisions and the specific technical fixes that were applied.

This hands-on learning method pushes you to think more critically and marry your book knowledge with the messy, unpredictable world of actual software projects . It’s about understanding the reasoning behind every move and seeing firsthand how different approaches can alter a project's trajectory. Immersing yourself in these stories of development brings to light the nuanced dance between solving problems creatively and sticking to tried-and-true technical principles.

You'll find yourself better prepared to foresee potential snags in your work and craft smarter, more innovative solutions. This provides you to mold into a more thoughtful, adaptable developer who can navigate the winds of change with grace.

Wrapping up, enhancing your problem-solving skills is a continuous journey, one that’s crucial for thriving as a software developer. By embracing practices like understanding problems deeply, engaging with coding challenges, adopting TDD, and learning from real-world projects, you’re setting yourself up for success. Remember, every challenge you overcome not only builds your skillset but also paves the way for future innovations. Keep pushing, keep learning, and let your curiosity lead the way.

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How to develop strong problem solving skills as a software developer

Introduction.

It is generally known that problem solving is an essential skill for software engineers.

Good problem solving skills involve being able to think creatively and analytically, breaking down problems into smaller parts and using a systematic approach to find solutions. Strong problem solving skills are essential for a successful career in software development. In this article we will review some approach.

Various Methods

Trial and error method.

The trial and error method is a common problem-solving technique in which potential solutions are tried out one by one until a working solution is found. This method can be used for both simple and complex problems.

Divide and conquer

Another approach is to use a more systematic method, such as divide and conquer or reduction. Divide and conquer is a software engineering technique for solving complex problems by breaking them down into smaller, more manageable pieces. This allows for more efficient and effective problem solving by breaking down a complex problem into smaller, more manageable sub-problems. Once these sub-problems have been solved, they can be combined to solve the larger, more complex problem.

One common example of divide and conquer is the use of recursion. Recursion involves breaking a problem down into smaller sub-problems, solving each sub-problem, and then combining the solutions to the sub-problems to solve the larger problem. Another common example is the use of algorithms, such as the quick sort algorithm, which break a problem down into smaller pieces, solving each piece, and then combining the solutions to the pieces to solve the larger problem.

Once a solution is found, it is important to learn from the experience and use that knowledge to improve future problem solving skills. This includes understanding what went wrong, what could have been done better, and how similar problems can be avoided in the future. By taking these steps, software developers can become more effective problem solvers.

Problem solving skills is important in its own way. As a software developer, you should try to develop all of these skills in order to be successful.

Analytical skills:

Analytical skills are the ability to collect and analyze data, identify patterns and trends, and make decisions based on that information. They involve both logical and creative thinking, as well as the ability to pay attention to detail. Strong analytical skills are important in many different fields. Some examples:

Being able to break down a problem and identify the various components
Being able to identify patterns and trends
Being able to see relationships between different pieces of data
Being able to make decisions based on data
Being able to solve complex problems

Creative thinking

Creative thinking in computer science is all about coming up with new and innovative ways to solve problems. It’s about thinking outside the box and coming up with creative solutions that nobody has thought of before.

It’s important to be creative in computer science because it’s a constantly evolving field. If you’re not constantly coming up with new ideas, you’re going to fall behind. Creative thinking is what keeps computer science moving forward.

If you want to be successful in computer science, you need to be creative. It’s not enough to just learn the basics. You need to be constantly thinking of new and better ways to do things. So if you’re not a naturally creative person, don’t worry. Just keep working at it and you’ll get there.

Logical reasoning

Logical reasoning is a process of making deductions based on given information. In computer science, this process is often used to solve problems and to create new algorithms. To reason logically, one must first identify the premises and then use them to reach a valid conclusion.

Practice is one of the best ways to improve your problem solving skills. You can do this by working on coding challenges, participating in online coding contests, or simply trying to solve problems you encounter in your daytoday work. Collaboration is another great way to improve your problem solving skills. When you work with others, you can learn from their experiences and share your own insights. This can help you develop a more well rounded approach to problem solving.

If you're a software developer, congratulations! You have chosen one of the most mentally demanding professions there is. And if you want to be successful, you need to have strong problem solving skills.

My last tip: get comfortable with being stuck! It's normal to feel stuck when you're trying to solve a problem and don't be afraid to ask for help. We all need help from time to time, and there's no shame in admitting that you need help.

So there you have it! Follow these tips and you'll be well on your way to developing strong problem solving skills as a software developer.

Like this article? Join the discussion in our Discord channel .

Top comments (26)

Templates let you quickly answer FAQs or store snippets for re-use.

Work Lead Dev
Joined Jul 12, 2022

For students , don't underestimate the mathematics. You definitively don't need a master degrees in maths to be a successfull developer BUT , mathematics train your brain to think. All this theorems you probably never used in real world , all thoses equation you resolved in high school helped your logical reasoning.

Finally, to get better at resolving problem you definitely should resolve problem :P The more you resolve , the better you get !

Joined Mar 14, 2022

I agree with you! I mentioned it, practice and practice.. About maths it is also another alternative

Joined Sep 21, 2021

Science shows that there really is no knowledge transfer between unrelated fields. There is essentially no way to get overall better at thinking. You either can relate what you know already to the thing or you can't. In first case it's experience, not brain trained to thinking, in second it depends on if you learned how to learn.

Logical reasoning is a small part that everyone does even without thinking, but it doesn't transfer if you don't use abstractions to relate what you don't know with what you do know.

You can get better at resolving problems overall, but it's a tiny improvement if you don't focus on learning how to solve problems. Solving problems on it's own gives you experience you can use at solving similar things. But it won't help with different problems.

That being said if you can relate math you learned to problems you need to solve it can sometimes make something impossible into something very easy. That on it's own is a good reason to get good at maths. The other one is training on how to read information dense domain texts.

Location Yenagoa, Nigeria
Joined Feb 1, 2021

You're right, solving mathematical problems help increase logical reasoning, and I believe that's a major reason we do maths in Computer Science. Working with numbers is a top-tier ability if you want to become a successful "software engineer". Thanks.

Location India
Joined Aug 17, 2019

Just like Neil deGrasse Tyson said, It is not about finding the value of x, It is about process for finding the x.

Location Munich, Germany
Work Software Development Team Lead
Joined Oct 4, 2019

I have to disagree, especially on the Maths->Logics path. I found it's a lot easier to go into Logics without Maths, even though the basic principles are similar (since both are just formal languages).

Education Computer Science
Work Senior Software Developer at Syskron GmbH
Joined Jan 30, 2021

What he meant is that math trains your brain. Either way it’s math or not it’s necessary to think structured to solve programming problems. I have seen so many bad code written my mathematics (no offense 😃)

Email [email protected]
Location Living in the path between home and office
Education The school of life and entry points
Work 📖 Researching and learning everything about API Security and Business Logic
Joined Jun 22, 2022

Location Nashville
Education Bootcamp Grad
Work Fullstack Developer
Joined Mar 5, 2017

You have to joke so you don't cry.

Email [email protected]
Location Budapest, Hungary
Education engineering
Work software developer @ itemis
Joined Dec 25, 2021

what a cool drawing!

Hahaha @apimike humor is important!

I just said that math was a way , and because it's basically taught in every school of the world (contrary to other knowledge) it's important to embrace it and understand that what you are taught is not how to multiply 2 number but actually how to think.

I realized it way too late, I always hated math when I was young because I wasn't able to figure out the point of what I was taught.

The misconception is , that you have to be good at math to be a good developer. Indeed that completely false (unless your are developing for some specific field).

Joined Nov 24, 2020

Being a successful software developer, one needs to be open to learning and unlearning. I've learnt and unlearnt and am grateful I did. Most of the time I share with colleagues and friends, I got to find out the knowledge that was most neglected, tends to be a challenge for someone else.

It's a mentally demanding field. It's not just a job, it's a way of life.

Location Scotland, United Kingdom
Joined Nov 13, 2020

this is spot on

Thanks for the article, it resonates.

I read most of the comments and can't stay quiet. From my years of experience, math can be a really powerful tool when it comes to solving problems. Ofcourse is only one of the tools out there that can empower a programmer. Another tool I found to be crucial are flow charts. Being able to construct them the right way can help a lot.

e. g. This problem I solved it using only math. And I have used many concepts of math and physics for game development. To understand algebra, arrays, matrixes, vectors, magnituds, forces, inertia, acceleration, etc... Can be crucial on the development of certain softwares. But it all depends the area in which you are coding.

Location Dhaka, Bangladesh
Education Dep. of Computer Science & Engineering(CSE), BAIUST
Work Unemployed

A newbie here. I've a different problem . i.e. I face difficulty while implementing the code but I know the theory & logic behind it. Any suggestion/advice for me anyone ?

Hiiii maybe I will write an article about it ! Nice idea :)

Email [email protected]
Joined Apr 23, 2019

a great read

Joined Jul 9, 2020

I wonder if there is literature about how to improve and train your problem solving skills. Could you recommend books about this topic?

Personnaly I don't know books on this topic, but if you have got something share it with us :)

Joined Mar 11, 2022

this article and that comments below are good

Email [email protected]
Location Philippines
Education Javascript Development with Clever Programmer
Work Software Consultant at Servio Australia
Joined Aug 29, 2020

Thank you. "Divide and conquer" works for me.

Location Rwanda
Joined Jul 30, 2022

I think, being open-mind is a way to simulate our brain when it comes to creative thinking. btw nice article

Joined Sep 17, 2021

I have a short, simple rule: be creating and imaginary as much as possible. That's to say whatever others do you can do differently and/or more crazily.

Joined Mar 13, 2023

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What Is Problem Solving? How Software Engineers Approach Complex Challenges

From debugging an existing system to designing an entirely new software application, a day in the life of a software engineer is filled with various challenges and complexities. The one skill that glues these disparate tasks together and makes them manageable? Problem solving .

Throughout this blog post, we’ll explore why problem-solving skills are so critical for software engineers, delve into the techniques they use to address complex challenges, and discuss how hiring managers can identify these skills during the hiring process.

What Is Problem Solving?

But what exactly is problem solving in the context of software engineering? How does it work, and why is it so important?

Problem solving, in the simplest terms, is the process of identifying a problem, analyzing it, and finding the most effective solution to overcome it. For software engineers, this process is deeply embedded in their daily workflow. It could be something as simple as figuring out why a piece of code isn’t working as expected, or something as complex as designing the architecture for a new software system.

In a world where technology is evolving at a blistering pace, the complexity and volume of problems that software engineers face are also growing. As such, the ability to tackle these issues head-on and find innovative solutions is not only a handy skill — it’s a necessity.

The Importance of Problem-Solving Skills for Software Engineers

Problem-solving isn’t just another ability that software engineers pull out of their toolkits when they encounter a bug or a system failure. It’s a constant, ongoing process that’s intrinsic to every aspect of their work. Let’s break down why this skill is so critical.

Driving Development Forward

Without problem solving, software development would hit a standstill. Every new feature, every optimization, and every bug fix is a problem that needs solving. Whether it’s a performance issue that needs diagnosing or a user interface that needs improving, the capacity to tackle and solve these problems is what keeps the wheels of development turning.

It’s estimated that 60% of software development lifecycle costs are related to maintenance tasks, including debugging and problem solving. This highlights how pivotal this skill is to the everyday functioning and advancement of software systems.

Innovation and Optimization

The importance of problem solving isn’t confined to reactive scenarios; it also plays a major role in proactive, innovative initiatives . Software engineers often need to think outside the box to come up with creative solutions, whether it’s optimizing an algorithm to run faster or designing a new feature to meet customer needs. These are all forms of problem solving.

Consider the development of the modern smartphone. It wasn’t born out of a pre-existing issue but was a solution to a problem people didn’t realize they had — a device that combined communication, entertainment, and productivity into one handheld tool.

Increasing Efficiency and Productivity

Good problem-solving skills can save a lot of time and resources. Effective problem-solvers are adept at dissecting an issue to understand its root cause, thus reducing the time spent on trial and error. This efficiency means projects move faster, releases happen sooner, and businesses stay ahead of their competition.

Improving Software Quality

Problem solving also plays a significant role in enhancing the quality of the end product. By tackling the root causes of bugs and system failures, software engineers can deliver reliable, high-performing software. This is critical because, according to the Consortium for Information and Software Quality, poor quality software in the U.S. in 2022 cost at least $2.41 trillion in operational issues, wasted developer time, and other related problems.

Problem-Solving Techniques in Software Engineering

So how do software engineers go about tackling these complex challenges? Let’s explore some of the key problem-solving techniques, theories, and processes they commonly use.

Decomposition

Breaking down a problem into smaller, manageable parts is one of the first steps in the problem-solving process. It’s like dealing with a complicated puzzle. You don’t try to solve it all at once. Instead, you separate the pieces, group them based on similarities, and then start working on the smaller sets. This method allows software engineers to handle complex issues without being overwhelmed and makes it easier to identify where things might be going wrong.

Abstraction

In the realm of software engineering, abstraction means focusing on the necessary information only and ignoring irrelevant details. It is a way of simplifying complex systems to make them easier to understand and manage. For instance, a software engineer might ignore the details of how a database works to focus on the information it holds and how to retrieve or modify that information.

Algorithmic Thinking

At its core, software engineering is about creating algorithms — step-by-step procedures to solve a problem or accomplish a goal. Algorithmic thinking involves conceiving and expressing these procedures clearly and accurately and viewing every problem through an algorithmic lens. A well-designed algorithm not only solves the problem at hand but also does so efficiently, saving computational resources.

Parallel Thinking

Parallel thinking is a structured process where team members think in the same direction at the same time, allowing for more organized discussion and collaboration. It’s an approach popularized by Edward de Bono with the “ Six Thinking Hats ” technique, where each “hat” represents a different style of thinking.

In the context of software engineering, parallel thinking can be highly effective for problem solving. For instance, when dealing with a complex issue, the team can use the “White Hat” to focus solely on the data and facts about the problem, then the “Black Hat” to consider potential problems with a proposed solution, and so on. This structured approach can lead to more comprehensive analysis and more effective solutions, and it ensures that everyone’s perspectives are considered.

This is the process of identifying and fixing errors in code . Debugging involves carefully reviewing the code, reproducing and analyzing the error, and then making necessary modifications to rectify the problem. It’s a key part of maintaining and improving software quality.

Testing and Validation

Testing is an essential part of problem solving in software engineering. Engineers use a variety of tests to verify that their code works as expected and to uncover any potential issues. These range from unit tests that check individual components of the code to integration tests that ensure the pieces work well together. Validation, on the other hand, ensures that the solution not only works but also fulfills the intended requirements and objectives.

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Evaluating Problem-Solving Skills

We’ve examined the importance of problem-solving in the work of a software engineer and explored various techniques software engineers employ to approach complex challenges. Now, let’s delve into how hiring teams can identify and evaluate problem-solving skills during the hiring process.

Recognizing Problem-Solving Skills in Candidates

How can you tell if a candidate is a good problem solver? Look for these indicators:

Previous Experience: A history of dealing with complex, challenging projects is often a good sign. Ask the candidate to discuss a difficult problem they faced in a previous role and how they solved it.
Problem-Solving Questions: During interviews, pose hypothetical scenarios or present real problems your company has faced. Ask candidates to explain how they would tackle these issues. You’re not just looking for a correct solution but the thought process that led them there.
Technical Tests: Coding challenges and other technical tests can provide insight into a candidate’s problem-solving abilities. Consider leveraging a platform for assessing these skills in a realistic, job-related context.

Assessing Problem-Solving Skills

Once you’ve identified potential problem solvers, here are a few ways you can assess their skills:

Solution Effectiveness: Did the candidate solve the problem? How efficient and effective is their solution?
Approach and Process: Go beyond whether or not they solved the problem and examine how they arrived at their solution. Did they break the problem down into manageable parts? Did they consider different perspectives and possibilities?
Communication: A good problem solver can explain their thought process clearly. Can the candidate effectively communicate how they arrived at their solution and why they chose it?
Adaptability: Problem-solving often involves a degree of trial and error. How does the candidate handle roadblocks? Do they adapt their approach based on new information or feedback?

Hiring managers play a crucial role in identifying and fostering problem-solving skills within their teams. By focusing on these abilities during the hiring process, companies can build teams that are more capable, innovative, and resilient.

Key Takeaways

As you can see, problem solving plays a pivotal role in software engineering. Far from being an occasional requirement, it is the lifeblood that drives development forward, catalyzes innovation, and delivers of quality software.

By leveraging problem-solving techniques, software engineers employ a powerful suite of strategies to overcome complex challenges. But mastering these techniques isn’t simple feat. It requires a learning mindset, regular practice, collaboration, reflective thinking, resilience, and a commitment to staying updated with industry trends.

For hiring managers and team leads, recognizing these skills and fostering a culture that values and nurtures problem solving is key. It’s this emphasis on problem solving that can differentiate an average team from a high-performing one and an ordinary product from an industry-leading one.

At the end of the day, software engineering is fundamentally about solving problems — problems that matter to businesses, to users, and to the wider society. And it’s the proficient problem solvers who stand at the forefront of this dynamic field, turning challenges into opportunities, and ideas into reality.

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4 steps to solving any software problem

Problem-solving is a key skill for students, new programmers, and those who work with them.

I’ve noticed a gap in technical education which oddly coincides with a skill all software developers are expected to have: the problem-solving process. I started my software career with a combination of online tutorials and a coding bootcamp, but I’ve heard similar complaints about academic computer science programs.

I’m not saying no one formally teaches these skills, but it seems more common for developers to have to figure them out on their own. Many classic (and controversial ) parts of technical interviews, like whiteboard exercises and “brainteaser” questions, are attempts to test these skills.

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That’s why, whenever I’m helping beginners learn to code, I try to walk them through the process of solving problems in the same way I would at my job. I’d like to articulate those steps here, both for software newbies who are overwhelmed by this whole “coding” thing, and to see how it compares to the process other experienced developers use.

In general, I believe the process of solving a software development problem can be divided into four steps:

Identify the problem
Gather information

Iterate potential solutions

Test your solution.

While I’m writing these steps with students and less experienced developers in mind, I hope everyone who works in software will find them a useful reflection on our development process. Programming instructors and anyone who mentors new programmers should make sure their students or mentees have a firm grasp of this process along with any specific technical skills they may need.

What kind of problem?

Note that when I talk about a software development problem, I mean a problem of any size and scope:

You’re trying to do a very specific thing and you can’t get some piece of it to behave as expected.
You’re seeing a strange error message and you have no idea what it means.
You’re trying to figure out some cryptic section of a legacy code base when the original developers have all left the organization.
You know generally what you want to build, but you have no idea what the individual components of the project will look like.
You’re trying to decide what software package to use and you don’t know which one is best.
You know there’s a function to do exactly what you want, but you can’t remember what it’s called.

Identify and understand the problem

This is easier in some cases than in others. Sometimes you get a straightforward error message and you realize you made a simple mistake: a syntax error, forgetting to pass all the variables you need into a function, neglecting to import a package.

On the other hand, sometimes the error is totally baffling. Often a bug won’t present itself with flashing red lights—the program just doesn’t do what you want it to do.

Even when this is the case, you can try your best to articulate the problem. Ask yourself the following questions (and maybe even write down the answers):

What am I trying to do?
What have I done already?
What do I think the program should be doing?
What is it actually doing?

