The Truth about Troubleshooting

I'm finally able to relax after a very busy week troubleshooting all sorts of technical issues. The art of technical troubleshooting, in its essence is simply the application of the scientific method: you make observations about the issue and come up with hypothesis for its possible causes. And then you conduct experiments to test each hypothesis. You work by the process of elimination. 

You test and simulate to see if you could reproduce the issue. Sometimes there are just too many variables involved and it is not possible to get the exact conditions where the same problem would manifest. You do not dismiss the obvious too casually. Experience tells me that no stone should ever be left unturned.

I've built this disciplined way of thinking from my years as a secondary school student, immersed in physics, chemistry and mathematics. Whenever I was solving a mathematical problem, I always had to be careful of sloppy thinking that could blind me to its solution or lead me into making silly mistakes.

Mathematical thinking requires one to logically move from one statement to another.  I realised that it was better not to think too far ahead or jump too many steps at a time, even when they seemed 'obvious'. It is the feeling of 'obviousness' that will often be your downfall.

I've written before about the dangers of certainty. Decisiveness is a good quality, but not at the expense of diligence. Have you considered ever available fact and given them due consideration? Whenever you try to overlook something, be very aware of it: for these are the blindspots that could come back to bite you.

Sometimes your emotions blind you to certain steps that could have led you to the correct solution. You subconsciously avoided those because you did not want to face certain inadequacies that you have. Identify those weaknesses and address them. And that's how you become better. 

You can say that troubleshooting is a process that's very logical. But if the issue involves humans, you also have to apply a different set of skills. Humans are complex systems and the number of variables involved are huge. Information is often inadequate because humans do not communicate objectively. You have to tease out the facts systematically by asking the right questions, often from different angles. 

Always double-check what is reported to you. Verify the facts yourself by conducting more experiments. Do not let authority or human biases lead you down the garden path. Qualify, qualify and qualify every opinion. 

At the end of the day, you'll have to evaluate all the facts at hand and come up with theories to explain them. Narrow down the possibilities. Pursue every lead to its logical conclusion.  As the famous Sherlock Holmes quote goes: "Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth".