I misread that as "just release the product", which is the iterative development that perturbs Dijkstra. I think it can work really well for hill-climbing probl

I misread that as "just release the product", which is the iterative development that perturbs Dijkstra. I think it can work really well for hill-climbing problems, where you have the right basic idea, and just need to keep tweaking it. But then you get enmeshed in those initial assumptions, like vines dragging you down... and you can never leave that hill. However, you wrote "just release the problem" (as a contrast to "thinking hard"). I agree that straining over a problem often doesn't help. I think that the kind of elegant solutions Dijkstra admires are more likely to come once you've absorbed the problem, and be receptive to solutions from your unconscious. Henri Poincaré It is by logic we prove, it is by intuition that we invent But I don't recall Dijkstra ever speak of intuition. Maybe for him, straining did work? One thing I've found is that straining to create a better representation (simpler, only the key things) does seem to help. It's fairly straightforward, but hard work. It helps because I can then see the problem - and my intuition can come into play.