Gathering information

Sometimes I see people skipping straight to this step without having done the previous one. Examples include:

Googling Stack Overflow as a first step.
Copying and pasting code—whether from Stack Overflow, a tutorial, or elsewhere in your codebase—without understanding what it does.

I believe this practice leads to “solving” problems without fully understanding them. That’s not to say any of these resources—Stack Overflow, tutorials, any other examples you find—are bad. But they should be treated as a single tool in your toolbox, not the start and end of the problem-solving process.

How else can you use this toolbox? Think about the kind of information you’re looking for:

If you know exactly what function, class, or API endpoint you’re using from an external package or service, you can go to the relevant page in its documentation to see all the various options when using it.
If you’re having problems with an open-source package and you don’t know why, try reading the source code for the relevant feature to make sure it’s doing exactly what you assume it is.
To get an overview of a new tool or framework, try searching for a tutorial or quickstart guide.
If you don’t understand why something in your code base is designed the way it is, try looking at the commit history for the relevant file or files—often you can piece together a story of what past developers were trying to do.
And yes, search engines. Sometimes you know exactly what you want to do but you don’t know what it’s called: “PHP assign two variables.” Sometimes you want ideas on how to do something: “JavaScript shuffle a deck of cards.” And sometimes you just have no idea, but looking at other people’s similar problems can help you figure out what to try next: “Django forms validation not working.” When you do this, try to read any links or relevant documentation you find to get a broader understanding of the issue.

If I’ve been using one of these methods for a while and I don’t seem to be making progress, I’ll often switch to another. I find that a lot of developers I know reach for the search engine first, but for me, intentionally using a variety of methods helps me gain a broader scope of understanding.

Try something. It doesn’t have to be perfect. If you see anything change as a result, that’s a success. You’ll improve on it soon. Then keep trying things until you’ve made substantial progress on the problem.

If you’re in unfamiliar territory, it can help to break down the “solution” into very small increments, and try them out piece by piece. Print your data to the console before you worry about how it’ll be rendered. Call a function you haven’t used before with simple hardcoded arguments, and get it to run as expected before replacing them with the actual data you’ll be using in your application.

This still applies if you’re using someone else’s code from Stack Overflow or a tutorial as an example. Don’t just copy and paste the code into your editor—type out the code line by line. This has two advantages. First, you’re forced to engage with the code and understand it in more detail. Second, you’ll have the chance to update anything that doesn’t translate perfectly to your application. Maybe you can leave out a variable you won’t use; maybe their example uses class Animal and you’re trying to sort Books , so you’d replace a variable called species with one called title .

Sometimes it’s harder to try out what you’re doing after every line of code; that’s ok. The idea is to avoid a situation where you’re typing away at code for hours, only to find that what you created doesn’t work and you have no idea why. Try to find a middle ground, and get to results you can see within a relatively short amount of time.

If you iterate like this for a long time and don’t seem to be getting anywhere, maybe it’s time to start back at step one and try something different. But if you can get something to work, even if it’s not exactly what you had in mind, now’s a good time to move on to the next step.

Often we do this by hand: load a web page and check that it contains all the elements we expect it to render. Try replicating the conditions that led to a bug, and confirm that the bug no longer happens. Try using the feature we added in a few different ways and see what happens.

Another way we do this is with automated tests. Adding a test that asserts a feature works as predicted or a bug no longer occurs helps prevent unexpected problems down the line.

Test-driven development is an alternate approach that starts with this step rather than leaving it to the end. For each change you make to your project, you start by writing a test that asserts the change will work as predicted, then make the change.

One advantage to the test-driven approach is that it forces you to think about what success means before you start working on a given section of the project. This is a good question to ask yourself whether you start by writing a test, write one at the end, or verify your change worked by some other means. It’s part of the first step defined here—identify and understand the problem—because it’s so fundamental to finding a solution.

Even if you are writing automated tests before you add any program code, you’ll be checking that a given portion of work satisfies what you’re trying to do: running the test suite, and trying the feature to make sure it works as expected.

What’s next?

These are the steps I take to solve problems when coding, and the ones I try to impart to students and junior developers when I’m helping them with an issue. I’d like to see more coding education programs—whether in academic computer science, bootcamps, or self-paced tutorials—provide their own instructions on this process. The exact process will depend on the person, the organization, and the work they’re doing—but knowing how to solve problems is a foundational skill to being a programmer. If you work with students or less experienced developers, see what you can do to help them develop this skill.

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Dev Concepts

How to Build and Use Problem-solving Skills [Dev Concepts #41]

Home » News » Dev Concepts » How to Build and Use Problem-solving Skills [Dev Concepts #41]

Author: Nikol Ruseva
July 22, 2022
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algorithmicthinking , devconcept , developerskills , logicalthinking , problemsolving , programming , software engineering

To become a skilful developer means not only being familiar with a programming language or software but also having a set of skills that are fundamental to the software development process. These skills can be classified into four groups :

Coding skills;
Algorithmic thinking and problem solving skills;
Fundamental software development concepts;
Programming languages and software technologies.

Technical Skills

The skill of coding is knowledge of the basic concepts of programming. They are universal and once learned, can be applied in many programming languages. The programming language does not matter to the ability to code.

You need to know how to:

Use development environments (the so-called IDEs) and developer tools;
Work with variables and data, calculations, conditional statements, loops and data structures;
Use functions, methods, classes and objects, programming APIs and libraries;
Troubleshoot and debug code.

Now that you are familiar with the foundations of programming, you need to put that knowledge together and plan every step of finding a solution to a problem. This will require your algorithmic thinking and problem-solving skills .

Algorithmic thinking is the ability to break a problem into a logical sequence of steps (called “algorithm”), to find a solution for every step (or break it further into sub-steps) and then assemble these steps into a working solution.

Algorithmic thinking is similar to logical, engineering, mathematical, abstract, and problem solving. All these concepts are related to the ability to solve problems : to think logically, analyse the problems, and find and implement solutions. Problem solving is a more general skill , while algorithmic thinking is a more technical .

The fundamental computer science and software development concepts include many programming paradigms, essential software development knowledge and skills, and software engineering principles and concepts that developers typically acquire as they gain experience over time.

Some of these knowledge areas and concepts are:

Object-oriented programming (OOP);
Functional programming (FP);
Asynchronous programming ;
Relational and non-relational databases;
The concepts behind the Web technologies.

To implement your knowledge you need to be familiar with programming languages, software development technologies, software platforms, software libraries, development frameworks and developer tools.

On the graphic below you can see an example technology stack for a Java developer.

Technologies are ever-changing and evolving , but these four groups of skills described above represent essential and stable knowledge since they will not change significantly over time. In fact, technologies are highly dependent on these skills.

Soft Skills

Soft skills are as important as the ones described above. They include the ability to communicate with people and work in a team which is essential since you as a developer will work on projects with your colleagues. You need to manage your time effectively, to be empathetic , adaptable and creative . Having attention to detail will increase your productivity at work and reduce the chances of error.

Tech Problem Solving

In the IT industry, a tech problem is often an assignment to design and implement a set of functionality which has certain input data and program state and produces output data and program state.

Every tech problem has a goal . In programming, the goals are to design and write a working code , build an app or software system, which corresponds to the assignment and implement its requirements and functionality. Developers may encounter certain technical difficulties or limitations in designing and implementing the required functionality, like lack of resources, experience or knowledge. The process of problem solving includes finding a way to overcome these difficulties. This can be, for example, learning a new programming language, software library or framework.

Stages of Problem Solving

How to approach a tech problem? You can see in the graphic below seven stages of resolving a problem.

First of all, you need to define the problem. This involves gathering the requirements of the assignment.

After that, you analyse them. Here you should think about constraints, objects, processes and potential obstacles related to the problem. Based on a deeper understanding of the problem, you can extract the important information from the requirements and discard the non-important information, and explore its properties, which will be useful for building a solution.

The next step is to identify several solutions. You try to generate and explore different ideas and technical approaches on how to build a well-working solution. Then you analyse these ideas, their correctness, their strengths and weaknesses, their practical applicability and the costs of their implementation.

After you have gathered some ideas you need to choose one of them. This is a decision-making process and depends mainly on the requirements, your capabilities and available resources.

After that, you need to plan and describe your actions for executing the chosen solution. You plan your algorithm. Technically, this means to write the definition of several functions, methods or classes, which will implement the chosen idea.

Sometimes planning of the algorithm is done together with its implementation, and there is no clear separation between the stages of algorithm design and algorithm implementation.

Once you have a clearly defined algorithm, you implement it . This means writing code to execute the planned steps. In software development, the implementation process includes also testing and debugging.

The last stage of problem solving is to review the results or test the solution with different input data and conditions. For software problems and apps, you need to perform testing of the code, feature by feature: to check for usual and unusual input data and conditions, check for edge cases and special cases.

Tips for Solving Problems

When it comes to solving a tech problem, the first and foremost important thing is understanding it. Take your time to read and analyse it thoroughly. Do not start to code immediately, because if you have not read the problem carefully, there is a chance of making hasty assumptions about the requirements.

Use a sheet of paper or other visualization tools . This will help you sketch your ideas fast and will improve your logical thinking. Squared paper is preferable. It works best for algorithmic problems. It helps build drawings, diagrams, tables and coordinate systems.

Write down the given input and the required output. For example, if your task is to find all odd numbers of a given array ask yourself some questions:

What do I have? → An array and odd numbers.
What is an array and how does it work? What is an odd number? What data type should I use to store it? → These questions will help you understand the problem .
What is the end goal? → To filter odd numbers in the array and return it.
How can I do it? → You may have multiple answers to this question and they are your potential solutions . Write them down, compare their advantages and disadvantages and then choose one of them.

After you implement the code test and debug it if needed. Make sure that you have covered all cases . Then look back and try to optimize and simplify your code making it easier to understand.

Lesson Topics

Technical Skills;
Soft Skills;
Definition of a Tech Problem;
Stages of Problem Solving;
Tips for Solving Problems.

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Sep 05, 2022 · 8 min read

Problem-solving skills of great developers

Developers are not strictly bound to doing plain technical work – quite interestingly opposite; development entails deep thinking and putting great focus on problem-solving tasks.

Marija Neshkoska

Content Writer

How do great software developers think analytically in problem-solving situations?

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Engaging in strategic and parallel thinking

Reusing solutions, mastering abstraction, using a variety of tools and platforms, adopting a data-flow mindset, dividing and simplifying workload, adding challenges in leisure time activities too, the takeaway.

This profession requires a lot of practice, and all experienced developers back this up. The basis, the sole start, and continuation of programming and development mean that these professionals hone their problem-solving skills daily. How developers think, speak, engage in communication (including mind-exercising activities) all sum up how they solve problems and think ahead during a task.

Practicing problem-solving doesn’t happen intentionally most of the time, and it could be said it is a type of mindset, a type of curiosity to get to the bottom of things most efficiently. Finding a solution is one thing, but enjoying the process of analyzing and overviewing is what completes the whole mental process of problem-solving in development.

With this said, we could conclude that seeking an easy way out for solutions is not enough for devs, and they need to engage mentally and sometimes even for hours on end once that deep focus starts. Working in development (and programming) includes a great passion for it foremost, and a lot of patience, as well as the ability to engage in long sessions of thinking and delving into uninterrupted focus waves. Later, this results in excelling in a specific development field as well.

In the article below, we will mention a few of the best problem-solving skills that all great software developers have in common and some comments on how all that can be achieved.

Strategic thinking is one of the best things someone could acquire, master, learn, and practice. This type of thinking, where you know how to recognize and anticipate something in advance, teaches you to calculate risks beforehand and avoid any faulty maneuvers down the road. It is a logical, rational, and calculated way of thinking through leveraging an analytical mindset.

Parallel thinking was a term well known to ancient philosophers and their approaches. It refers to thinking in more than just one direction, similar to a debate, but without any seemingly negative strategies resembling attacks and defensiveness. Instead, parallel thinking options are explored, possible solutions are thought through, facts are considered, until you finally reach a conclusion.

Strategic and parallel thinking is undoubtedly a significant asset when you need to study or practice something specific, and we can assume how valuable they are in the development industry.

In this case, a great developer can focus on one thing, for example, but still do more than one task at a given moment . When devs click and type, they already anticipate what would be needed next or what they need to focus on to resolve bugs or errors efficiently . In this way, developers think of all the possible interactions on the screen and use their ‘perspectives’ to think ahead and apply the best possible actions/solutions.

If something worked in the past, why can’t it work again? Devs have no issue using a previous efficient solution; as long as it works and does not interrupt the whole process, it can and should be reused to get a desirable result.

Problem-solving doesn’t always need to be perceived as complex , and the famous ‘Occam’s Razor’ of obvious, simple, and quick solutions can be (re)applied in many development processes.

Great devs use tools and practices that are already used and available and thus simplify their work. Where applicable (and where the task doesn’t require building something from scratch), they achieve excellent results with fewer resources.

Anyone can improve their problem-solving skills by practicing ‘abstraction.’ So, suppose parallel and strategic thinking refers to imagining possible situations, variants to existing conditions, and even possible consequences of a given action. In that case, abstracting is on the other side of the spectrum – a deep focus on the crucial thing only. Let’s elaborate.

Abstracting is crucial for developers, of course, and it’s part of building the mindset needed for this industry. But more precisely, in development, and more specifically in OOP (Object Oriented Programming), it means that the dev works exclusively with the most relevant data and ‘hides’ the rest of the data that’s not crucial at that moment in time.

Abstraction is one segment out of the three aspects of OOP, with the remaining two being ‘encapsulation’ (closely controlled access and hiding specific data) and ‘inheritance’ (transfer of data from ‘parent’ to ‘child’).

But why and how is abstraction an essential problem-solving skill? It’s simple. The dev focuses intensely on the core of the specific task without being distracted by the information they do not need at that moment . This saves time and reduces complexity overall. Perhaps this goes hand in hand with ‘work smart, not (always) hard.’

Of course, in most cases, familiarity or reusing something is practical, simple, or even needed. But, without the curiosity to propel further career advancement, sometimes developers are not motivated enough to apply this notion to practice. This is especially true in computer science and development, where writing clean code or even understanding the underlying structure of application development can make or break a product before launch.

Great devs are curious; they want to delve into deep focus, just as much as they want to explore tools and estimate how useful they’d be for their tasks . This could apply to a different programming language than the one they’ve already mastered, trying out a new technique in the development process, or even experimenting with various frameworks.

Ideally, great devs should know all the ins and outs of the industry – if one framework doesn’t work, they try another; if one programming language is not ideal for the current project, it might be the best solution for another.

Or, to find a solution to a problem with data flow in mind. This means that the excellent ‘problem-solver’ imagines the data flow and the systems in various scenarios. More precisely, envisioning how data works is not the simplest task—there are embeddings, manipulations, changes, and data transformations present in multiple steps of the app development process.

A great dev focuses on the outcome by visualizing the main goal and subgoals. Often, the mindset here includes diagram envisioning and thinking in terms of structures and sets embedded with one another or in some type of hierarchy . In summary, it involves thinking about how data moves through the system.

Devs know that “the devil is in the details”, or that focusing on smaller tasks will lead to resolving the big issue while at the same time focusing on the big picture as well.

For example, correcting bugs in the code is one way to explain this. Devs look for the bug by reviewing and looking over the entire code from start to finish—the problem may be something as tiny as a comma or a dot in the wrong place.

For a great dev to resolve a specific problem, they first need to understand the problem, and they do this by going through the entire code or each previously completed small task, for example. Division in tasks reduces the workload complexity and makes the dev focus more on possible minor issues they encounter along the way .

Last but not least, almost all great devs also engage (and excel) at mind-exercising leisure activities. Activities like chess, playing cards, and strategy board games all come in handy when thinking about the next move and what the other players/opponents might do next. It is no wonder that some great devs are outstanding gamers as well.

Everyone could benefit from adding a bit of challenge to everyday leisure activities, not just great software developers. These game-playing activities take communication skills to a whole new level by being all about focus, discipline, calculations, and logical thinking. What we learn from such activities can be a solution even to an everyday problem, not just the issues arising in the development job.

Interestingly enough, great devs already know how to think tactfully, logically, and with anticipation for what comes next, so they apply this thinking even in the choice of their leisure activities mentioned above.

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Good problem-solving skills combine various skills, experiences, mindset schemes, personality traits, and interests.

Problem-solving skills are an irreplaceable asset to have, both professionally and personally. And truth be told, all great devs have outstanding problem-solving skills. But one thing is certain, for mastering problem-solving, practice makes perfect.

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How to Develop Problem-Solving Skills on Software Engineering

Gimena Aguerreberry May 20, 2021

Developing software is a rewarding endeavor because you create an efficient and easy-to-use program that solves people's problems. However, you have to be a good problem solver before getting to this end goal and launching your project.

Experienced developers will tell you that there's no way to prepare for the amount of tech issues, bugs, and human error that will come up during the development process. You have to learn how to think fast and solve problems collaboratively with others.

There are many things you can do to hone your problem-solving skills. Check out our top tips for becoming a problem solver, and you'll learn how to become a more effective software engineer quickly.

Take time to Research

Before you begin solving all your software's problems, you need to understand the problem head-on and your options available. This is where using a traditional development process can help.

In traditional problem-solving setups, the first step of problem-solving is learning more about the problem, researching it, and understanding it. Researching the topic is an essential part of this process, as you may begin to see solutions you hadn't previously recognized.

What have other developers said about this coding or framework structure bug? You can read programming books or even check out forums like r/Programming and even Quora.

Break Down Bigger Problems into Manageable Chunks

Once you better understand the problem, exercise your ability to break it down into manageable pieces. Think of it like this: an entire mountain is intimidating. But taking a step is doable. You don't need to conquer the mountain all at once. Take it one step at a time.

When we use our ability to break down a problem into simpler tasks, we not only work effectively but build our confidence and understanding of the problem. This part of the development process will improve your perspective of the problem and work like experienced developers.

Visualize Data Flows

Another method of problem-solving skills is to think in terms of data flows for your development process. Point A is the problem you start with, and you need to move it to the destination at the end: the solution.

Between the start of the process and destination, there are the arrows the data flows through, and then the boxes. Each box represents a sub-goal. If something doesn't work, you can set a new path and sub-goal.

The data will need to move through a flow chart and hit all the sub-goals to get to the destination. Each goal represents how the data will be somehow changed and manipulated.

The end of the flow is your main goal. By thinking through a data flow, you can follow the data through each transformation, easily set sub-goals, and understand how they contribute to reaching the ultimate solution!

Apply Parallel Task Management

Once you break down the problem into manageable tasks, consider when you'll need to complete each one.

One approach is to work on one task at a time. However, this can be inefficient. A more efficient approach, particularly if you're working with a team, is to work on two tasks that don't overlap.

For example, if you can do task number 3 before task 2 is finished, but you can't move onto task 4 without tasks 2 and 3 being completed, 2 and 3 can be grouped. Working on these tasks in tandem can keep you working and thinking about the problem overall.

When you don't group tasks, you may find yourself stuck on something in one task. And it can be hard to keep up your momentum. By finding tasks that complement each other, you'll learn more about your project, and working on one task could help you with the other!

Use (and Re-Use) Solutions That Already Work

Software development isn't always about reinventing the wheel. Experienced developers often take advantage of existing solutions rather than waste energy creating new solutions to old problems.

A clear example of this is with open source software development. You can save yourself time and the headache of creating hundreds of solutions and programming language algorithms that don't work like you need them to.

