As I begin taking up writing again, for the third time (sighing a little to myself)... I've realized something about the way my head works.
When presented with a specific task my mind will race to form a solution. When I'm present with a problem I can't seem to stop coming up with ways to solve it.
When I'm given a problem at work more often than not the problem has a very small scope, often the scope of the problem at work is along the lines of accepting information/data in one area, processing/modifying said data and then saving/sending data to another area. Now when presented with a problem that can be defined with such narrow terms it is easy for me to think of quite a few different wasy of solving the problem, then when going through these various options there are often inherit sets of advantages and limitations for each solution and it becomes a simple matter of disscusing the these pros and cons with the interested parties and refining the requirements of the solution to isolate which option is best suited.
So the cycle is often:
- Describe a problem,
- "scope out" the problem,
- define solutions,
- filter solutions based on "scope"
- execute remaining solution.
I'll complete this cycle a few times every few months depending on the various levels of complexity which range from isolated problems that impact a few dozen users to something that has the potential to impact a few thousand users; however, event with the potential of impacting ten thousand users (which is never going to happen at the company I work for) it still doesn't seem that overwhelming.
Given this type of daily gring one would assume that solving my own problems would be easier, but there in lies the issue, the "Great White Open Page" problem.
I know I need to write on a regular basis to become a better communicator as well as to improve my skills at work (which as a programmer I feel one of the most important skills is communcation). However, when I set down to write I often find that I'm just staring at a blank page and NOTHING is coming to mind.
So as I come and stair at my computer screen I hope over the next few weeks or perhaps even months to formulate some type of structure that will narrow the scope of my problem so I can at least try to solve the "great white open page" problem.
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