Step back to move forward

When I’m called over to help out with a tricky problem in a complex software system, I’m typically hit with lots of detail on how the problem is manifesting. Typically my go-to response is “let’s take a step back”...

In a lot of instances, issues that manifest in a very specific way are in fact symptoms of a larger scale problem, so it’s important to put them in context. Pull back far enough, and the bigger problem should become apparent - staying micro-focussed can obscure the view.

It’s an unfortunate fact of Software Engineering that failure modes are typically the worst tested code paths, so a failure at one level will often manifest as a subsequent failure at another level. Make sure both (or all!) problems contributing are identified and fixed.

When problem solving, make sure you don’t miss the forest for the trees.

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