You can also re-use your own past successes or those of your colleagues. As you face new problems, you don't need to find novel solutions consistently. If the information is readily available, take advantage of it.

Every software engineer develops their problem-solving skills over time and improves with every project. As long as you are utilizing a process, work towards improving your skills (even if slowly doing so), and reflecting on your successes and failures, you will grow in your problem-solving skills and become an even better software engineer.

Need to develop your software with problem-solving skills that work? Our team at SOPHiLABS can take the pressure off. We have experience working through complex software engineering development issues with clients. We'll take a look at your project and work with your team to come up with efficient problem-solving solutions.

Get in touch with us today to learn more about how we can help with your software development project.

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6 Ways to Improve Your Programming Problem Solving

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Software development is, at its core, all about problem solving.

Think about it.

First, developers need to find a problem they can solve with software. Then, they have to figure out how humans solve that problem. And then, they have to find a way to effectively translate both the problem and the solution into code that a computer can use to solve the problem as well as (or better than) a person.

And then there are all the problems along the way: Working with teams, finding and fixing bugs, meeting delivery deadlines.

Engineers use problem solving skills constantly .

Because of that, if you want to become a better developer, one place to start might be becoming a better problem solver. But that’s easier said than done, and requires a deep understanding of what problem solving is, why it matters, and what it actually takes to improve those skills.

Ready to dive in? Let’s get started.

What Is Problem Solving, and Why Does It Matter?

Have you ever heard this famous Steve Jobs quote?

“Everyone in this country should learn to program a computer because it teaches you to think.”

Jobs was right. Software development is as much about “soft skills” like critical thinking, communication, and problem solving as it is about “hard skills” like writing code.

And so, in the context of software development, problem solving can mean a few different things:

Creating an application that meets the end user’s goals.
Communicating effectively with team members to delegate work.
Finding and fixing bugs in the code.
Meeting a tight deadline for a client.

There’s only one thing that’s true no matter what problem solving looks like on a given day: It’s an integral part of every step of the software development process.

Why Should Engineers Work On Problem Solving Skills?

Just like any other skill, problem solving takes practice to apply and master.

Many developers think that becoming a better problem solver means being able to solve more problems, faster. But that’s not true — it means being able to find the best solution to a problem, and then put that solution in place.

Learning to do that is a great way to become a better developer overall. And while soft skills can be more difficult to learn and improve upon than hard skills, there are still some tips and tricks that can help you get better at problem solving specifically.

6 Ways to Get Better at Problem Solving

As you’ll see from these learning tools, getting better at problem solving is mostly like getting better at any other skill for work: You need to practice. A lot. And then practice some more.

Solve a Lot of Problems on a Lot of Different Platforms

Step one? Solve as many problems as you can, but try to focus on different types of problems on different platforms.

Here’s why this is so beneficial: It prevents you from getting comfortable with one problem solving method or framework. As we already know, in the world of software development, there is definitely no one-size-fits-all solution for the problems we encounter.

When you regularly practice solving different types of problems in different platforms, it reinforces the fact that you can’t always rely on the same technique to solve every problem. It forces you to learn to be flexible, and to choose the best tool or framework for each job.

Solve Problems in Contexts Other Than Work

Since problem solving is a skill that requires practice, you can (and should) work on it even outside of work hours.

This doesn’t need to be a chore — there are a lot of fun ways to practice problem solving, like by doing math or logic puzzles, solving crosswords, or playing a game like chess. Even many video games can help work on problem solving skills.

There are also many opportunities to practice problem solving just as you live your life from day to day. Broke something around the house? Use your problem solving skills to DIY a fix. Need to solve a conflict with a friend or a family member? You guessed it — time to practice problem solving.

Learn From Past Solutions, and Apply Them to New Problems

As you keep practicing problem solving as much as possible, you’ll start to see patterns emerge in the problems you solve. You’ll build up a sort of toolkit filled with the solutions you’ve found and used in the past, and you’ll be able to apply those to solving new problems.

This part is just as important as finding the solutions in the first place, because the more you practice your growing problem solving skills, the more natural it will become to apply the right solutions to different types of problems, making you able to solve new problems more and more quickly, while still using the best possible solves.

Ask Others for Help and Feedback

Sometimes, finding the best solution to a problem just requires a fresh, new set of eyes. That’s why it’s important to treat growing your problem solving skills not as a totally solo venture, but as a team endeavor where everyone at your organization can support each other and help each other get better.

If you’re stuck on a specific problem, ask for help. Someone else might have a method or framework you aren’t familiar with, that they can teach you. You can then apply that to more problems down the road.

And if you’ve come up with a solve for a problem, ask others for feedback. They might be able to help you refine or further improve your framework, making it even better.

Train the Problem Solving Part of Your Mind

How do you keep muscles from growing weaker over time? You keep exercising them.

The same goes for your brain, and especially for different knowledge-base skills, like problem solving. You’ll stay at the top of your brain if you keep “working out,” or practicing problem solving all the time.

A good move for a developer who wants to invest in their problem solving skills is scheduling time every week (or even every day) to consciously practice problem solving. Remember, this doesn’t necessarily mean solving work problems. You could commit to doing a tricky logic puzzle every day on your lunch break, for example. The important thing is to get in the practice, no matter how that looks.

Practice Other Skills Related to Problem Solving

Problem solving is an important skill on its own. But there are other necessary skills developers need to support their problem solving abilities, and those skills all take practice, too.

Flexibility. Critical thinking. Communication. Teamwork. Focusing on building and practicing all these skills will help you improve your problem solving.

Problem solving is one of the most necessary skills for developers to have. With time, practice, and dedication, they can improve it, constantly, and keep becoming better.

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Great article regarding problem solving skill, informative and motivating both.

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Sharifa Ismail Yusuf

I learnt from this article that one of the key skills a developer need to have is the \"problem solving skills\". Developers also need dedication, time, create time to practice so they can improve their problem solving skills constantly. I do ask for help from others and learn from past solutions and apply them to new problems. From what I have learnt so far, I will try my best to start focusing on building and practicing Flexibility, critical thinking, communication and team work. Solve a lot of problems on a lot of different platforms. Solve problems on context other than work. To start carring out the above, I will schedule time in a week or everyday to conciously practice problem solving skills and other related problem solving skills.Thanks alot for this wonderful article!

dewayne sewell

Ive learnt the skill of problem solving is like a muscle, where it is important to keep exercising it to stay strong. It is important to be aware of the soft skills necessary for effective problem solving also, such as communication, critical thinking, team working that can leverage your technical hard skills to find a solution faster/more effective. Two things I will aim to do is; 1. To solve problems on different platforms so I don’t get too comfortable on only one and stagnate. This not only challenges the brain to see things from a new perspective, but to start the habit of continuous learning and skill building. 2. Reach out to others for help / discuss problems and my solutions for feedback and advice and sharing ideas.

Pakize Bozkurt

Problem solving skills is a crucial thing to make easier or better your life. In fact as a human being we do it in every day life. I mean, we have to do it for living. There are many ways to how to do it. The best way is we should ask right questions. First of all, we should ask some questions, such as; \' Are we aware of the problem?, Are we clarify the problem? Do we go into problem rational? Do we have reasons? or Do we have evidences? Do we do check them out? etc. I am from Philosophy teacher background. I like solving problem whatever in my work or daily life. Secondly, we should have more perspectives . Although our brain is lazy, it is always in a starvation for knowledge.For this there are many enjoyable things to do it. I highly recommend to read book every day which kind of you like it and playing game or solving puzzle. I love solving Sudoku, puzzle and reading book or article. Finally, solving problem is our invatiable needed. Having flexibility, critical thinking, communication and teamwork are easy way to improve us to how we can do our work better and good life. Massive thank for this amazing article!

I read this amazing article. Normally, everyone knows that but we dont use most of time this informations. Which one is the best way to use? Really it does not matter, every one is like a gold opinion. We can use this ideas for the daily life. I have already used that learn from past solution and ask to someone who knows very well. This is so helpful for me. Sometimes google is the best option for ask to someone. Google can be the best teacher for us as well. Soft skills like a team work or solving problem and critical thinking can be important than typing code. We can learn typing code but we can not learn critical thinking and solving problems from google very well. Thank you for this article.

Ipsa iure sed rerum

Excepturi quo volupt

Thanks for this !

Fahil kiima

Thanks a lot for the ideas on problem solving,I really had a problem with that and now going to use what you\'ve informed us about to better my problem solving skills. Thanks.

Alan Codinho

Nice overview

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Problem-Solving Techniques for Software Developers

by Chevas Balloun (Last Updated: April 20th, 2024)

Too Long; Didn't Read:

Software developers must master problem-solving techniques to succeed in the tech industry. Debugging, critical thinking, and knowledge of algorithms are key. Problem-solving skills lead to promotions, higher salaries, and job security. Employers highly value these skills. Practicing diverse problem-solving methods is essential for professional growth and success.

In this crazy world of coding, being a problem-solving ninja isn't just a plus, it's an absolute must-have if you want to crush it. The big dogs like Google don't mess around; they're all about hiring folks who can take on complex challenges like a boss and make their products shine.

Across the board, from TechRepublic to ARC Dev , problem-solving skills are the golden ticket during hiring time.

These skills aren't just about fixing bugs or untangling code - they're about crafting epic solutions and communicating with your team like a pro. But it's not just about the immediate grind; mastering problem-solving is about developing a mindset that keeps you hungry for knowledge.

Like the legends at DEV Community say, it's about learning from your experiences, reflecting on your decisions, and embracing collaboration like a champ.

Get ready to level up, because we're about to dive deep into the art of problem-solving, the holy grail for devs. We'll show you how to sharpen these essential skills that Nucamp talks about, so you can slay any challenge that comes your way.

Definition & importance of problem-solving, typical problems faced by software developers, effective problem-solving techniques, applying problem-solving techniques - examples, conclusion - the art of problem-solving, frequently asked questions, check out next:.

Discover the secret to project success through effective collaboration , the cornerstone of modern development work.

Problem-solving is the name of the game in coding, bro. It's like the beating heart of the whole dev scene. Figuring out how to tackle bugs, make shit run smoother, and just generally getting your code to do what you want it to – that's what it's all about.

According to some research , devs gotta be able to think outside the box and see the big picture if they want to slay those coding challenges.

Why is this skill so crucial, you ask? Well, software is like a never-ending maze of code, and with every new feature or update, fresh complexities pop up.

Coding ain't just about typing out lines – it's about understanding the logic, algorithms, and data structures behind it all, which falls under the problem-solving umbrella.

As one expert put it, "Programming is less about writing code and more about solving problems that make people's lives easier." HackerRank backs this up, saying that solid problem-solving skills lead to better software quality and keep dev projects moving forward.

Real talk, problem-solving skills are a must-have in the tech world.

Devs need to design user interfaces, understand what clients want, and be able to communicate their ideas clearly, according to this insight on software engineering problem-solving.

These kinds of skills are what's driving the 11% job growth in computer and IT fields from 2019 to 2029, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Being a boss at problem-solving is practically synonymous with being a rockstar dev in today's rapidly evolving tech landscape.

In a nutshell:

Technical Skills and Communication: Killer problem-solving skills are a combo of technical know-how and clear communication .
Functional and Aesthetic Outcomes: How well devs can solve problems determines the functionality and look of software.
Industry Growth: The tech industry's growth depends on having more skilled problem-solvers to navigate its complexities.

Software development is a wild ride with mad challenges you gotta face every day. According to Stack Overflow , a whopping 38% of devs struggle with constraints like tight deadlines and dealing with legacy code.

On top of that, 34% face non-technical issues like communication breakdowns with managers or coworkers. As reported by Synoptek , one of the biggest technical headaches is the lack of a solid project infrastructure and keeping up with constantly changing requirements, which can mess up your delivery times and budgets.

With tech evolving at lightning speed, you gotta stay on top of the latest trends and make sure to implement tight security measures from the get-go to protect sensitive data, as Xperti points out.

Cybersecurity is a big deal, and it's on devs like you to keep that data privacy locked down. The 2020 Developer Survey revealed that a solid 29% of pros see collaboration as a major obstacle, especially with remote work becoming the norm, making effective communication tools and practices crucial.

And according to Casey McGuigan, product manager at Infragistics, technologies like low-code/no-code development tools could help address the shortage of developers, as highlighted in the Spiceworks survey .

To sum up the updated challenges in a visual way:

Lack of established project infrastructure
Adapting to changing project requirements and technologies
Implementing robust security measures
Non-technical and team collaboration issues

This field is constantly evolving, and mastering problem-solving skills is key.

As Mary Lee, a senior software engineer with a decade of experience, puts it, "Facing these challenges head-on, developers can grow in their careers and invent solutions that shape our future."

Developers these days have come up with some sick tricks to tackle the crazy coding challenges. Debugging is a major strategy, and it includes things like rubber duck debugging , where you explain your code line-by-line to an inanimate object, and somehow that helps you figure out the solution.

Crazy, right? Turns out, developers spend like 35-50% of their time debugging and validating code, so it's a big deal.

But it's not just about debugging.

Critical thinking methods like the Socratic questioning approach help break down problems into smaller, more manageable pieces. And let's not forget the POLYA method (Problem, Options, Learn, Act), which is basically a logic-based way to tackle problems and boost your coding skills.

This research from 7pace suggests six ways to level up your problem-solving game, like practicing diverse problems on different platforms and learning from past solutions.

Combining analytical skills, creativity, and logical reasoning is key to mastering the art of problem-solving, according to arc.dev. Being a pro at problem-solving can save you a ton of time and resources, because you can dissect issues like a boss.

Data shows that knowing your algorithms and data structures can make you up to 30% more efficient at solving problems.

So here are some dope heuristics to approach complex coding challenges:

Understand the Fundamentals : Grasping the basics gives you a solid foundation to dissect problems .
Break It Down : Divide big problems into smaller, more manageable chunks to avoid brain overload. Developers.dev recommends this for efficient problem-solving .
Write Pseudocode : It makes you think through the logic before diving into the actual code .
Seek Patterns : Recognizing recurring themes or algorithms can lead you to streamlined solutions .
Iterative Testing : Incremental checks can catch errors early and ensure each component works as intended .

As one expert put it,

"Good programming is not about knowing all the answers; it's about knowing how to tackle the questions."

Incorporating these techniques into your workflow not only helps you conquer the current challenge but also sharpens your skills for future ones, making you a lifelong learner and a valuable asset to any team.

Coding can be a real pain sometimes, but the way you handle those problems can make or break a project. Take Google, for instance. Back in 2017, Chrome was hogging up a ton of memory, and users were getting frustrated.

But the dev team didn't just sit there scratching their heads. They used this technique called performance tuning to analyze what was going on, and they managed to cut Chrome's memory usage by like 20%! That's a huge deal.

But that's not the only cool example.

During the Apollo missions, when memory was tight, the developers had to get creative with priority scheduling to make sure the most important tasks could still run.

It just goes to show that sometimes you gotta think outside the box to solve a problem, especially when the stakes are high.

One social media firm had this nasty bug that kept crashing their servers during peak hours.

But instead of each developer trying to tackle it solo, they paired up and did some collaborative coding . Not only did they squash that bug in a few days, but their code quality improved too! Pretty slick, right?

Sometimes, real-world examples can inspire coding solutions too.

Like this dev who used go-karting races to understand race conditions and how to detect loops in linked lists. It's all about finding creative ways to apply concepts you already understand.

This health-tech startup used machine learning algorithms to integrate different healthcare systems, and it sped up their data processing by a whopping 40%! Talk about a game-changer.

At the end of the day, problem-solving is what separates the good coders from the great ones.

Whether it's performance tuning, collaborative coding, real-world inspirations, or leveraging new tech like machine learning, the key is being able to think creatively and adapt to whatever challenges come your way.

Problem-solving skills are the real MVP for any coder out there. It's not just some fancy buzzword; it's the key to unlocking a sick career trajectory. The stats don't lie – if you're a pro at tackling problems, you're 3.5 times more likely to snag promotions and leadership roles.

The folks at Indeed.com know what's up.

They're all about that structured problem-solving approach, which is the secret sauce for leveling up your skills and climbing that career ladder. A whopping 85% of software engineers give mad props to their problem-solving prowess for their career growth.

It's a game-changer.

But a whopping pay bump of 20%-30% – cha-ching! It's not just about the money, though. Tech companies are thirsty for this talent, with 90% of them doing whatever it takes to keep these problem-solving ninjas on board.

They know it's the secret sauce for innovation and efficiency within their squads.

And problem-solving skills are like a universal key that unlocks doors across different specializations and industries.

The Indeed UK crew has your back on this one.

You'll be a hot commodity!

Here's a quick rundown of the perks problem-solving skills bring to the table:

More Job Opportunities: You'll be a coding chameleon, adapting to different programming environments and new tech like a boss.
Negotiation Leverage: Your mad skills will give you some serious negotiating power when it comes to scoring that fat paycheck.
Career Boost: Leadership roles will be within your grasp, thanks to your problem-solving prowess.
Networking Goals: Crafting innovative solutions will make you the cool kid on the block, expanding your professional circle like crazy.

Don't just take my word for it.

Lisa Hernandez from Tech Innovations went from zero to hero all because of her problem-solving game. She's living proof that seeing every challenge as a learning opportunity can seriously upgrade your career trajectory.

In this ever-changing tech world, the ability to break down and conquer complex problems isn't just a nice-to-have – it's the key to success.

If you're looking to level up your critical thinking and decision-making skills, Nucamp's resources have got your back.

It's time to upgrade your problem-solving arsenal and dominate the tech game!

Why are problem-solving techniques important for software developers?

Problem-solving techniques are crucial for software developers as they enable them to dissect software issues, optimize performance, and implement effective solutions in a systematic manner. In the ever-evolving field of software development, problem-solving skills are essential for understanding logic, algorithms, data structures, and creating value through code.

What are some typical problems faced by software developers?

Software developers often face challenges such as working within constraints like time and legacy code, adapting to changing project requirements and technologies, implementing robust security measures, and dealing with non-technical issues like team collaboration and communication. Staying informed about new trends and integrating security measures early are also common challenges.

What are effective problem-solving techniques for software developers?

Effective problem-solving techniques for software developers include debugging methods like rubber duck debugging, critical thinking approaches like Socratic questioning, and utilizing problem-solving models like the POLYA method. It is essential to improve analytical skills, creativity, and logical reasoning, grasp algorithms and data structures knowledge, and follow strategies like breaking down problems, writing pseudocode, seeking patterns, and iterative testing.

How can problem-solving techniques be applied in real-world software development?

Problem-solving techniques can be applied in real-world software development scenarios by methods such as systematic profiling and performance tuning for software efficiency, innovative approaches like priority scheduling to manage resources effectively, collaborative methods like pair programming for complex problem-solving and improved quality, and using real-world inspiration for designing algorithms. Innovative integration of technologies like machine learning for data handling also showcases the practical application of problem-solving techniques.

What are the benefits of mastering problem-solving techniques for software developers?

Mastering problem-solving techniques opens up increased job opportunities in diverse programming environments, negotiation leverage for higher compensation, prospects for professional growth and ascension to leadership roles, and a networking edge through innovative solutions. Problem-solving skills are highly valued by employers, leading to premium salaries, job security, and retention by tech companies aiming to foster innovation and efficiency in their teams.

You may be interested in the following topics as well:

Master the art of problem-solving in tech by elevating your critical thinking approach.

Discover the importance of collaboration skills in thriving tech ecosystems.

Embrace the dynamic Agile approach and stay ahead in the ever-evolving field of software development.

