When working on a project where many details are unknown, we get stuck.
We don’t know what to do next.
This can be especially painful in async remote settings when your peers are not online to help you.
Here are some strategies I use to get out of this situation.
- Create an error.
If you have multiple ways to solve a problem, try one of them and run your program. Learn from the error you get and repeat.
Remove everything that doesn’t work to reach towards what works.
Google is your best friend here.
- Increase project knowledge.
The only reason you can’t solve a problem is that you don’t have enough knowledge to tackle it.
So fix that by doing anything that gives you more knowledge about the project.
Read the code and try to understand the flow.
Learn about the framework being used.
Go through the project dependencies list.
Etc.
The mindset here is - "You are unable to solve this problem, but someone else can.”
Bridge the gap between that someone and you, step by step.
(3) Ask others.
Some things you just can’t solve by yourself.
Or it will take countless hours of your time but someone with background knowledge can do it in 2 mins.
Reserve those questions to ask your peers when they are available. Do something else for now.