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I really like an expansion of this idea that I heard somewhere awhile back: Keep a few significant problems in your mind...and also keep a few significant solu
by mightybyte 2y ago
I really like an expansion of this idea that I heard somewhere awhile back:
Keep a few significant problems in your mind...and also keep a few significant solutions / problem solving techniques in your mind. Then when you encounter new problems, check them against your set of solutions and see if any of them apply. Also, when you encounter new problem solving techniques, check them against your set of problems to see if they're applicable. Whenever you encounter a new problem or solution that seems unusually significant, add it to the list that you keep track of
- almostgotcaught 2y ago> heard somewhere awhile back: This is verbatim how Feynman describes it in "surely you're joking" (the chapter with spinning plate and QED iirc).
- mightybyte 2y agoAhh ok. I think my source was someone else, but it sounds like they were probably citing Feynman. Good to know.
- pm215 2y agoHamming's _You and Your Research_ (another HN perennial) has a variant on the theme too: "Most great scientists know many important problems. They have something between 10 and 20 important problems for which they are looking for an attack. And when they see a new idea come up, one hears them say ``Well that bears on this problem.'' They drop all the other things and get after it. "