Uncover the Five Components of Emotional Intelligence and see how they impact your career in technology.

Understand how a productive tech team leverages exceptional communication to streamline success.

Employ effective balancing strategies to ensure a smooth workflow between solitary coding and team tasks.

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Key Analytical Skills for Developers (& How to Continually Improve Them)

how to improve analytical skills for developers

Analytical skills are very important for any developer. Learn how to improve them and how to show these skills on resumes and at interviews.

As a software developer, you probably spend a frustratingly large amount of time staring at code every day, trying to figure out why it’s not working. Sometimes it’s a pretty obvious solution in hindsight, which stings.

Sharpening your analytical skills can help you find solutions to technical problems faster. So you can spend more time being creative and less time scratching your head.

In this post, we break down exactly how to be more analytical as a software developer and solve problems faster.

Let’s dig in!

What are Analytical Skills?

Analytical skills are the ability to investigate a problem and find a solution in an efficient and timely manner.

Here are some of the things you do when analyzing problems to find solutions:

Detect patterns and make connections
Brainstorm and theorize
Observe and interpret data
Integrate new information
Pick between many solutions
Make decisions based on multiple factors

Software development relies heavily on strong analytical skills because of the amount of problem-solving involved in the field.

Read More : 12 Common Mistakes Keeping You From Landing Your First Developer Job

Analytical thinking in software development (and on a tech team in general)

Analytical thinking helps you develop a better understanding of a complex technical problem so you can solve it. The process is derived from the scientific method and has the following steps:

Encounter a problem.
Observe the problem and conduct research.
Hypothesize possible solutions based on an understanding of the problem and your past knowledge.
Evaluate and compare the effectiveness of each solution and the feasibility of implementation.
Communicate results and your chosen solution.

Thinking analytically involves some trial and error as well as an element of creativity.

The skills that make up analytical thinking can be both hard and soft skills . In the case of software development, they’re mostly hard skills.

Let’s take a look at what it means to be analytical as a software developer.

The exact process can vary depending on several factors like:

Team size and composition
Team maturity
Type of product
Technology available
Type of company
Company culture

If you’re a software developer at a company that’s selling a product, you need to solve problems fast. There are always critical bugs to fix and new features to develop for customers. You need to have a reliable process for analyzing problems that allows you to find solutions in an efficient way.

When you first encounter a problem as a software developer, you observe it, collect information about it, and try to understand it. You may analyze the surrounding code to find clues or patterns. Walking through the functions and variables in the code can help you find the root of the problem.

Once you’ve found the root of the problem, you start brainstorming possible solutions. Past experience with similar problems is helpful for coming up with reliable solutions.

You can also go on Stack Overflow to find out whether anyone else has encountered a similar problem. There may be some creative solutions worth exploring.

Once you’ve identified multiple solutions, you begin to narrow down your options based on factors like technical complexity, impact on performance, cost, availability of talent, etc. You can’t test all possible solutions so you need to pick the best solution based on the information you have.

You’ll likely change your mind and rethink your approach a few times at this stage. You might even need to ask for feedback or suggestions from other software developers or tech leads to find the best solution to the problem. Collaborating with other team members is key to finding creative solutions.

When you’ve decided on your final solution, you communicate your findings in a clear and concise way. This includes articulating why your solution is the optimal solution for the problem and what impact it will have on the greater organization.

Now, before we talk about how to improve analytical skills, let’s dive into the different skills that analytical skills are composed of.

Read More : 5 Great Ways to Get Yourself Noticed as a Software Engineer

Types of analytical skills

There are five core types of analytical skills:

Problem-solving skills

Critical thinking skills, research skills, creativity skills, communication skills.

Let’s walk through them one by one.

Problem-solving allows you to find a solution that’s efficient, feasible, and optimized, which is important whether you’re a spare-time coder or software engineer professionally. Truer still if you work as a data analyst, financial analyst, or business analyst! It involves analyzing problems and making decisions on what solutions are best. Sometimes that means making a decision to try a solution to uncover whether it works so you can move on to the next solution if needed.

Being good at problem-solving is largely based on experience — seeing many problems in the past makes you better at analyzing similar or related problems.

Thinking critically involves considering every possible aspect of a problem and evaluating your findings in an objective way. It’s important to not rely on assumptions and intuition. Instead, ask questions to validate your assumptions before evaluating all possible approaches.

When one of your solutions doesn’t pan out, critical thinking involves assessing where things went wrong to avoid making the same mistakes in the future.

Read More : How to Collaborate Effectively When Working Remotely

Research involves collecting data about a topic or a problem. Such as a new solution, how to integrate new technology, or the pros and cons of different approaches, including cost. You might also compare your sources of information to make sure you have accurate information.

Software development is part science and part art, making creativity an important analytical skill. It involves thinking of ways to combine unlikely sources and perspectives to come up with the best solution. Because, after all, the most obvious solution is not always the best solution.

Finding the right solution isn’t enough — you need to share the findings behind your analysis with your coworkers and demonstrate to them why your solution is the best. This requires the ability to read the room and tailor your communication appropriately.

You also likely need to communicate with other software developers when gathering information about a problem or getting feedback on a solution you’re implementing. And, don’t forget to work on intercultural communication skills , especially on remote or global teams!

Read More : Interpersonal Skills: What Developers Need to Know (& How to Improve)

Skills that are complementary to analysis skills

A great way to improve your analytical thinking skills is to get better at skills that are complementary to them.

Here is a list of skills that are related to thinking analytically:

Decision-making — the ability to choose a relevant option from a variety of alternatives by assessing situations and making valid judgments
Logical reasoning — the ability to draw logical conclusions and rationalize choices
Data analysis — the ability to examine data, identify patterns, and extract insights
Time management skills — the ability to get quality work done while using your time effectively
Presentation skills — the ability to deliver engaging and effective presentations to different audiences
Troubleshooting skills — the ability to deconstruct an issue and pinpoint the source of failure

Read More : 10 Ways to Improve Leadership Skills (& Advance Your Developer Career)

Important Tips for Improving Analytical Skills

We’ve covered why analytical skills are important, and how they help you become a better software developer. But how do you improve them? Fortunately, there are some ways you can do this.

Review other developers’ code

Reviewing other developers’ code is a great way to get better at thinking analytically because it forces you to think about why certain decisions were made and how the code can be improved. Code reviews also often lead to interesting discussions about different software development approaches, resulting in the best solutions.

Learn more about your area of software development

Knowledge and experience play a critical role in software developers’ abilities to solve problems in their area of expertise. So, the more you know about your own area of software development, the faster you’ll be able to identify patterns and alternative approaches to different problems.

Read More : How To Write a Full Stack Developer Resume (Step-by-Step With Tips)

Get into the habit of doing more research

Get into the habit of doing research — for work, and for personal reasons. Research exposes you to new information and improves your ability to process different information, assess the accuracy of sources, and synthesize information. While this is mandatory when practicing data analyst skills or financial analyst skills, it’s certainly important as part of a well-rounded software engineering skillset, as well!

Research software development problems and solutions

Browse or search through websites like Quora and Stack Overflow to see how other software developers have solved problems and implemented solutions. The more solutions you see, the more solutions you’ll be able to come up with when solving your own problems.

Read More : How to Write a Software Engineer Cover Letter w/ Sample Template & Tips

Teach technical concepts and solutions to others

Find opportunities to teach technical concepts to others. Use the challenges they have to think of different ways of explaining things. Try to explain things clearly and include many examples. Teaching others is a great way to deepen your understanding of something.

Request constructive criticism

Others can see things you can’t. Ask them for constructive criticism on how you approach problems, the quality of your analysis, and the solution you selected. Code reviews are a good time to have these discussions.

Some software developers might find it easier to send an anonymous survey to coworkers asking questions like:

What do I do particularly well?
What do I need to do better?
What should I do more of?
What should I do less of?

Read More : How to Build a Software Engineer Portfolio (With Examples & Tips)

How to Showcase Your Analytical Skills

On a resume or cover letter.

Writing “strong analytical skills” on your resume isn’t enough. You have to include concrete examples that demonstrate those skills and highlight the exact outcomes you drove.

Here are some examples:

Lead with impressive details like “within the 1st week at the company” to grab attention. And make sure to describe your method and any specific information about the problem to provide context. The third example, “Long-pending auto-login issue,” conveys that nobody else had been able to solve it.

Use quantifiable outcomes like “$240k saved” to highlight the impact you made. Numbers also make skimming easier, which is what most recruiters do with resumes, anyway.

Wherever you can, focus on how you can analyze and solve problems in a short amount of time. Businesses need solutions fast so showing how you’re able to go through the analytical process quickly can help you stand out.

The goal with your resume and cover letter is to pique the recruiter’s curiosity and give them cues on what to ask you about in an interview.

Read More : Writing an IT Resume: How to Make an Interview Winning Tech Job Resume

In an interview

To demonstrate your analytical abilities in an interview, walk the interviewer through the exact process you followed to solve a particular problem.

You should talk about how you:

Gathered the necessary information
Assessed various sources
Identified different solutions
Decided on the final solution
Took action and what the result was

Explain your thinking at every stage, especially if you changed your mind on an approach. What observations or data prompted you to change your approach?

Whenever possible, try to think of an example that demonstrates a creative solution to a problem. Refrain talking about obvious solutions to problems because the interviewer may already know about them and it won’t help you stand out among other candidates.

To make yourself more memorable to the interviewer, talk about a unique solution or approach to solving a problem. It’ll likely spark more interesting questions from the interviewer that you can use to further showcase your data analysis skills.

Read More : 31 Questions to Ask at an Interview for Software Development Jobs

A great way to showcase your analytical skills on the job is to explain the method you used to arrive at the solution. Show that you analyzed the problem from multiple angles and why you chose the particular solution.

You can do this either in a meeting or by writing documentation about your solution.

Another way to demonstrate your analytical thinking is to expose yourself to as many problems as possible. Help your coworkers solve problems they’re stuck on or volunteer to solve more problems.

This kind of exposure will show more people the level of your analytical skills.

Dealing with a situation where you and a coworker disagree on which approach to take is a good opportunity to showcase your strong analytical skills. Make clear arguments and counter-arguments, backing up your arguments with evidence and data.

Look at your coworker’s arguments from different perspectives to identify hidden flaws in their logical reasoning.

Read More : 8 Great Benefits of Working From Home (A Guide for Remote Developers)

In a remote work environment

To demonstrate your analytical skills in a remote work environment, you need to leverage documentation more than you would in an office setting.

When updating your progress on project management tools like JIRA, document what approach you decided to take, why it’s the best approach, and what else you considered. This kind of paper trail helps demonstrate your analytical skills by demonstrating critical thinking.

If you’re developing a new solution, you should document how it works in a tool like Confluence or Notion. Again, the key is explaining to others your process and why you selected the solution you did.

Sometimes text-based communication isn’t the most effective way to explain your approach or solution. Using screencasting tools or asynchronous video communication tools like Loom can help you convey your reasoning more effectively without having to schedule a meeting.

Wrapping Up

You should now understand:

What being analytical in software development or as an analyst (business, data, financial, etc.) means
What individual skills are part of analysis skills
How to improve your analytical skills
How to showcase your analytical skills on a resume or cover letter, in an interview, on the job, and in a remote work environment

Before we let you go, here’s a bonus tip:

When dealing with incomplete information about a problem, timebox how long you’ll spend looking for answers before making a decision based on your assumptions.

With all these analytical skills, it’s easy to get lost in analysis paralysis. And remember, sometimes making any decision is the right solution. If it’s wrong, you can learn from it and move on to the next solution.

Happy analyzing!

Read More : How To Show Off Thought Leadership on LinkedIn To Level Up Your Developer Career

Lena Sesardic

Programmer, Business Coach & Remote Work Expert

Lena has been working directly with software developers as a product manager since 2017, mainly in startups. She’s a more technical product manager because of her experience programming in HTML, CSS, Javascript, and a bit of VUE.js. And the fact she genuinely enjoys technical discussions. Lena is an advocate for remote-first work culture and has worked with offshore and remote software development teams in North America, India, Ukraine, and the Philippines. Outside of being a product manager in fintech, Lena creates content about her journey as an entrepreneurial product person on her blog, LinkedIn, Medium, and YouTube.

I enjoyed this article on the analytical aspect of programming. Id like to use this webpage as a backlink to mine. I’ll be discussing 20 qualifications every reliable and valuable software engineer should have.

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How to Improve Problem-Solving Skills as a Software Developer with SkillReactor

There’s more to software development than writing lines of code. In the first place, software developers exist to build applications that meet users’ needs. Netflix, for instance, was built to provide a steady stream of accessible entertainment to the masses. And Airbnb was created to give travelers the chance to lodge and get to know the local community better.

Put another way, true software developers are problem-solvers first and programmers second. Yet problem-solving is often the most overlooked skill among software developers . Too focused on gaining theoretical knowledge of various programming languages and frameworks, software developers today often forget to work out their problem-solving muscles.

One reason behind this is the abundance of programming videos, tutorials, books, and other learning resources available online, many of which use a spoonfeeding approach in teaching. As a result, students get lost when faced with real-world problems, unaware of where to start and how to apply the coding theories they learned. Where do they go from here?

Enter, SkillReactor .

SkillReactor helps software developers improve their coding skills and sharpens the highly underrated skill of problem-solving. How? Through its online learning platform, SkillIntern, users encounter short coding tasks that challenge them to diagnose and solve real-world industry problems.

Read on as we explore SkillReactor’s approach to training well-rounded software developers. You’ll also hear from Ryan Bell , SkillReactor’s Lead Engineer.

SkillReactor is a platform that helps deepen your understanding of programming tools and technologies, hone your coding skills, and develop core problem-solving skills vital for success in the tech industry.

How to Improve Problem-Solving Skills as a Coder with SkillReactor

SkillReactor’s approach to training is unique. It moves away from the traditional chalk-and-talk method, where teachers tell students how to code their way out of specific problems. The loophole with that approach is that students never really understand what goes on behind the code and what other methods they could take to approach a given scenario.

So, how does SkillReactor do it? SkillReactor uses the problem-based learning approach. In Ryan’s words, “This learning method helps users develop all necessary skills for software development: exposure to technologies, research and comprehension skills, and most importantly problem-solving.”

How Does SkillReactor’s Problem-Based Learning Approach Work?

As the name implies, SkillReactor’s problem-based learning approach involves presenting users with different challenges they need to solve using their coding skills. These challenges are accessible on SkillReactor’s proprietary learning platform, SkillIntern.

“The user has to analyze the requirements, research possible solutions, and then implement a working solution that fulfills the task’s acceptance criteria,” supplied Ryan.

Users get direction and pointers on the best way to approach the problem on each task, but they do not get an outright solution. Instead, they will use the clue to conduct simple research on Google or other search engines.

The platform also provides an automated validation system that lets users know if their solution is correct. If they input a wrong answer, the system provides feedback on why their response failed and what they need to do to fix it.

“This allows for an iterative approach to development that allows them to try again if they fail quickly,” explained Ryan. “The feedback from the validation allows you to act upon and improve your solution until it meets all requirements. This iterative approach further develops your problem-solving and analysis skills.”

You should also note that the tasks and projects on SkillIntern are industry-standard problems and represent a variety of unique situations you’ll likely face in the workplace. By solving these challenges, you practice your skills and gain firsthand insight into the puzzles that software developers encounter in the workplace.

Build Your Coding Skills

SkillIntern breaks these end-to-end projects into smaller tasks that you can complete with a few lines of code. Breaking large projects into smaller tasks of gradually increasing difficulty will help you better understand core back-end and front-end skills and tools and how they apply to the entire development lifecycle.

“Building a system requires you to first break down the task at hand into a series of smaller, easier to solve problems. Then, we identify the possible solutions for each problem, select the most appropriate solution, and then implement it. In essence, this means that software development is impossible without good problem-solving skills.”

What Do Software Developers Say About SkillReactor?

SkillReactor’s website features feedback from some of its users, and there seems to be no shortage of praises for the platform. Joshua Bins said, “As someone without a computer science background, this SkillReactor program was exactly what I needed to gain experience with developing a full-stack React application.”

Wajeeh Rehman also had positive things to say about his SkillReactor experience. He described SkillReactor to fit programmers of diverse experience, beginners, and experts alike. Having experienced other online courses, he spotted SkillReactor’s uniqueness.

“SkillReactor is not like a typical MOOC or learning platform in which you follow along with an instructor. Instead, you are provided with problems and a roadmap to explore and figure out how to solve them to create a functioning full-stack application. This instills problem-solving skills in beginners, which many severely lack.”

Develop Core Problem-Solving Skills with SkillReactor

SkillReactor is a platform where developers build core skills that improve their understanding of software development skills. Developers can engage in various full-stack software development projects using React, Node.js, TypeScript, and AWS Lambda programming languages.

Becoming a productive engineer also requires lots of practice and experience with independently developing solutions to many different problems. With SkillReactor, developers get that opportunity to hone their skills, gather work experience, and build projects that boost their portfolios.

Want to become a bona fide software developer and problem-solver? Register with SkillReactor today and complete a simple coding test to get started.

About us: Career Karma is a platform designed to help job seekers find, research, and connect with job training programs to advance their careers. Learn about the CK publication .

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35 problem-solving techniques and methods for solving complex problems

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How do you identify problems?

How do you identify the right solution.

Tips for more effective problem-solving

Complete problem-solving methods

Problem-solving techniques to identify and analyze problems
Problem-solving techniques for developing solutions

Problem-solving warm-up activities

Closing activities for a problem-solving process.

Before you can move towards finding the right solution for a given problem, you first need to identify and define the problem you wish to solve.

Here, you want to clearly articulate what the problem is and allow your group to do the same. Remember that everyone in a group is likely to have differing perspectives and alignment is necessary in order to help the group move forward.

Identifying a problem accurately also requires that all members of a group are able to contribute their views in an open and safe manner. It can be scary for people to stand up and contribute, especially if the problems or challenges are emotive or personal in nature. Be sure to try and create a psychologically safe space for these kinds of discussions.

Remember that problem analysis and further discussion are also important. Not taking the time to fully analyze and discuss a challenge can result in the development of solutions that are not fit for purpose or do not address the underlying issue.

Successfully identifying and then analyzing a problem means facilitating a group through activities designed to help them clearly and honestly articulate their thoughts and produce usable insight.

With this data, you might then produce a problem statement that clearly describes the problem you wish to be addressed and also state the goal of any process you undertake to tackle this issue.

Finding solutions is the end goal of any process. Complex organizational challenges can only be solved with an appropriate solution but discovering them requires using the right problem-solving tool.

After you’ve explored a problem and discussed ideas, you need to help a team discuss and choose the right solution. Consensus tools and methods such as those below help a group explore possible solutions before then voting for the best. They’re a great way to tap into the collective intelligence of the group for great results!

Remember that the process is often iterative. Great problem solvers often roadtest a viable solution in a measured way to see what works too. While you might not get the right solution on your first try, the methods below help teams land on the most likely to succeed solution while also holding space for improvement.

Every effective problem solving process begins with an agenda . A well-structured workshop is one of the best methods for successfully guiding a group from exploring a problem to implementing a solution.

In SessionLab, it’s easy to go from an idea to a complete agenda . Start by dragging and dropping your core problem solving activities into place . Add timings, breaks and necessary materials before sharing your agenda with your colleagues.

The resulting agenda will be your guide to an effective and productive problem solving session that will also help you stay organized on the day!

