Puzzles

I enjoy puzzles. As a kid I would work jigsaw puzzles repeatedly. I would time myself to see how fast I could go, generally on 300 or 500 piece puzzles. It was normal for me to be able to go from opening the box to finished in under an hour. When the 3x3 Rubik cube came out, I was hooked. It was a great puzzle. My goal, beat the record. At the time that was 22.95 seconds. I never competed in any official tournaments but I unofficially beat the record. I no longer remember my fastest time but it was fast. A new record was set this year, 3.08 seconds. I don't believe I ever solved it that fast.

Another thing I would do as a kid is take things apart and see if I could put them back together. I'm not talking building block sets. I am talking television sets (the vacuum tube CRT variety), radios, clocks (ones with gears), and anything else I could get my hands on. The first few times I did this, it was working things I took apart, without asking. Thankfully, I was able to get them back together and they still worked. My parents encouraged me to avoid working on things that were not broken, so they would give me broken devices to let me try and fix them. I thought it was great fun. I did not realize at the time that I was developing problem solving skills I would use my entire life.

Now, part of my job is solving puzzles. This may be figuring out a computer device that is not working; can it be repaired or is it time to replace it? Diagnosing an issue with software that is not working as expected: is it the software, the computer, the user? Working out how to integrate two different systems and get them working together. The tasks that come up vary greatly, and for me, regardless of the specific task, the enjoyable part is solving the puzzle.

Sometimes, though, it is a challenge to figure out the problem being presented. I recently used this analogy: "That problem is like me pointing at that group of trees over there and telling you 'Hey, there is a really interesting leaf you should look at on that tree.'" The person I shared this with understood. The problem given was so vague that there was no way I could start working to solve it without first getting more information.

If you are having trouble with your internet connection, phone service, car, plumbing, leaking roof, or anything else, here are some things that might help you get help faster:

• You are very aware of the issue you are having. The person receiving your phone call, email, or ticket is not. Be sure to include enough details that they will know where to start. For example: if you say "My car is having a problem," the person helping you is going to have to ask several questions just to get started. Does the car start? Does it drive? Does it stop (brake)? etc. If instead you were to say, "Any time I turn right I hear a horrible noise from the right front side of the car, it sounds worse the slower you are going," then the person helping you has more information and while they may still need to ask questions, they will have a better idea of where to start. The more details that you can provide that are relevant to the problem the better the starting point will be.
• Try to avoid speculating. This often can slow down the process of finding a solution. Do your best to stick to factual information about the issue. Using the example of the car issue above, I am not a mechanic but I could speculate that the issue is the bearing on the right front wheel. I could go to a mechanic and ask them to replace the wheel bearing on the right front. I could get lucky and it could be that was the problem and replacing the bearing fixed it. Or I could have just asked for something to be replaced that was not related to the issue at all. If you have ideas on what the issue might be then share them as just that. Report the problem, "a horrible noise when turning right," and offer your suggestion, "Do you think it could be the wheel bearing?" When doing it this way the person helping you still knows what the issue is and it helps get the issue resolved faster.
• Give them time to work on the issue. It can be frustrating when a request for help comes in and the person expects an immediate answer. Assume for this one that the problem report had great detail and there are no follow up questions. There are times when someone will know immediately how to resolve the issue. There are also times when the person helping you will have to get back with you. Often when a problem is reported, an immediate question is "how long is that going to take?" Think about that for a moment. The person helping you has to do some investigation to try and find a solution. You want them tell you how long it will take them to do something they have never done before? If you must know an estimate of when they might get back with you — then you might try, "Do you think I'll hear back later today or will it be tomorrow?" Allowing them time to find an answer may be hard but you will likely end up with a better solution.

Just to recap, when going to others to get help with some issue, do your best to provide enough information for the other person to know what you are asking. Stick to describing the problem; avoid speculation. Give them time to work on a response. These simple steps can help you get your issue solved faster.

Side note: for anyone wondering about the car example — the horrible noise when turning right at slow speed was an example was from an issue I had with a car. I had no clue what was causing the issue and the mechanic I went to worked through many different things finding out things that were not the problem. Through the process the cause of the problem was finally discovered. The rubber engine mount on the passenger side of the motor had vulcanized. The rubber mount should have been soft to absorb vibrations but when it vulcanized it was as hard as a rock. When turning right the engine vibration would transfer to the frame of the car and the vibration was causing the loud, horrible sound. Replacing the $30 engine mount solved the issue. Had I gone to the mechanic with my speculations and said "replace the wheel bearing" or "rebuild the transmission" or whatever else, it would have taken longer and cost more.