"..I solve Problems. Not problems like "what is beauty?"
Because that would fall within the purview of your conundrums of philosophy.
I solve practical problems."
The Engineer , Valve Corporation.
With the movie adaptation of Andy Weir's The Martian being released this week in Australia (I Haven't seen it yet, but I can highly recommend the Audio book) I've had the issue on my mind of problem solving as a process and a skill.
FYI, The Martian is basically Macguyver in space. And it is pure nerd escapist/survivalist fantasy. And It's pretty great.
I've had my own problems back on Earth, but they are not exactly as serious as the fictional stranded astronaut Mark Watney's. However, the basic steps taken to solve any practical problem are the same, regardless if you are trying to start your car, or troubleshooting equipment on the real life International Space Station.
Example: I was locked out of my garage on Earth. The same steps taken by NASA apply to solve the problem with the least amount of resources consumed.
- 1: Examine and identify the fault.
What is actually broken? My door is a remotely operated electric door now stuck in the down position. Is the remote faulty? is the battery dead? Is the main power off? Is the door just stuck on something?
- 2: Assess the consequences of the failure.
Garage door is only accessible via the electric door. It must be fixed.
- 3: Decide priority of resources to fix it.
Most obvious: Replace batteries in remote. Did not solve problem. Proceed in succession to test other failure modes.
- 4: Stop, think & plan how to actually fix the problem.
Ultimately, the mains power is discovered the failure point. At which point a locksmith is arranged, breaks in and overrides the electric powered door to a manual lock as a temporary fix before the more tedious task of re-wiring the garage.
In my vivid imagination, parallels can be drawn between the ISS astronauts solving power supply failures for their life-sustaining equipment, and my stupid stuck garage door.
(similarly we both can't just break open a window to gain access to a stuck hatch. I rent..)
And for those who are not "technology people" and you must rely on radioing mission control for help.. If you are frustrated by calling IT support and think they are condescending for asking you "if it's plugged in?," Calm down, they are following NASA style protocol to diagnose and solve problems as quickly and efficiently as possible.
JM