Tips for more effective problem solving

Problem-solving activities are only one part of the puzzle. While a great method can help unlock your team’s ability to solve problems, without a thoughtful approach and strong facilitation the solutions may not be fit for purpose.

Let’s take a look at some problem-solving tips you can apply to any process to help it be a success!

Clearly define the problem

Jumping straight to solutions can be tempting, though without first clearly articulating a problem, the solution might not be the right one. Many of the problem-solving activities below include sections where the problem is explored and clearly defined before moving on.

This is a vital part of the problem-solving process and taking the time to fully define an issue can save time and effort later. A clear definition helps identify irrelevant information and it also ensures that your team sets off on the right track.

Don’t jump to conclusions

It’s easy for groups to exhibit cognitive bias or have preconceived ideas about both problems and potential solutions. Be sure to back up any problem statements or potential solutions with facts, research, and adequate forethought.

The best techniques ask participants to be methodical and challenge preconceived notions. Make sure you give the group enough time and space to collect relevant information and consider the problem in a new way. By approaching the process with a clear, rational mindset, you’ll often find that better solutions are more forthcoming.

Try different approaches

Problems come in all shapes and sizes and so too should the methods you use to solve them. If you find that one approach isn’t yielding results and your team isn’t finding different solutions, try mixing it up. You’ll be surprised at how using a new creative activity can unblock your team and generate great solutions.

Don’t take it personally

Depending on the nature of your team or organizational problems, it’s easy for conversations to get heated. While it’s good for participants to be engaged in the discussions, ensure that emotions don’t run too high and that blame isn’t thrown around while finding solutions.

You’re all in it together, and even if your team or area is seeing problems, that isn’t necessarily a disparagement of you personally. Using facilitation skills to manage group dynamics is one effective method of helping conversations be more constructive.

Get the right people in the room

Your problem-solving method is often only as effective as the group using it. Getting the right people on the job and managing the number of people present is important too!

If the group is too small, you may not get enough different perspectives to effectively solve a problem. If the group is too large, you can go round and round during the ideation stages.

Creating the right group makeup is also important in ensuring you have the necessary expertise and skillset to both identify and follow up on potential solutions. Carefully consider who to include at each stage to help ensure your problem-solving method is followed and positioned for success.

Document everything

The best solutions can take refinement, iteration, and reflection to come out. Get into a habit of documenting your process in order to keep all the learnings from the session and to allow ideas to mature and develop. Many of the methods below involve the creation of documents or shared resources. Be sure to keep and share these so everyone can benefit from the work done!

Bring a facilitator

Facilitation is all about making group processes easier. With a subject as potentially emotive and important as problem-solving, having an impartial third party in the form of a facilitator can make all the difference in finding great solutions and keeping the process moving. Consider bringing a facilitator to your problem-solving session to get better results and generate meaningful solutions!

Develop your problem-solving skills

It takes time and practice to be an effective problem solver. While some roles or participants might more naturally gravitate towards problem-solving, it can take development and planning to help everyone create better solutions.

You might develop a training program, run a problem-solving workshop or simply ask your team to practice using the techniques below. Check out our post on problem-solving skills to see how you and your group can develop the right mental process and be more resilient to issues too!

Design a great agenda

Workshops are a great format for solving problems. With the right approach, you can focus a group and help them find the solutions to their own problems. But designing a process can be time-consuming and finding the right activities can be difficult.

Check out our workshop planning guide to level-up your agenda design and start running more effective workshops. Need inspiration? Check out templates designed by expert facilitators to help you kickstart your process!

In this section, we’ll look at in-depth problem-solving methods that provide a complete end-to-end process for developing effective solutions. These will help guide your team from the discovery and definition of a problem through to delivering the right solution.

If you’re looking for an all-encompassing method or problem-solving model, these processes are a great place to start. They’ll ask your team to challenge preconceived ideas and adopt a mindset for solving problems more effectively.

Six Thinking Hats
Lightning Decision Jam
Problem Definition Process
Discovery & Action Dialogue

Design Sprint 2.0

Open Space Technology

1. Six Thinking Hats

Individual approaches to solving a problem can be very different based on what team or role an individual holds. It can be easy for existing biases or perspectives to find their way into the mix, or for internal politics to direct a conversation.

Six Thinking Hats is a classic method for identifying the problems that need to be solved and enables your team to consider them from different angles, whether that is by focusing on facts and data, creative solutions, or by considering why a particular solution might not work.

Like all problem-solving frameworks, Six Thinking Hats is effective at helping teams remove roadblocks from a conversation or discussion and come to terms with all the aspects necessary to solve complex problems.

2. Lightning Decision Jam

Featured courtesy of Jonathan Courtney of AJ&Smart Berlin, Lightning Decision Jam is one of those strategies that should be in every facilitation toolbox. Exploring problems and finding solutions is often creative in nature, though as with any creative process, there is the potential to lose focus and get lost.

Unstructured discussions might get you there in the end, but it’s much more effective to use a method that creates a clear process and team focus.

In Lightning Decision Jam, participants are invited to begin by writing challenges, concerns, or mistakes on post-its without discussing them before then being invited by the moderator to present them to the group.

From there, the team vote on which problems to solve and are guided through steps that will allow them to reframe those problems, create solutions and then decide what to execute on.

By deciding the problems that need to be solved as a team before moving on, this group process is great for ensuring the whole team is aligned and can take ownership over the next stages.

Lightning Decision Jam (LDJ) #action #decision making #problem solving #issue analysis #innovation #design #remote-friendly The problem with anything that requires creative thinking is that it’s easy to get lost—lose focus and fall into the trap of having useless, open-ended, unstructured discussions. Here’s the most effective solution I’ve found: Replace all open, unstructured discussion with a clear process. What to use this exercise for: Anything which requires a group of people to make decisions, solve problems or discuss challenges. It’s always good to frame an LDJ session with a broad topic, here are some examples: The conversion flow of our checkout Our internal design process How we organise events Keeping up with our competition Improving sales flow

3. Problem Definition Process

While problems can be complex, the problem-solving methods you use to identify and solve those problems can often be simple in design.

By taking the time to truly identify and define a problem before asking the group to reframe the challenge as an opportunity, this method is a great way to enable change.

Begin by identifying a focus question and exploring the ways in which it manifests before splitting into five teams who will each consider the problem using a different method: escape, reversal, exaggeration, distortion or wishful. Teams develop a problem objective and create ideas in line with their method before then feeding them back to the group.

This method is great for enabling in-depth discussions while also creating space for finding creative solutions too!

Problem Definition #problem solving #idea generation #creativity #online #remote-friendly A problem solving technique to define a problem, challenge or opportunity and to generate ideas.

4. The 5 Whys

Sometimes, a group needs to go further with their strategies and analyze the root cause at the heart of organizational issues. An RCA or root cause analysis is the process of identifying what is at the heart of business problems or recurring challenges.

The 5 Whys is a simple and effective method of helping a group go find the root cause of any problem or challenge and conduct analysis that will deliver results.

By beginning with the creation of a problem statement and going through five stages to refine it, The 5 Whys provides everything you need to truly discover the cause of an issue.

The 5 Whys #hyperisland #innovation This simple and powerful method is useful for getting to the core of a problem or challenge. As the title suggests, the group defines a problems, then asks the question “why” five times, often using the resulting explanation as a starting point for creative problem solving.

5. World Cafe

World Cafe is a simple but powerful facilitation technique to help bigger groups to focus their energy and attention on solving complex problems.

World Cafe enables this approach by creating a relaxed atmosphere where participants are able to self-organize and explore topics relevant and important to them which are themed around a central problem-solving purpose. Create the right atmosphere by modeling your space after a cafe and after guiding the group through the method, let them take the lead!

Making problem-solving a part of your organization’s culture in the long term can be a difficult undertaking. More approachable formats like World Cafe can be especially effective in bringing people unfamiliar with workshops into the fold.

World Cafe #hyperisland #innovation #issue analysis World Café is a simple yet powerful method, originated by Juanita Brown, for enabling meaningful conversations driven completely by participants and the topics that are relevant and important to them. Facilitators create a cafe-style space and provide simple guidelines. Participants then self-organize and explore a set of relevant topics or questions for conversation.

6. Discovery & Action Dialogue (DAD)

One of the best approaches is to create a safe space for a group to share and discover practices and behaviors that can help them find their own solutions.

With DAD, you can help a group choose which problems they wish to solve and which approaches they will take to do so. It’s great at helping remove resistance to change and can help get buy-in at every level too!

This process of enabling frontline ownership is great in ensuring follow-through and is one of the methods you will want in your toolbox as a facilitator.

Discovery & Action Dialogue (DAD) #idea generation #liberating structures #action #issue analysis #remote-friendly DADs make it easy for a group or community to discover practices and behaviors that enable some individuals (without access to special resources and facing the same constraints) to find better solutions than their peers to common problems. These are called positive deviant (PD) behaviors and practices. DADs make it possible for people in the group, unit, or community to discover by themselves these PD practices. DADs also create favorable conditions for stimulating participants’ creativity in spaces where they can feel safe to invent new and more effective practices. Resistance to change evaporates as participants are unleashed to choose freely which practices they will adopt or try and which problems they will tackle. DADs make it possible to achieve frontline ownership of solutions.

7. Design Sprint 2.0

Want to see how a team can solve big problems and move forward with prototyping and testing solutions in a few days? The Design Sprint 2.0 template from Jake Knapp, author of Sprint, is a complete agenda for a with proven results.

Developing the right agenda can involve difficult but necessary planning. Ensuring all the correct steps are followed can also be stressful or time-consuming depending on your level of experience.

Use this complete 4-day workshop template if you are finding there is no obvious solution to your challenge and want to focus your team around a specific problem that might require a shortcut to launching a minimum viable product or waiting for the organization-wide implementation of a solution.

8. Open space technology

Open space technology- developed by Harrison Owen – creates a space where large groups are invited to take ownership of their problem solving and lead individual sessions. Open space technology is a great format when you have a great deal of expertise and insight in the room and want to allow for different takes and approaches on a particular theme or problem you need to be solved.

Start by bringing your participants together to align around a central theme and focus their efforts. Explain the ground rules to help guide the problem-solving process and then invite members to identify any issue connecting to the central theme that they are interested in and are prepared to take responsibility for.

Once participants have decided on their approach to the core theme, they write their issue on a piece of paper, announce it to the group, pick a session time and place, and post the paper on the wall. As the wall fills up with sessions, the group is then invited to join the sessions that interest them the most and which they can contribute to, then you’re ready to begin!

Everyone joins the problem-solving group they’ve signed up to, record the discussion and if appropriate, findings can then be shared with the rest of the group afterward.

Open Space Technology #action plan #idea generation #problem solving #issue analysis #large group #online #remote-friendly Open Space is a methodology for large groups to create their agenda discerning important topics for discussion, suitable for conferences, community gatherings and whole system facilitation

Techniques to identify and analyze problems

Using a problem-solving method to help a team identify and analyze a problem can be a quick and effective addition to any workshop or meeting.

While further actions are always necessary, you can generate momentum and alignment easily, and these activities are a great place to get started.

We’ve put together this list of techniques to help you and your team with problem identification, analysis, and discussion that sets the foundation for developing effective solutions.

Let’s take a look!

The Creativity Dice
Fishbone Analysis
Problem Tree
SWOT Analysis
Agreement-Certainty Matrix
The Journalistic Six
LEGO Challenge
What, So What, Now What?
Journalists

Individual and group perspectives are incredibly important, but what happens if people are set in their minds and need a change of perspective in order to approach a problem more effectively?

Flip It is a method we love because it is both simple to understand and run, and allows groups to understand how their perspectives and biases are formed.

Participants in Flip It are first invited to consider concerns, issues, or problems from a perspective of fear and write them on a flip chart. Then, the group is asked to consider those same issues from a perspective of hope and flip their understanding.

No problem and solution is free from existing bias and by changing perspectives with Flip It, you can then develop a problem solving model quickly and effectively.

Flip It! #gamestorming #problem solving #action Often, a change in a problem or situation comes simply from a change in our perspectives. Flip It! is a quick game designed to show players that perspectives are made, not born.

10. The Creativity Dice

One of the most useful problem solving skills you can teach your team is of approaching challenges with creativity, flexibility, and openness. Games like The Creativity Dice allow teams to overcome the potential hurdle of too much linear thinking and approach the process with a sense of fun and speed.

In The Creativity Dice, participants are organized around a topic and roll a dice to determine what they will work on for a period of 3 minutes at a time. They might roll a 3 and work on investigating factual information on the chosen topic. They might roll a 1 and work on identifying the specific goals, standards, or criteria for the session.

Encouraging rapid work and iteration while asking participants to be flexible are great skills to cultivate. Having a stage for idea incubation in this game is also important. Moments of pause can help ensure the ideas that are put forward are the most suitable.

The Creativity Dice #creativity #problem solving #thiagi #issue analysis Too much linear thinking is hazardous to creative problem solving. To be creative, you should approach the problem (or the opportunity) from different points of view. You should leave a thought hanging in mid-air and move to another. This skipping around prevents premature closure and lets your brain incubate one line of thought while you consciously pursue another.

11. Fishbone Analysis

Organizational or team challenges are rarely simple, and it’s important to remember that one problem can be an indication of something that goes deeper and may require further consideration to be solved.

Fishbone Analysis helps groups to dig deeper and understand the origins of a problem. It’s a great example of a root cause analysis method that is simple for everyone on a team to get their head around.

Participants in this activity are asked to annotate a diagram of a fish, first adding the problem or issue to be worked on at the head of a fish before then brainstorming the root causes of the problem and adding them as bones on the fish.

Using abstractions such as a diagram of a fish can really help a team break out of their regular thinking and develop a creative approach.

Fishbone Analysis #problem solving ##root cause analysis #decision making #online facilitation A process to help identify and understand the origins of problems, issues or observations.

12. Problem Tree

Encouraging visual thinking can be an essential part of many strategies. By simply reframing and clarifying problems, a group can move towards developing a problem solving model that works for them.

In Problem Tree, groups are asked to first brainstorm a list of problems – these can be design problems, team problems or larger business problems – and then organize them into a hierarchy. The hierarchy could be from most important to least important or abstract to practical, though the key thing with problem solving games that involve this aspect is that your group has some way of managing and sorting all the issues that are raised.

Once you have a list of problems that need to be solved and have organized them accordingly, you’re then well-positioned for the next problem solving steps.

Problem tree #define intentions #create #design #issue analysis A problem tree is a tool to clarify the hierarchy of problems addressed by the team within a design project; it represents high level problems or related sublevel problems.

13. SWOT Analysis

Chances are you’ve heard of the SWOT Analysis before. This problem-solving method focuses on identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats is a tried and tested method for both individuals and teams.

Start by creating a desired end state or outcome and bare this in mind – any process solving model is made more effective by knowing what you are moving towards. Create a quadrant made up of the four categories of a SWOT analysis and ask participants to generate ideas based on each of those quadrants.

Once you have those ideas assembled in their quadrants, cluster them together based on their affinity with other ideas. These clusters are then used to facilitate group conversations and move things forward.

SWOT analysis #gamestorming #problem solving #action #meeting facilitation The SWOT Analysis is a long-standing technique of looking at what we have, with respect to the desired end state, as well as what we could improve on. It gives us an opportunity to gauge approaching opportunities and dangers, and assess the seriousness of the conditions that affect our future. When we understand those conditions, we can influence what comes next.

14. Agreement-Certainty Matrix

Not every problem-solving approach is right for every challenge, and deciding on the right method for the challenge at hand is a key part of being an effective team.

The Agreement Certainty matrix helps teams align on the nature of the challenges facing them. By sorting problems from simple to chaotic, your team can understand what methods are suitable for each problem and what they can do to ensure effective results.

If you are already using Liberating Structures techniques as part of your problem-solving strategy, the Agreement-Certainty Matrix can be an invaluable addition to your process. We’ve found it particularly if you are having issues with recurring problems in your organization and want to go deeper in understanding the root cause.

Agreement-Certainty Matrix #issue analysis #liberating structures #problem solving You can help individuals or groups avoid the frequent mistake of trying to solve a problem with methods that are not adapted to the nature of their challenge. The combination of two questions makes it possible to easily sort challenges into four categories: simple, complicated, complex , and chaotic . A problem is simple when it can be solved reliably with practices that are easy to duplicate. It is complicated when experts are required to devise a sophisticated solution that will yield the desired results predictably. A problem is complex when there are several valid ways to proceed but outcomes are not predictable in detail. Chaotic is when the context is too turbulent to identify a path forward. A loose analogy may be used to describe these differences: simple is like following a recipe, complicated like sending a rocket to the moon, complex like raising a child, and chaotic is like the game “Pin the Tail on the Donkey.” The Liberating Structures Matching Matrix in Chapter 5 can be used as the first step to clarify the nature of a challenge and avoid the mismatches between problems and solutions that are frequently at the root of chronic, recurring problems.

Organizing and charting a team’s progress can be important in ensuring its success. SQUID (Sequential Question and Insight Diagram) is a great model that allows a team to effectively switch between giving questions and answers and develop the skills they need to stay on track throughout the process.

Begin with two different colored sticky notes – one for questions and one for answers – and with your central topic (the head of the squid) on the board. Ask the group to first come up with a series of questions connected to their best guess of how to approach the topic. Ask the group to come up with answers to those questions, fix them to the board and connect them with a line. After some discussion, go back to question mode by responding to the generated answers or other points on the board.

It’s rewarding to see a diagram grow throughout the exercise, and a completed SQUID can provide a visual resource for future effort and as an example for other teams.

SQUID #gamestorming #project planning #issue analysis #problem solving When exploring an information space, it’s important for a group to know where they are at any given time. By using SQUID, a group charts out the territory as they go and can navigate accordingly. SQUID stands for Sequential Question and Insight Diagram.

16. Speed Boat

To continue with our nautical theme, Speed Boat is a short and sweet activity that can help a team quickly identify what employees, clients or service users might have a problem with and analyze what might be standing in the way of achieving a solution.

Methods that allow for a group to make observations, have insights and obtain those eureka moments quickly are invaluable when trying to solve complex problems.

In Speed Boat, the approach is to first consider what anchors and challenges might be holding an organization (or boat) back. Bonus points if you are able to identify any sharks in the water and develop ideas that can also deal with competitors!

Speed Boat #gamestorming #problem solving #action Speedboat is a short and sweet way to identify what your employees or clients don’t like about your product/service or what’s standing in the way of a desired goal.

17. The Journalistic Six

Some of the most effective ways of solving problems is by encouraging teams to be more inclusive and diverse in their thinking.

Based on the six key questions journalism students are taught to answer in articles and news stories, The Journalistic Six helps create teams to see the whole picture. By using who, what, when, where, why, and how to facilitate the conversation and encourage creative thinking, your team can make sure that the problem identification and problem analysis stages of the are covered exhaustively and thoughtfully. Reporter’s notebook and dictaphone optional.

The Journalistic Six – Who What When Where Why How #idea generation #issue analysis #problem solving #online #creative thinking #remote-friendly A questioning method for generating, explaining, investigating ideas.

18. LEGO Challenge

Now for an activity that is a little out of the (toy) box. LEGO Serious Play is a facilitation methodology that can be used to improve creative thinking and problem-solving skills.

The LEGO Challenge includes giving each member of the team an assignment that is hidden from the rest of the group while they create a structure without speaking.

