xThinking outside the box from inside the box.
# Uncertainty feels like being in a maze with no exit. But when I step back and look at it from above, the path becomes obvious.
Frustration isn’t something to reject, it’s a signal. It carries useful information once I realise it. It’s one of those recurrent feelings software devs have to deal with, and in my experience it always comes from the same place: uncertainty. When we lose track or haven’t figured out what the path forward looks like, the mind just chokes itself with worst case scenarios. It’s noise that keeps wearing me down.
When facing this challenge, I always remind myself of what is in my control. It’s not the deadline, it’s not the system itself, it’s not the several unexpected bugs that might pop up, just the next action. I try and narrow my focus on what I can actually do.
xAssess
The first thing to do when hitting a wall is to not lose control. Stop and assess the actual issue:
what do I not know yet? What’s the simplest action I can take that will get me to completion?
It’s about picking up and classifying things in real time as they come rather than letting them pile up in the back of our minds. A simple todo list is enough. My goal is to keep my focus on thinking, not on remembering. Focus on what’s key to move forward and remove all the clutter. Strip down a problem in its essential parts before adding solutions. Complexity is in most cases a symptom of unclear thinking.
xSharing progress in the open
I’m a huge advocate for sharing progress in team-wide channels, even when, or specifically when we haven’t figured out things yet. This matters for two reasons:
- First the evident, it gives teams visibility. Someone may have had this issue before, or have an idea as to how to solve it. Second, writing what you have tried forces you to think clearly about it. It’s acts as a checkpoint.
- Explaining one’s steps out loud helps me reorganise my thinking. Sometimes I even find myself finding the answer as I write what I did. It also carries practical benefits, the next morning whenn I pick up where I left off, I'm not reconstructing from memory. There is now a clear record of what was tested and what the route forward looks like.
/
xThere's just always a way forward
This is one of the things I keep reminding myself. It doesn’t matter how complicated something is, there is always steps to be taken. Maybe it’s trying out different approaches, or taking a step back or admitting you need to ask someone. All of these are steps forward.
Some things are up to us, and some things are not. The problem in front of me is real. But how we respond is entirely ours. I always try and remove uncertainty wherever I can. Break the problem into pieces small pieces. Share what I find. And trust that the path forward exists, even before I can see it.
That to me is thinking outside the box. Not a random direction to take but the practice of staying curious when it would be easier to panic.