What the LEGO challenge brings to the table is a fun working example of working with stakeholders who might not be on the same page to solve problems. Also, it’s LEGO! Who doesn’t love LEGO!

LEGO Challenge #hyperisland #team A team-building activity in which groups must work together to build a structure out of LEGO, but each individual has a secret “assignment” which makes the collaborative process more challenging. It emphasizes group communication, leadership dynamics, conflict, cooperation, patience and problem solving strategy.

19. What, So What, Now What?

If not carefully managed, the problem identification and problem analysis stages of the problem-solving process can actually create more problems and misunderstandings.

The What, So What, Now What? problem-solving activity is designed to help collect insights and move forward while also eliminating the possibility of disagreement when it comes to identifying, clarifying, and analyzing organizational or work problems.

Facilitation is all about bringing groups together so that might work on a shared goal and the best problem-solving strategies ensure that teams are aligned in purpose, if not initially in opinion or insight.

Throughout the three steps of this game, you give everyone on a team to reflect on a problem by asking what happened, why it is important, and what actions should then be taken.

This can be a great activity for bringing our individual perceptions about a problem or challenge and contextualizing it in a larger group setting. This is one of the most important problem-solving skills you can bring to your organization.

W³ – What, So What, Now What? #issue analysis #innovation #liberating structures You can help groups reflect on a shared experience in a way that builds understanding and spurs coordinated action while avoiding unproductive conflict. It is possible for every voice to be heard while simultaneously sifting for insights and shaping new direction. Progressing in stages makes this practical—from collecting facts about What Happened to making sense of these facts with So What and finally to what actions logically follow with Now What . The shared progression eliminates most of the misunderstandings that otherwise fuel disagreements about what to do. Voila!

20. Journalists

Problem analysis can be one of the most important and decisive stages of all problem-solving tools. Sometimes, a team can become bogged down in the details and are unable to move forward.

Journalists is an activity that can avoid a group from getting stuck in the problem identification or problem analysis stages of the process.

In Journalists, the group is invited to draft the front page of a fictional newspaper and figure out what stories deserve to be on the cover and what headlines those stories will have. By reframing how your problems and challenges are approached, you can help a team move productively through the process and be better prepared for the steps to follow.

Journalists #vision #big picture #issue analysis #remote-friendly This is an exercise to use when the group gets stuck in details and struggles to see the big picture. Also good for defining a vision.

Problem-solving techniques for developing solutions

The success of any problem-solving process can be measured by the solutions it produces. After you’ve defined the issue, explored existing ideas, and ideated, it’s time to narrow down to the correct solution.

Use these problem-solving techniques when you want to help your team find consensus, compare possible solutions, and move towards taking action on a particular problem.

Improved Solutions
Four-Step Sketch
15% Solutions
How-Now-Wow matrix
Impact Effort Matrix

21. Mindspin

Brainstorming is part of the bread and butter of the problem-solving process and all problem-solving strategies benefit from getting ideas out and challenging a team to generate solutions quickly.

With Mindspin, participants are encouraged not only to generate ideas but to do so under time constraints and by slamming down cards and passing them on. By doing multiple rounds, your team can begin with a free generation of possible solutions before moving on to developing those solutions and encouraging further ideation.

This is one of our favorite problem-solving activities and can be great for keeping the energy up throughout the workshop. Remember the importance of helping people become engaged in the process – energizing problem-solving techniques like Mindspin can help ensure your team stays engaged and happy, even when the problems they’re coming together to solve are complex.

MindSpin #teampedia #idea generation #problem solving #action A fast and loud method to enhance brainstorming within a team. Since this activity has more than round ideas that are repetitive can be ruled out leaving more creative and innovative answers to the challenge.

22. Improved Solutions

After a team has successfully identified a problem and come up with a few solutions, it can be tempting to call the work of the problem-solving process complete. That said, the first solution is not necessarily the best, and by including a further review and reflection activity into your problem-solving model, you can ensure your group reaches the best possible result.

One of a number of problem-solving games from Thiagi Group, Improved Solutions helps you go the extra mile and develop suggested solutions with close consideration and peer review. By supporting the discussion of several problems at once and by shifting team roles throughout, this problem-solving technique is a dynamic way of finding the best solution.

Improved Solutions #creativity #thiagi #problem solving #action #team You can improve any solution by objectively reviewing its strengths and weaknesses and making suitable adjustments. In this creativity framegame, you improve the solutions to several problems. To maintain objective detachment, you deal with a different problem during each of six rounds and assume different roles (problem owner, consultant, basher, booster, enhancer, and evaluator) during each round. At the conclusion of the activity, each player ends up with two solutions to her problem.

23. Four Step Sketch

Creative thinking and visual ideation does not need to be confined to the opening stages of your problem-solving strategies. Exercises that include sketching and prototyping on paper can be effective at the solution finding and development stage of the process, and can be great for keeping a team engaged.

By going from simple notes to a crazy 8s round that involves rapidly sketching 8 variations on their ideas before then producing a final solution sketch, the group is able to iterate quickly and visually. Problem-solving techniques like Four-Step Sketch are great if you have a group of different thinkers and want to change things up from a more textual or discussion-based approach.

Four-Step Sketch #design sprint #innovation #idea generation #remote-friendly The four-step sketch is an exercise that helps people to create well-formed concepts through a structured process that includes: Review key information Start design work on paper, Consider multiple variations , Create a detailed solution . This exercise is preceded by a set of other activities allowing the group to clarify the challenge they want to solve. See how the Four Step Sketch exercise fits into a Design Sprint

24. 15% Solutions

Some problems are simpler than others and with the right problem-solving activities, you can empower people to take immediate actions that can help create organizational change.

Part of the liberating structures toolkit, 15% solutions is a problem-solving technique that focuses on finding and implementing solutions quickly. A process of iterating and making small changes quickly can help generate momentum and an appetite for solving complex problems.

Problem-solving strategies can live and die on whether people are onboard. Getting some quick wins is a great way of getting people behind the process.

It can be extremely empowering for a team to realize that problem-solving techniques can be deployed quickly and easily and delineate between things they can positively impact and those things they cannot change.

15% Solutions #action #liberating structures #remote-friendly You can reveal the actions, however small, that everyone can do immediately. At a minimum, these will create momentum, and that may make a BIG difference. 15% Solutions show that there is no reason to wait around, feel powerless, or fearful. They help people pick it up a level. They get individuals and the group to focus on what is within their discretion instead of what they cannot change. With a very simple question, you can flip the conversation to what can be done and find solutions to big problems that are often distributed widely in places not known in advance. Shifting a few grains of sand may trigger a landslide and change the whole landscape.

25. How-Now-Wow Matrix

The problem-solving process is often creative, as complex problems usually require a change of thinking and creative response in order to find the best solutions. While it’s common for the first stages to encourage creative thinking, groups can often gravitate to familiar solutions when it comes to the end of the process.

When selecting solutions, you don’t want to lose your creative energy! The How-Now-Wow Matrix from Gamestorming is a great problem-solving activity that enables a group to stay creative and think out of the box when it comes to selecting the right solution for a given problem.

Problem-solving techniques that encourage creative thinking and the ideation and selection of new solutions can be the most effective in organisational change. Give the How-Now-Wow Matrix a go, and not just for how pleasant it is to say out loud.

How-Now-Wow Matrix #gamestorming #idea generation #remote-friendly When people want to develop new ideas, they most often think out of the box in the brainstorming or divergent phase. However, when it comes to convergence, people often end up picking ideas that are most familiar to them. This is called a ‘creative paradox’ or a ‘creadox’. The How-Now-Wow matrix is an idea selection tool that breaks the creadox by forcing people to weigh each idea on 2 parameters.

26. Impact and Effort Matrix

All problem-solving techniques hope to not only find solutions to a given problem or challenge but to find the best solution. When it comes to finding a solution, groups are invited to put on their decision-making hats and really think about how a proposed idea would work in practice.

The Impact and Effort Matrix is one of the problem-solving techniques that fall into this camp, empowering participants to first generate ideas and then categorize them into a 2×2 matrix based on impact and effort.

Activities that invite critical thinking while remaining simple are invaluable. Use the Impact and Effort Matrix to move from ideation and towards evaluating potential solutions before then committing to them.

Impact and Effort Matrix #gamestorming #decision making #action #remote-friendly In this decision-making exercise, possible actions are mapped based on two factors: effort required to implement and potential impact. Categorizing ideas along these lines is a useful technique in decision making, as it obliges contributors to balance and evaluate suggested actions before committing to them.

27. Dotmocracy

If you’ve followed each of the problem-solving steps with your group successfully, you should move towards the end of your process with heaps of possible solutions developed with a specific problem in mind. But how do you help a group go from ideation to putting a solution into action?

Dotmocracy – or Dot Voting -is a tried and tested method of helping a team in the problem-solving process make decisions and put actions in place with a degree of oversight and consensus.

One of the problem-solving techniques that should be in every facilitator’s toolbox, Dot Voting is fast and effective and can help identify the most popular and best solutions and help bring a group to a decision effectively.

Dotmocracy #action #decision making #group prioritization #hyperisland #remote-friendly Dotmocracy is a simple method for group prioritization or decision-making. It is not an activity on its own, but a method to use in processes where prioritization or decision-making is the aim. The method supports a group to quickly see which options are most popular or relevant. The options or ideas are written on post-its and stuck up on a wall for the whole group to see. Each person votes for the options they think are the strongest, and that information is used to inform a decision.

All facilitators know that warm-ups and icebreakers are useful for any workshop or group process. Problem-solving workshops are no different.

Use these problem-solving techniques to warm up a group and prepare them for the rest of the process. Activating your group by tapping into some of the top problem-solving skills can be one of the best ways to see great outcomes from your session.

Check-in/Check-out
Doodling Together
Show and Tell
Constellations
Draw a Tree

28. Check-in / Check-out

Solid processes are planned from beginning to end, and the best facilitators know that setting the tone and establishing a safe, open environment can be integral to a successful problem-solving process.

Check-in / Check-out is a great way to begin and/or bookend a problem-solving workshop. Checking in to a session emphasizes that everyone will be seen, heard, and expected to contribute.

If you are running a series of meetings, setting a consistent pattern of checking in and checking out can really help your team get into a groove. We recommend this opening-closing activity for small to medium-sized groups though it can work with large groups if they’re disciplined!

Check-in / Check-out #team #opening #closing #hyperisland #remote-friendly Either checking-in or checking-out is a simple way for a team to open or close a process, symbolically and in a collaborative way. Checking-in/out invites each member in a group to be present, seen and heard, and to express a reflection or a feeling. Checking-in emphasizes presence, focus and group commitment; checking-out emphasizes reflection and symbolic closure.

29. Doodling Together

Thinking creatively and not being afraid to make suggestions are important problem-solving skills for any group or team, and warming up by encouraging these behaviors is a great way to start.

Doodling Together is one of our favorite creative ice breaker games – it’s quick, effective, and fun and can make all following problem-solving steps easier by encouraging a group to collaborate visually. By passing cards and adding additional items as they go, the workshop group gets into a groove of co-creation and idea development that is crucial to finding solutions to problems.

Doodling Together #collaboration #creativity #teamwork #fun #team #visual methods #energiser #icebreaker #remote-friendly Create wild, weird and often funny postcards together & establish a group’s creative confidence.

30. Show and Tell

You might remember some version of Show and Tell from being a kid in school and it’s a great problem-solving activity to kick off a session.

Asking participants to prepare a little something before a workshop by bringing an object for show and tell can help them warm up before the session has even begun! Games that include a physical object can also help encourage early engagement before moving onto more big-picture thinking.

By asking your participants to tell stories about why they chose to bring a particular item to the group, you can help teams see things from new perspectives and see both differences and similarities in the way they approach a topic. Great groundwork for approaching a problem-solving process as a team!

Show and Tell #gamestorming #action #opening #meeting facilitation Show and Tell taps into the power of metaphors to reveal players’ underlying assumptions and associations around a topic The aim of the game is to get a deeper understanding of stakeholders’ perspectives on anything—a new project, an organizational restructuring, a shift in the company’s vision or team dynamic.

31. Constellations

Who doesn’t love stars? Constellations is a great warm-up activity for any workshop as it gets people up off their feet, energized, and ready to engage in new ways with established topics. It’s also great for showing existing beliefs, biases, and patterns that can come into play as part of your session.

Using warm-up games that help build trust and connection while also allowing for non-verbal responses can be great for easing people into the problem-solving process and encouraging engagement from everyone in the group. Constellations is great in large spaces that allow for movement and is definitely a practical exercise to allow the group to see patterns that are otherwise invisible.

Constellations #trust #connection #opening #coaching #patterns #system Individuals express their response to a statement or idea by standing closer or further from a central object. Used with teams to reveal system, hidden patterns, perspectives.

32. Draw a Tree

Problem-solving games that help raise group awareness through a central, unifying metaphor can be effective ways to warm-up a group in any problem-solving model.

Draw a Tree is a simple warm-up activity you can use in any group and which can provide a quick jolt of energy. Start by asking your participants to draw a tree in just 45 seconds – they can choose whether it will be abstract or realistic.

Once the timer is up, ask the group how many people included the roots of the tree and use this as a means to discuss how we can ignore important parts of any system simply because they are not visible.

All problem-solving strategies are made more effective by thinking of problems critically and by exposing things that may not normally come to light. Warm-up games like Draw a Tree are great in that they quickly demonstrate some key problem-solving skills in an accessible and effective way.

Draw a Tree #thiagi #opening #perspectives #remote-friendly With this game you can raise awarness about being more mindful, and aware of the environment we live in.

Each step of the problem-solving workshop benefits from an intelligent deployment of activities, games, and techniques. Bringing your session to an effective close helps ensure that solutions are followed through on and that you also celebrate what has been achieved.

Here are some problem-solving activities you can use to effectively close a workshop or meeting and ensure the great work you’ve done can continue afterward.

One Breath Feedback
Who What When Matrix
Response Cards

How do I conclude a problem-solving process?

All good things must come to an end. With the bulk of the work done, it can be tempting to conclude your workshop swiftly and without a moment to debrief and align. This can be problematic in that it doesn’t allow your team to fully process the results or reflect on the process.

At the end of an effective session, your team will have gone through a process that, while productive, can be exhausting. It’s important to give your group a moment to take a breath, ensure that they are clear on future actions, and provide short feedback before leaving the space.

The primary purpose of any problem-solving method is to generate solutions and then implement them. Be sure to take the opportunity to ensure everyone is aligned and ready to effectively implement the solutions you produced in the workshop.

Remember that every process can be improved and by giving a short moment to collect feedback in the session, you can further refine your problem-solving methods and see further success in the future too.

33. One Breath Feedback

Maintaining attention and focus during the closing stages of a problem-solving workshop can be tricky and so being concise when giving feedback can be important. It’s easy to incur “death by feedback” should some team members go on for too long sharing their perspectives in a quick feedback round.

One Breath Feedback is a great closing activity for workshops. You give everyone an opportunity to provide feedback on what they’ve done but only in the space of a single breath. This keeps feedback short and to the point and means that everyone is encouraged to provide the most important piece of feedback to them.

One breath feedback #closing #feedback #action This is a feedback round in just one breath that excels in maintaining attention: each participants is able to speak during just one breath … for most people that’s around 20 to 25 seconds … unless of course you’ve been a deep sea diver in which case you’ll be able to do it for longer.

34. Who What When Matrix

Matrices feature as part of many effective problem-solving strategies and with good reason. They are easily recognizable, simple to use, and generate results.

The Who What When Matrix is a great tool to use when closing your problem-solving session by attributing a who, what and when to the actions and solutions you have decided upon. The resulting matrix is a simple, easy-to-follow way of ensuring your team can move forward.

Great solutions can’t be enacted without action and ownership. Your problem-solving process should include a stage for allocating tasks to individuals or teams and creating a realistic timeframe for those solutions to be implemented or checked out. Use this method to keep the solution implementation process clear and simple for all involved.

Who/What/When Matrix #gamestorming #action #project planning With Who/What/When matrix, you can connect people with clear actions they have defined and have committed to.

35. Response cards

Group discussion can comprise the bulk of most problem-solving activities and by the end of the process, you might find that your team is talked out!

Providing a means for your team to give feedback with short written notes can ensure everyone is head and can contribute without the need to stand up and talk. Depending on the needs of the group, giving an alternative can help ensure everyone can contribute to your problem-solving model in the way that makes the most sense for them.

Response Cards is a great way to close a workshop if you are looking for a gentle warm-down and want to get some swift discussion around some of the feedback that is raised.

Response Cards #debriefing #closing #structured sharing #questions and answers #thiagi #action It can be hard to involve everyone during a closing of a session. Some might stay in the background or get unheard because of louder participants. However, with the use of Response Cards, everyone will be involved in providing feedback or clarify questions at the end of a session.

Save time and effort discovering the right solutions

A structured problem solving process is a surefire way of solving tough problems, discovering creative solutions and driving organizational change. But how can you design for successful outcomes?

With SessionLab, it’s easy to design engaging workshops that deliver results. Drag, drop and reorder blocks to build your agenda. When you make changes or update your agenda, your session timing adjusts automatically , saving you time on manual adjustments.

Collaborating with stakeholders or clients? Share your agenda with a single click and collaborate in real-time. No more sending documents back and forth over email.

Explore how to use SessionLab to design effective problem solving workshops or watch this five minute video to see the planner in action!

Over to you

The problem-solving process can often be as complicated and multifaceted as the problems they are set-up to solve. With the right problem-solving techniques and a mix of creative exercises designed to guide discussion and generate purposeful ideas, we hope we’ve given you the tools to find the best solutions as simply and easily as possible.

Is there a problem-solving technique that you are missing here? Do you have a favorite activity or method you use when facilitating? Let us know in the comments below, we’d love to hear from you!

thank you very much for these excellent techniques

Certainly wonderful article, very detailed. Shared!

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Hybrid Approach to Problem Solving: The Knowledge-Based and Exploratory Methods

Introduction to problem-solving techniques.

The knowledge-based approach, the exploratory approach, the hybrid approach, key takeaways.

In the ever-evolving world of software development, problem-solving is a crucial skill. It is not just about finding the right solution, but also about understanding the problem and its context. In this article, we will explore two distinct methods of problem-solving that I've used before and suggest a hybrid approach to them.

A series of geometric shapes, starting from simple forms on the left and gradually becoming more complex and structured as they move to the right

The knowledge-based approach to problem-solving is based on crystalized memory. This approach is generally faster as it relies on pre-existing knowledge and solutions. It is like having a well-stocked library at your fingertips, ready to provide you with the answer to common problems.

However, this approach might not be suitable for new problems that aren't part of the background knowledge or are a bit different, making them difficult to recognize. It is like trying to find a specific book in a library that has never been built. You might need to build that library yourself, which is time-consuming and requires a lot of effort.

I am trying to illustrate in the image above the patterns that we just see and recognize, hopefully it won't be too abstract for readers. The geometric shapes in the image represent the patterns of knowledge and problem-solving.

A linear series of geometric shapes, starting from simple forms on the left and gradually becoming more complex and structured as they move to the right

The exploratory approach to problem-solving, on the other hand, involves turning chaos into order 🦞 by exploring the outcomes and understanding the heuristics. This approach is slower and might require some luck, but it provides valuable real-deal experience. It is like exploring a new city without a map, which can be frustrating and confusing, but also exciting and enlightening.

The exploratory approach is more about understanding the problem and its context, rather than just finding the right solution. It is about learning from the process, understanding the outcomes, documenting, and applying the heuristics to future problems.

I am trying to illustrate in the image above simple shapes on the bottom-left, which represent basic knowledge and solutions, to slightly more complex shapes in the middle to the top-right of the image, which represent advanced knowledge and problem-solving techniques. This progression mirrors the learning process, where we start with simple patterns and gradually develop more complex ones as we gain more knowledge and experience.

The hybrid approach to problem-solving begins with the exploratory method, which is especially useful when you have a significant amount of time and the problem at hand is of high importance. In this phase, you solve the problem yourself, diving deep into the problem, understanding its semantics, and breaking it down into smaller, more manageable pieces. This approach is like having a well-stocked library and also exploring a new city without a map.

The exploratory phase is crucial when you can afford it in terms of time. It's akin to conducting a thorough investigation, gathering as much information as possible, and understanding the problem in its entirety. This phase involves research, trial-and-error, asking questions, and testing various hypotheses. It's during this phase that you might interact with AI solutions like ChatGPT to explore potential solutions and understand the design and semantics behind them.

Once you have a solution, you can then compare it with the best solution out there. This is the knowledge-based approach. It's like having a well-stocked library and reading the best books on the topic. You're not just learning about the problem, but also understanding the reasons behind the solution or design. This phase is crucial as it helps you understand the problems that were faced and the solutions that have been provided.

This hybrid approach combines the speed of the knowledge-based approach with the depth of understanding of the exploratory approach. It allows for a more comprehensive understanding of the problem and its solution.

Problem-solving is a crucial skill in software development, requiring an understanding of the problem and its context.

The knowledge-based approach to problem-solving relies on pre-existing knowledge and solutions, making it generally faster but less suitable for new problems.

The exploratory approach involves understanding the problem and its context and learning from the process. It is slower and might require some luck, but provides valuable experience whatever the outcome.

The hybrid approach to problem-solving combines the knowledge-based and exploratory approaches. It begins with the exploratory method, which is especially useful when you have a significant amount of time and the problem at hand is of high importance. After finding a solution, you can then compare it with the best solution out there, which is the knowledge-based approach. This hybrid approach combines the speed of the knowledge-based approach with the depth of understanding of the exploratory approach, allowing for a more comprehensive understanding of the problem and its solution.

The hybrid approach to problem-solving is a powerful tool that combines the exploratory and knowledge-based methods. It allows you to solve problems comprehensively and efficiently, leveraging the best of both worlds. Whether you're dealing with a complex programming task or a personal challenge, this approach can help you find the best solution.

https://youtu.be/UfcAVejslrU 🎶 MUSIC BIT: Problem-solving in software development is not merely about finding solutions, but also about understanding the problem and its context. This exploration is enriched when we incorporate elements from the realm of music, such as the song 'Weightless' by Marconi Union. 'Weightless' is a renowned instrumental track known for its calming effect. It features dreamy synths, soothing melodies, and instrumentation that includes piano, guitar, and electronic samples of natural soundscapes. Scientific research has validated its effectiveness, indicating that it can slow heart rate, reduce blood pressure, and decrease cortisol levels, a hormone released in response to stress . The calming nature of 'Weightless' can be likened to the peace and relaxation we experience when we solve a complex problem. Our journey of problem-solving is filled with ups and downs, but ultimately, we find satisfaction when we find the right solution. In our next meeting in two weeks, keep exploring, keep learning, and find your 'Weightless' moments. Goodbye for now!

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The 10 Best Problem-Solving Software to Use in 2024

Engineering Team

February 14, 2024

Do you want a solution to help your teams work well together, reduce friction, and speed up productivity?

The best problem-solving software has all the answers for you. Problem-solving software helps find bottlenecks, simplify workflows, and automate tasks to improve efficiency. The result? Communication is easy, and your team enjoys a collaborative work environment.

Problem-solving software gives you the right visualization tools and techniques to better articulate your ideas and concepts.

That’s not all; it also automates repetitive tasks while your team focuses on brainstorming and ideating.

In this article, we’ll cover the best problem-solving software and highlight its various features, limitations, customer ratings, and pricing details to help you make an informed decision.

What Should You Look For In Problem-Solving Software?

1. clickup , 2. omnex systems , 5. meistertask, 6. teamwork, 10. airtable .

Businesses encounter many challenges, from operational inefficiencies and customer complaints to financial discrepancies.

As your team slowly navigates through these issues, having problem-solving software with the right features will reduce the hassle. Before investing in one, consider some of these following factors:

User-friendly interface: The software should have an intuitive and easy-to-use interface to minimize the learning curve for users
Versatility: Look for software that addresses various problem types and complexities. It should be adaptable to different industries and scenarios
Mind maps and Visualization features: Get yourself problem-solving software solutions that offers mind maps and other visual tricks. It must be a digital canvas for your team to brainstorm ideas, connect the dots, and execute strategies
AI assistant: If your team is stuck with repetitive mundane tasks, then it’s time you let AI take over. With the right problem-solving tool comes in-built AI that handles everyday tasks, leaving your team to focus on the important stuff
Automation capabilities: Look for problem-solving process that’s all about automation. This way, you ensure efficiency and effectiveness without the grunt work
Goal tracking: Your efforts improve when you optimize your tracking process. You need goal monitoring and tracking features to ensure you are on track
Cost-effectiveness: Look for the features that various plans offer and compare them to choose an option that provides maximum features while the benefits justify the cost

The 10 Best Problem Solving Software In 2024

While you have many options, select the one with the right features that suit your needs .

Check out our list of the ten best problem-solving tools to ensure you have the features to solve complex issues effectively:

Henry Ford once said that success takes care of itself if everyone moves forward together. ClickUp problem-solving software helps you succeed by ensuring all your team members are always on the same page.

With its live collaboration, you can see if your teammates are looking at or editing documents. Also, edit documents together in real-time. Moreover, any changes on any device are updated instantly, so nobody falls behind.

The whiteboard feature is super helpful in getting your team together for brainstorming and ideating. As problem-solving involves generating and evaluating multiple ideas, the whiteboard helps write, modify, and build ideas together.

Now that you have brainstormed on core problems, you must establish a clear visual reference point for ongoing analysis. That’s where the ClickUp mind maps feature stands out. Create a hierarchical structure, with the main problem at the center and subtopics branching out.

Since these maps have interconnections, it is easy to visualize connections between different elements. This feature effectively identifies possible cause-and-effect relationships in a problem.

ClickUp best features

Documentation: Address and solve problems by storing and accessing project-related documents in ClickUp Docs
Mind maps : Identify critical connections, uncover insights, and implement creative approaches by visually mapping relationships between concepts and information with ClickUp Mind Maps
Task prioritization: Make problem-solving easier for your software developers—sort tasks by urgency. This helps your team focus on the most crucial aspects, making problem resolution more efficient
Virtual whiteboards: Enhance collaborative problem-solving and critical thinking through ClickUp Whiteboards . Brainstorm, visualize ideas, and collectively work towards solutions in an interactive setting
Goal monitoring: Set and monitor business metrics to address challenges, track progress, and ensure the software development team remains aligned with objectives
Custom access rights: Customizing access rights ensures that the right individuals have the necessary permissions to contribute to problem resolution
ClickUp AI: Use ClickUp AI to automate repetitive tasks, analyze data for insights, and enhance productivity in tackling complex problems

ClickUp limitations

Learning curve is involved in fully grasping all features and capabilities

ClickUp pricing

Free Forever Plan
Unlimited Plan: $7 per month per user
Business Plan : $12 per month per user
Business Plus Plan : $19 per month per user
Enterprise Plan : custom pricing
ClickUp AI: $5 per Workspace on all paid plans

ClickUp ratings and reviews

G2: 4.7/5 (2,000+ reviews)
Capterra: 4.7/5 (2,000+ reviews)

Omnex’s problem-solving software has many helpful features to track, manage, and solve problems quickly. It’s a one-stop shop for dealing with internal and external issues.

The platform is also customer-centric, which responds to customers in their preferred formats. This ensures a tailored and user-friendly experience, further enhancing problem resolution through seamless interaction with stakeholders.

Omnex best features

Define timelines and metrics for problem resolution
Leverage several problem-solving tools, such as 5Why, Is/Is Not, etc
Respond to customers in various formats, including 8D, 7D, and PRR

Omnex limitations

Initiating projects involves many steps
Temporary delays may occur

Omnex pricing

Omnex has custom pricing plans

Hive is another excellent platform to instruct your teams better while solving complex challenges and enhancing their problem-solving skills. It’s highly interactive and lets all your team members view what’s happening and express their opinions simultaneously.

Collaborative work management helps you solve issues effectively. Hive is your virtual file cabinet where sharing documents with different teams and collaboratively working becomes more accessible.

Hive best features

User-friendly interface ensures seamless navigation
Gantt view helps in mapping out project timelines
Project hierarchies allow for easy task execution
Kanban view allows you to understand progress better

Hive limitations

Being a relatively new tool, it needs frequent updates and additional features
There are occasional bugs that slow down processes
Locating notes from tasks and meetings is time-consuming
Auto-generated reports are not always accurate
Apart from ticketing, the platform needs some intuitive features

Hive pricing

Teams: $12 per month per user
Enterprise: custom plans

Hive customer ratings

G2: 4.6/5 (480+ reviews)
Capterra: 4.5/5 (190+ reviews)

Asana is a popular problem-solving tool that speeds up decision-making . It improves project management , and its many integrations are useful. The well-organized project documents make it easy to find what you need quickly.

It’s excellent for managing many small projects and suitable for teams without complex workflows or collaboration features.

Asana best features

The rules and workflow feature helps automate repeating activities
Customizable workflows help teams adapt the tool to their unique needs
For easy understanding, organize tasks as a list, calendar, timeline, Gantt chart, or Kanban board
Integrate with popular tools and apps such as Google Drive, Dropbox, Slack, Zoom, Microsoft, etc.

Asana limitations

Inefficient for handling larger projects with sub-projects and multiple workstreams
Limited capability to measure project deviations from original plans
Lack of comprehensive workflows and customizable animations, a feature some competitors offer
Pricing is less favorable for smaller teams; advanced features like custom fields, portfolios, and timeline views are only available in premium plans

Asana pricing

Personal (free)
Starter: $10.99 per month per user
Advanced: $24.99 per month per user

Asana customer ratings

G2: 4.3/5 (9,520+ reviews)
Capterra: 4.5/5 (12,290+ reviews)

Mesitertask is one of those problem-solving tools that offers strong kanban boards. These boards visualize the workflow and make it easier to identify bottlenecks and trace issues back to their source. Such visualizing features are similar to the ones found in the best root cause analysis tools .

A customizable drag-and-drop feature further allows users to rearrange and prioritize tasks easily. Therefore, your team members will easily play around the field and segregate tasks effectively.

Meistertask best features

Gain a visual representation of task timelines with a timeline view
Streamline processes with automated workflows
Easily categorize and prioritize tasks within sections
Monitor and analyze time spent on tasks for valuable insights

Meistertask limitations

Unnecessary negative space impacts task visibility
Limited report and analytics features, not accessible offline
Confusing registration process

Meistertask pricing

Basic (free)
Pro: $6.50 per month per user
Business: $12 per month per user
Enterprise: custom pricing

Meister task ratings and reviews

G2: 4.6/5 (170+ reviews)
Capterra: 4.7/5 (1130+ reviews)

Tracking employee workload for better project management in Teamwork, a project management software platform

Teamwork is another viable problem-solving software dealing with operational challenges. It provides a clear overview of task assignments, project profitability, and other essential details.

When combined with effective brainstorming techniques , such a clear division of work will help you solve complex issues faster.

Teamwork features

Get four distinct project views, including List, Table, Boards, and Gantt
Efficient task management simplifies the process of creating and assigning tasks to users, enhancing team collaboration
The time tracking feature helps determine billable hours, aiding in project budgeting and resource allocation
Standard communication features, such as commenting and mentioning coworkers, are seamlessly integrated, promoting practical collaboration

Teamwork limitations

You need to subscribe to premium plans to unlock advanced features
The user interface is intricate and poses a challenge for some users
Certain features, like the reminder function, do not operate on mobile apps
Continuous email notifications have the potential to disrupt focus, as not all updates or status changes are crucial

Teamwork Pricing

Free Forever
Starter: $5.99 per month per user
Deliver: $9.99 per month per user
Grow: $19.99 per month per user
Scale: custom pricing

Teamwork Customer Ratings

G2: 4.4/5 (1,070+ reviews)
Capterra: 4.5/5 (830+ reviews)

Trello is another good option if you are searching for efficient problem-solving software. With powerful task management tools, it ensures you handle your issues efficiently.

However, Trello’s communication and collaboration tools are not up to the mark compared to other problem-solving tools. Also, it relies heavily on integrations to do the heavy lifting.

Trello Features

Streamline your workflow effortlessly by arranging tasks with a simple drag-and-drop interface
The project map feature gives a complete overview to help you visualize tasks, dependencies, and progress at a glance
Focus on what matters the most and prioritize tasks effectively with its intuitive tools
Stay on top of your responsibilities with dynamic to-do lists

Trello Limitations

The free version imposes limitations on file attachments, a lack of advanced integrations, and automation
Manually arranging Trello cards one by one is a time-consuming task
There is a lack of functionality for creating a comprehensive dashboard or Gantt chart to provide a clear overview
The absence of restrictions on card movement poses a security risk, with anyone accessing and potentially disrupting the board
Trello becomes less practical when the board becomes densely populated with cards

Trello pricing

Standard: $5 per month per user
Premium: $10 per month per user
Enterprise: $17.50 per month per user

Trello customer ratings

G2: 4.4/5 (13,000+ reviews)
Capterra: 4.5/5 (23,000+ reviews)

Wrike is one of the preferred project management collaboration tools that help businesses of all sizes. With preconfigured templates for tasks, workflows, and communication, it takes the burden off your shoulders.

It also has a user-friendly dashboard with enterprise-grade tools to manage recurring and one-time projects.

Wrike best features

Planning tools to outline tasks, set deadlines, and allocate resources
A clear visual overview helps in identifying potential challenges
Detailed reports to analyze project performance
Helps efficiently address issues by prioritizing tasks

Wrike limitations

There are no options to view projects on the Kanban board (only tasks)
Basic project management features are missing, such as time breaks for a task
Pricing remains on the higher end

Wrike pricing

Professional variant: $9.80 per month per user
Business variant: $24.80 per month per user

Wrike customer ratings

G2: 4.2/5 (3500+ reviews)
Capterra: 4.3/5 (2540+ reviews)

Monday is a cloud-based open platform, allowing businesses to collaborate better on projects. Explore many pre-built templates or create one from scratch depending on what you need.

Monday best features

Streamline workflows by making bulk changes efficiently
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Monday limitations

There is a minimum team size of three required for paid plans
The free trial lasts only for 14 days
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Monday pricing

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Standard: $10 per month per user
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Enterprise: custom pricing

Monday customer ratings

G2: 4.7/5 (9,570+ reviews)
Capterra: 4.6/5 (4,430+ reviews)

Managing office time tracking tasks in Airtable

Airtable is a cloud-based collaboration platform that combines the simplicity of a spreadsheet with the complexity of a relational database.

It allows users to create and manage databases, spreadsheets, and other types of structured data in a flexible and user-friendly way. With its user-friendly interface, you will quickly organize and track crucial information for problem-solving.

Airtable best features

Supports real-time collaboration
Attach files, images, and other multimedia directly to records
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Use pre-built templates for different use cases

Airtable limitations

While the interface is user-friendly, users unfamiliar with databases may find it initially complex
For extremely large datasets or complex relationships, Airtable may face performance challenges
As a cloud-based platform, it relies on an internet connection, and lack of connectivity may hinder problem-solving efforts

Airtable pricing

Team: $20 per month per user
Business: $45 per month per user

Airtable customer ratings

G2: 4.6/5 (2,180+ reviews)
Capterra: 4.7/5 (1920+ reviews)

Solve Problems to Drive Successful Business Outcomes

It is best to invest in problem-solving software to ensure that problems do not bog down your team and that you have the tools to solve and focus on strategic work. Our list of the ten best problem-solving software should help you find the right fit for your organization.

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10 essential soft skills every software developer needs to master

I magine, if you will, the realm of software engineering as a grand orchestral performance. The stage is set, the spotlight illuminates, and the conductor raises the baton. The symphony begins, and as the musicians pour their heart and soul into their instruments, an extraordinary spectacle unfolds. Yet, amid the crescendos of coding, the harmonies of frameworks, and the rhythms of deadlines, a subtle melody often goes unheard.

It's the symphony of soft skills, the intricate notes that dance between the lines of code, the subtle harmonies that resonate amid collaboration. Just as a maestro imbues a symphony with emotion and depth, software engineers too require a set of soft skills to elevate their craft from mere coding to a virtuoso performance.

In the current landscape, a discussion about these skills holds even greater significance – they are the orchestrators of success that transcend the boundaries of code, differentiating exceptional software engineers from the rest.

Discover the 10 essential soft skills that every software developer should possess, as shared by Saurabh Saxena, the Chief Operating Officer of Scaler and InterviewBit.

1. COMMUNICATION

Communication is not a one-way tool. Both parties involved are equally important. Sometimes a candidate with good technical skills might need help to explain the approach. Software engineers must be able to articulate complex technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Candidates with the best verbal communication skills cannot convert their thoughts, ideas, and designs into proper demonstrable code. Listening is another essential communication skill; software engineers should be good listeners.

The ones who are good listeners have an edge over the others in terms of understanding the business requirements and needs of the user. Listening carefully, communicating well, and confidently speaking are key metrics to improving your communication. If they work on improving these skills, they can have better growth in their career.

2. BE ADAPTIVE

The tech industry evolves rapidly with new methodologies, frameworks, and languages. Software developers and engineers must adapt to these changes for a lifelong learning approach. Being a software developer, you need to be open-minded and adaptive.

In some situations, both might mean different things, but they may rotate in cycles going together, and in some, they might mean the same thing. Open-minded people are also more receptive to others' feedback and listen to, and appreciate the value of feedback given by others.

As you climb up the ladder of software engineering levels, this skill set will be vital for your professional career.

3. BE PATIENT

Software engineering is a challenging profession. It's a very complex feat. A typical software engineering cycle starts with the product manager gathering the product requirements, and software engineers reviewing and going through multiple iterations.

Then they go on to high-level and low-level design, getting them checked by their peers, jumping onto the coding plan, coming up with a testing plan, and finally creating the test suite. It involves so many processes and can be pretty tiring.

'Patience' will be your longtime friend in the mission of software engineering. Once you are patient and accept everything around you, you will have an unmatchable sharp mental ability.

4. MANAGEMENT

As a software engineer, you will be involved in different levels of management. As a fresher, you will begin with time management. You will be involved in so many subtasks at a time, creating confusion. Then, as you move up the ladder, you will realise that project management is essential.

Scoping projects, setting deadlines, and ensuring you put in all the efforts to meet these deadlines are critical. Another important aspect is to not say ''yes'' to everything. If you do, you are bound to disappoint someone. So sometimes, saying no is a beneficial and healthy skill set to possess. Ultimately, prioritizing tasks, setting realistic goals and time management will increase productivity.

5. TEAMWORK

Software engineering is a team sport; collaborative teamwork is essential for success. You will be collaborating with many people throughout this project completion journey. You will work with product managers and colleagues to get your design and code review, testing engineers, privacy and security consultants, etc.

So, for you to grow as a software engineer, your team will also need to grow with you. Embrace the collaborative mindset, engage in brainstorming sessions, and be receptive to feedback.

6. PROBLEM-SOLVING

To get into top tech companies or any company, being a good problem solver with critical thinking skills is paramount. Solutions are always meaningful, but the approach towards the problem is even more critical.

As a software engineer, you will be dealing with issues of different levels of complexity. How you break the problem down into simpler subproblems and how you deal with ambiguity will define you as a software engineer. So, having solid problem-solving skills is paramount for any software engineer.

7. ACCOUNTABILITY

If you are accountable for your mistakes and accept them, you can grow as a human being and as a software engineer. In our day-to-day lives, we make a lot of errors. It's essential to take ownership of the tasks that you are doing and your mistakes.

Being humble in one way or another is in confluence with being accountable. Software engineers with a lot of experience are the most humble. They listen the most, and that's the reason why they stay as the leaders of their group. Accountability builds trust among your peers and makes you a better professional.

8. EMOTIONAL QUOTIENT

As a software engineer, you will build products for your customers. But a customer sometimes does not use your product the way you intended. For example, suppose there are 10 cases of use for your product. In that case, the customer will come up with an innovative '11th' use case and ultimately defy the purpose of your software development.

It's imperative to understand what emotion is driving your user to behave in a particular way so that you can build better products for your customers. Ultimately, your victory is when the customer is happy. Apart from the customer's perspective, empathy is another vital tool from the point of view of teamwork and collaboration.

More often, being a software engineer, you will work in a team with people from diverse backgrounds. So make sure you respect their belief systems and accept whatever technical options and variety they bring to the table.

9. BEING APPROACHABLE

A crucial part of people's skills is being approachable. Software engineers maintain their growth by being approachable and helpful. Quite often, the project's success depends on the software engineers who are working on the project. The reason is it correlates with the right personality.

Being approachable doesn't necessarily mean you have to say yes to everyone. As mentioned earlier, if you say yes to everyone, you will likely disappoint many people. A moderate combination of yes and no and being helpful and approachable will help you grow as a software engineer.

10. STAY CURIOUS

Our software industry is growing at a rapid pace. If you're missing out on self-learning new technologies and languages, you will not progress as a software engineer. Curiosity is a soft skill that will be your companion on the self-learning journey.

You have to go beyond and beyond to find the root cause of the problem, try to find some supporting ways to make the codebase better than the current situation, solve the problem and help the software engineers around you.

The habit of curiosity and being explorative can help software engineers become technically dependable teammates. Be more curious about the problem you are working on, and explore the codebase as to why the customer needs a particular feature and what technical solutions may be more beneficial than the current state-of-the-art technology.

WAY FORWARD

Looking ahead, the future of software engineering hinges on mastering not only the intricacies of code but also the art of soft skills. As technology evolves, the need for adept communicators, adaptable problem solvers, and collaborative team players will intensify.

Embracing these skills is not just a choice; it is a strategic decision to excel in an industry where success is defined by the synergy of technical prowess and human ingenuity. So, the need of the hour for software engineers today is to fine-tune the skillset and navigate the ever-changing landscape with the harmonious blend of coding finesse and soft skill virtuosity.

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10 essential soft skills every software developer needs to master

Gettysburg College Gettysburg College

How enduring skills prepare Gettysburg students for what employers want, what our world needs

Chemistry students practice communication and teamwork skills

Gettysburg College delivers our signature undergraduate experience to every student through the Gettysburg Approach . It’s how we put A Consequential Education into action. We build within every student a breadth and depth of knowledge and set of enduring skills to prepare them to thrive in a competitive, complex world.

Within the Gettysburg Approach, students deepen their knowledge and practice and reinforce the enduring skills of adaptability, communication, creativity, intercultural fluency, leadership, problem solving, and teamwork through the Guided Pathways and Personal Advising Teams. Students hone these enduring skills through the experiences they select in an intentional way as they connect the activities they pursue with the skills they hope to strengthen.

Explore why these enduring skills are what employers want and what our world needs from Gettysburg graduates.

“Oral communication, for example, is viewed by most employers (64%) as a very important skill for new hires to possess, yet roughly half as many employers (34%) agree that recent college graduates are very well prepared in this area.” – American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), “The Career-Ready Graduate: What Employers Say about the Difference College Makes,” 2023

Enduring skills: What employers want from college graduates

In May 2023, the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) conducted a national survey of employer views on higher education and the effectiveness of colleges and universities in preparing students for careers. More than 1,000 executives and hiring managers participated in this research, the eighth survey of its type that the AAC&U has commissioned since 2006.

Results from the 2023 survey indicated a strong correlation between the outcomes from a liberal arts education and the knowledge and skills employers identify as essential for success in entry-level jobs and advancement within their companies.

While eight in 10 employers surveyed agree that recent college graduates are well prepared for entry-level and advanced positions, they are divided about graduates’ proficiency in skill areas essential for career success. According to the report, “Oral communication, for example, is viewed by most employers (64%) as a very important skill for new hires to possess, yet roughly half as many employers (34%) agree that recent college graduates are very well prepared in this area.”

When asked to identify the top three skills they would like colleges and universities to focus on to improve graduates’ career preparedness, employers ranked critical thinking as the top skill, followed by oral communication, adaptability and flexibility, and problem solving.

Through the Gettysburg Approach, Gettysburg College is responding to this preparedness gap—the divide between the importance employers place on specific skills in the workplace and their assessment of a college graduate’s readiness to effectively execute these skills.

Lawrese Brown ’10, founder and CEO of C-Track Training talks to a young professional

Enduring skills: What our students gain through the Gettysburg Approach

Within the Gettysburg Approach, Gettysburg College emphasizes developing and deepening the enduring skills most valued by employers and graduate schools. These transcendent skills can be the hardest to teach. Yet, at Gettysburg, they are practiced, absorbed, reflected upon, and articulated purposefully by our students—giving them an advantage in their next step after graduation and every step after.

Our emphasis on developing these enduring skills has proven successful for generations of Gettysburgians . A survey of 200 employers reported that Gettysburg graduates possess and outperform their peers in what employers define as must-have career skills:

Enduring skills: What our world needs from college graduates

Possessing the skills to communicate well, think critically, and work with others collaboratively are not only essential for career success, but also skills our world needs from college graduates. For international and global studies major Michael DeRenzo ’26, addressing global poverty requires communication and teamwork skills to confront this challenge. Preparing for transformational change and impacting the future of labor calls for committed leadership from individuals like political science and East Asian studies double major Avery O’Neill ’24. Like environmental studies major Molly Hoffman ’24, advocating for earth-conscious environmental practices involves critical thinking and communication skills.

Enduring skills at work: Reflections from Gettysburg students

Through a guaranteed Career-Ready Experience , Gettysburg students participating in the Guided Pathways can further develop these skills in real-world professional settings.

“A Career-Ready Experience will help students connect what they learn in the classroom to graduate schools and the professional workplace by providing diverse, dynamic experiences to prepare them for a lifetime of career advancement and personal success,” said Associate Dean of Co-Curricular Education Jim Duffy. Internships are just one of several examples of a Career-Ready Experience students can discover at Gettysburg.

Caroline Gill ’24: Strengthening creativity and teamwork in lifestyle

Caroline Gill ’24, a business, organizations, and management major with a minor in political science , honed her experiential learning through internships at The GIANT Company and Burlington. At The GIANT Company, where she served as a marketing intern, Gill developed her communication skills through participating in meetings and events in collaboration with the Philadelphia 76ers and Philadelphia Phillies. “We worked not only as an internal team, but also as a team with the 76ers and Phillies to understand how to better each company and its objectives,” she said.

As a women’s knit tops buying intern for Burlington, Gill strengthened her creativity skills as she worked in product development and competitor analysis. “Understanding trends and projections for the current and next seasons were imperative to bring customers to [Burlington] stores,” she explained. “Going into New York City market days twice a week also allowed me to strengthen my teamwork skills and communication, as I had to work with various vendors. Being able to adapt to different situations such as shipments being late or the price of the garment being too high showed me how important it is to problem solve for the company’s needs.”

Andrew Nguyen ’24: Developing critical thinking and problem solving for business and finance

“During the summer of 2023, I interned at Global Industrial Company as a pricing analyst intern,” said mathematical economics major Andrew Nguyen ’24. “I had the opportunity to connect with wonderful colleagues and learned a lot about business narrative, researching skills, and applications of economic analysis on solving real business challenges.”

“I believe that my involvement in enriching academic courses and co-curricular leadership positions at Gettysburg prepared me for success in my internship where I can share the skills I have gained with the larger community and for a meaningful purpose.” – Natalie Vancura ’25

Natalie Vancura ’25: Honing critical thinking and leadership for human resources support

Natalie Vancura ’25, a health sciences and public policy double major, experienced the value of building communication and critical thinking skills through her internship with Six Seconds. This international nonprofit provides businesses and organizations with emotional intelligence assessments and human resources tools.

“I have the opportunity to communicate with their global team to achieve the company’s mission of improving the emotional intelligence of people and organizations. I apply critical thinking skills to assess grant writing and marketing strategies to increase support for this goal,” she said. “I believe that my involvement in enriching academic courses and co-curricular leadership positions at Gettysburg prepared me for success in my internship where I can share the skills I have gained with the larger community and for a meaningful purpose.”

Dylan Weber ’24: Practicing problem solving and teamwork for coding and software development

Dylan Weber ’24, a computer science and health sciences double major, completed a summer 2023 internship as a software engineer at Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC) in Reston, Virginia. Weber said he relied on many enduring skills, including problem solving, teamwork, and collaboration, in his work coding and executing software development strategies for the firm. “I used problem solving and quick learning skills to investigate and solve bugs in the platform’s code. I wrote and saw the deployment of my code changes to the product,” he said.

“The Center for Career Engagement helped facilitate the interview for this position and prepared me to make a strong impression,” he continued. “Through connections I made at this internship, I secured a job at Billhighway after graduation.”

A student in Computer Science Prof. Todd Neller’s Computer Science X-SIG 2022 Summer Research project

Gettysburg responds to the ‘unpredictability and inevitability of change’

In an era where artificial intelligence (AI) continues to develop and touch virtually every aspect of our lives, college graduates need enduring skills to thrive amid a rapidly changing world where tools like ChatGPT and Dall-E are ever-present. Supported by Gettysburg’s liberal arts and sciences education with the Gettysburg Approach as its foundation, our graduates are prepared to embrace continually evolving forms of technology through their ability to think critically, embrace diverse perspectives and viewpoints, and synthesize ideas.

In the Winter 2024 issue of GETTYSBURG College Magazine , we shared how Gettysburg students and alums are leaning into the challenges that confront our society with the rapid development of AI by pivoting, evolving, and keeping an open mind—supported by the knowledge and enduring skills they gained at Gettysburg.

“As we think about AI, its implications, and the skills that our students will need to have in 20 or 50 years, it really does come down to something that we’ve focused on with our liberal arts and sciences education here at Gettysburg,” said Psychology Prof. Richard Russell , “having a level of flexibility, being able to integrate different ideas, and having a holistic approach.”

Learn how the Gettysburg Approach enables students to develop the knowledge and enduring skills necessary to thrive in an ever-changing world.

By Michael Vyskocil Posted: 04/03/24

IMAGES

How to Build and Use Problem-solving Skills [Dev Concepts #41
Problem-Solving Skills for Software Developers: Why & How to Improve
6 Ways to Improve Your Programming Problem Solving
5 step problem solving method
7 Steps to Improve Your Problem Solving Skills
The 7 step problem solving methodology

VIDEO

Problem Solving Techniques
Problem-Solving skills for UX Designers #uxdesign
What I like to do to solve harder problems
my attempt at solving leetcode 389: find the difference [SOLVED]
my attempt at solving leetcode 150: evaluate reverse polish notation [SOLVED]
Software Engineering #1 Challenges faced by Project Delivery Teams

COMMENTS

Problem-Solving Skills for Software Developers: Why & How to Improve
Problem-solving skills go hand-in-hand with software development. Learn some great problem-solving techniques and tips for improvement here! Remote Jobs; ... In software development, problem-solving is the process of using theories and research to find solutions to a problem domain, while testing different ideas and applying best practices to ...
A Guide to Problem-Solving for Software Developers with Examples
It's even better if the members of the team are used to swim in uncertainty, and take it as a challenge more than a chore. The process described above is just an example; in practice it's often more chaotic. For example, even when a decision is made, your brain might still continue to process the problem passively.
How to Enhance Problem-Solving Skills
The idea is to refine and debug code in short, verifiable steps, enhancing both the quality of the software and the problem-solving skills of the developer. Here's how to adopt a TDD approach: Start by defining the requirements of the new feature or functionality you're developing. Write a test that fails because the feature doesn't exist yet.
Problem-Solving Strategies for Software Engineers
Write out the problem. Your problem won't always come right out and say: "It's me, hi. I'm the problem, it's me.". In fact, something that often gets in the way of solving a problem is that we zero in on the wrong problem. When pinpointing a problem, you can try borrowing a UX research technique that's part of the design thinking ...
How to develop strong problem solving skills as a software developer
Good problem solving skills involve being able to think creatively and analytically, breaking down problems into smaller parts and using a systematic approach to find solutions. Strong problem solving skills are essential for a successful career in software development. In this article we will review some approach. Various Methods
What is Problem Solving? An Introduction
As you can see, problem solving plays a pivotal role in software engineering. Far from being an occasional requirement, it is the lifeblood that drives development forward, catalyzes innovation, and delivers of quality software. By leveraging problem-solving techniques, software engineers employ a powerful suite of strategies to overcome ...
Problem-Solving Mastery: Essential Skills for Developers
2. Parallel Thinking. This is yet another crucial problem-solving skill when it comes to offering custom software development services. Once you have already listed the steps in solving a particular problem, they can be done one at a time in the order listed, but that would not be optimal.
Problem-Solving in Software Engineering: An Inside Look
Solving big problems starts with smaller ones. When interviewing for a software engineering job, recruiters are looking for your ability to "divide and conquer" or reduce a problem to manageable components that can be handled separately. Here, we'll take a look at some of the toughest questions Google asks in its initial recruitment ...
4 steps to solving any software problem
Identify the problem. Gather information. Iterate potential solutions. Test your solution. While I'm writing these steps with students and less experienced developers in mind, I hope everyone who works in software will find them a useful reflection on our development process.
5 Ways to Improve Problem-solving Skills for Software Developers
In conclusion, improving problem-solving skills as a software developer requires a combination of practice, learning from others, staying up to date with new technologies, collaborating with peers ...
How to Build and Use Problem-solving Skills [Dev Concepts #41]
Algorithmic thinking is similar to logical, engineering, mathematical, abstract, and problem solving. All these concepts are related to the ability to solve problems: to think logically, analyse the problems, and find and implement solutions.Problem solving is a more general skill, while algorithmic thinking is a more technical.. The fundamental computer science and software development ...
Problem-Solving For New Software Developers
When validating my understanding of a problem and an approach, I'll most often comment on the issue in whichever issue management tool we're using — whether it's Jira, Github, or something else. When I'm working on a more complex problem, I'll use a document, a gist, or a new issue to capture the design, and then gather feedback. I ...
Problem-solving skills of great developers
The takeaway. Good problem-solving skills combine various skills, experiences, mindset schemes, personality traits, and interests. Problem-solving skills are an irreplaceable asset to have, both professionally and personally. And truth be told, all great devs have outstanding problem-solving skills. But one thing is certain, for mastering ...
3 Tips to Solve Problems Like an Expert
Interactive debugging. Log-file analysis. Unit and integration test. Analyze the bundle file if the problem is related to the web performance. 3. Use Spectrum Thinking Instead of Binary Thinking. Binary thinking is always putting things in terms of two alternatives that are usually mutually exclusive.
How to Develop Problem-Solving Skills on Software Engineering
Visualize Data Flows. Another method of problem-solving skills is to think in terms of data flows for your development process. Point A is the problem you start with, and you need to move it to the destination at the end: the solution. Between the start of the process and destination, there are the arrows the data flows through, and then the boxes.
6 Ways to Improve Your Programming Problem Solving
Jobs was right. Software development is as much about "soft skills" like critical thinking, communication, and problem solving as it is about "hard skills" like writing code. And so, in the context of software development, problem solving can mean a few different things: Creating an application that meets the end user's goals.
Problem-Solving Techniques for Software Developers
Problem-solving techniques are crucial for software developers as they enable them to dissect software issues, optimize performance, and implement effective solutions in a systematic manner. In the ever-evolving field of software development, problem-solving skills are essential for understanding logic, algorithms, data structures, and creating ...
Key Analytical Skills for Developers (& How to Continually ...
Detect patterns and make connections. Brainstorm and theorize. Observe and interpret data. Integrate new information. Pick between many solutions. Make decisions based on multiple factors. Software development relies heavily on strong analytical skills because of the amount of problem-solving involved in the field.
How to Improve Problem-Solving Skills as a Software Developer
This instills problem-solving skills in beginners, which many severely lack." Develop Core Problem-Solving Skills with SkillReactor. SkillReactor is a platform where developers build core skills that improve their understanding of software development skills. Developers can engage in various full-stack software development projects using ...
35 problem-solving techniques and methods for solving complex problems
6. Discovery & Action Dialogue (DAD) One of the best approaches is to create a safe space for a group to share and discover practices and behaviors that can help them find their own solutions. With DAD, you can help a group choose which problems they wish to solve and which approaches they will take to do so.
Hybrid Approach to Problem-Solving in Software Development
The hybrid approach to problem-solving is a powerful tool that combines the exploratory and knowledge-based methods. It allows you to solve problems comprehensively and efficiently, leveraging the best of both worlds. Whether you're dealing with a complex programming task or a personal challenge, this approach can help you find the best ...
What is Problem Solving? Steps, Process & Techniques
Finding a suitable solution for issues can be accomplished by following the basic four-step problem-solving process and methodology outlined below. Step. Characteristics. 1. Define the problem. Differentiate fact from opinion. Specify underlying causes. Consult each faction involved for information. State the problem specifically.
Showcase Problem-Solving Skills in Software Interviews
Here's how you can showcase your problem-solving skills in an interview for an Enterprise Software role. Powered by AI and the LinkedIn community. 1. Understand Issues. Be the first to add your ...
The 10 Best Problem-Solving Software to Use in 2024
2. Omnex Systems. via Omnex. Omnex's problem-solving software has many helpful features to track, manage, and solve problems quickly. It's a one-stop shop for dealing with internal and external issues. The platform is also customer-centric, which responds to customers in their preferred formats.
10 essential soft skills every software developer needs to master
Discover the 10 essential soft skills that every software developer should possess, as shared by Saurabh Saxena, the Chief Operating Officer of Scaler and InterviewBit. 1. COMMUNICATION ...
How enduring skills prepare Gettysburg students for what employers want
Weber said he relied on many enduring skills, including problem solving, teamwork, and collaboration, in his work coding and executing software development strategies for the firm. "I used problem solving and quick learning skills to investigate and solve bugs in the platform's code. I wrote and saw the deployment of my code changes to the ...
Software Engineer (.NET)
The Software Engineer must be a fast learner with excellent communication and problem-solving skills, and able to work with minimal supervision as part of a multidisciplinary team. The incumbent must be able to work well with a diverse group of team members to deliver software solutions on time, on budget and within specifications.