Developing critical thinking 11

[Teknoratti]

What are some of the methods that you use for critical thought when it relates to IT and troubleshooting, planning, etc, etc?

I am working on my critical thinking when it comes to troubleshooting various network problems, and situations on Active Directory where you really need to be sharp with your skills.

Sometimes I feel that I dont think outside the box when I go about solving IT problems. I have my days when Im sharp as a tac I have a difficult time staying motivated b/c Im not in a work environment where I have to be sharp all the time.

I want to stay on top of my craft. I study all the time, and keep abreast of all the latest IT related happenings. I think I might take a course at the local Univ. for critical thinking. Sometimes I think I only use part of my brain, and I need to be thinking at all times.

 

[edfair]

I'm with Bocaburger on the natural troubleshooter part. I'm not saying you can't learn it, but there are people that can troubleshoot without really having to think critically.
I'm speaking on the basis of 45 years of troubleshooting, tech support specialist, manager of service, and tescher. Those who understand the system they are supporting jump into the middle (or at suitable breakpoints) to see what is happening, often with no reason except gut instinct. Or they wake up in the middle of the night out of a dead sleep with the solution based on a set of seemingly unrelated symptoms.
As a teacher I really loved working with natural troubleshooters, it really tested me to figure out ways to stimulate their understanding of how the equipment worked.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[aarenot]

I am not going to talk about the best way to do critical thinking, or about what to do first, or next. I will say, from my experience, being involved in other than realted to work things can expand, or exercise or stretch youre mind. Also, in my experience, sometimes, I do not follow steps to test conditions, but from experience, or gut instinct, jump to what should be step 5 in a process of evaluation, and hit the solution on the first try, after listening to symptoms. I am not sure that is all experience, or being a born troubleshooter.
I will say that many people think that the troubleshooting process is the art of knowing what the problem is. I look at it as finding out what the problem is not, and what is left, is the issue. Along the way, guess, and verify, be intuitive, systematic, then try to prove your conclusiom wrong.
I often get calls from others who work on systems I am not familiar with, or do not work on them myself. I seem to be able to troubleshoot with them, and come to a resolution with them. Often, I can establish psarameters of the problem that help them to define a resolution, or actioms to isolate the issue to provide resolution. I am not sure if that is procedural, or instinctual. I do know, I have been making a living at it for over 15 years, and I am not in any way skinny, so, I must be getting fat off of something tangible. I am fine with learned or inherant ability, it all puts food on the tasble. It is probably some of both.

You do not always get what you pay for, but you never get what you do not pay for.

 

[BocaBurger]

Occam's razor.
The skill is in not cutting yourself



BocaBurger
<===========================||////////////////|0
The pen is mightier than the sword, but the sword hurts more!

 

[tfg13]

edfair,
I hate those nights. Waking up with the answer, then you can't go back to sleep, because of the "excitement" of fixing the problem. Happened many times to me.
As for critical thinking, I think it can be a learned "science", but as with everything, it takes work. Knowing where to start is really knowing the pieces that make up the application/system/asset. The questions of how these pieces are put together aren't necessarily there "naturally" for any individual. They are learned from experience.
Keeping the mind in peak performance takes several pieces of the puzzle already mentioned by others. Physical conditioning, the proper diet, rest (ever try to figure out a problem after 20 hours of straight troubleshooting with no break? Answers come very slow at that point) can all help with the functioning of the brain.

 

[edfair]

I've seen my share who walk in and start PM procedures to attempt to remove a problem.
I've seen others that started working without getting details from the operator about the problem.
I used to drive operators up the wall rephrasing the questions eliminating possibilities as I went. Figured that it was faster to pin down the failure to a specific type than waste hours going the wrong way. Not that I couldn't get lost with the best of them. Some would get testy because I would ask about sounds and smells. But mechanical things sometimes sound different when failing and electrical circuits failing can cause smells.
Used to drive the trainees up the wall by insisting that they use all their senses. I would even put bugs on machines to force them to think about wierd sounds or vibrations. Or break wires, or parts, or mal-adjust stuff.

 

[aarenot]

This may sound sexist, but I will say it anyway. If you have an issue that is causing you to pull what hair you may or may not have left. Ask a female to look at it. They sometimes bring a different perspective to sometimes male dominated areas. It has worked for me, even if just a question they asked got me thinking differently

You do not always get what you pay for, but you never get what you do not pay for.

 

[zbnet]

I have a friend that has a very simple, two-part question that is universally applicable in IT problem-solving. It has served him faithfully for many many years, and represents the zenith in critical-thinking methodology. It will help you pinpoint the cause of lots of IT issues, and set you on the track of solving the rest. It is like dynamite in its power and effectiveness, and yet its very simplicity belies its strength. And now, for free, I'm going to share it with you, just this once:

"When did it last work, and who messed with it?"

 

[macleod1021]

>> jump into the middle (or at suitable breakpoints

"suitable breakpoints"???? What's wrong with the unsuitable breakpoints...they're a LOT more fun

 

[lionelhill]

critical thinking? I don't do it. Usually I sleep. When I wake up, the answer is often obvious.

Sometimes taking a shower helps too, but that's not drought-friendly.

But I admit neither technique works if you need the solution now and haven't got any soap handy.

 

[bdbBear]

discrete math: set theory, logic

understanding the difference between what should be and what is.

 

[Trevoke]

Play go

Go is the oldest game still played today (~3 to 4 000 years old). It is played by placing black and white stones (one stone per player per turn, or pass or resign) on the intersections of a 19x19 grid and the goal is to control more territory than your opponent. It is a game of visual pattern recognition as well as good reading out skills. It is many times more complex than chess, and, to me, much more interesting.
Stones can't be moved but they can be captured.
The best interactive tutorial/introduction that I've found so far is at

http://playgo.to/interactive

I have a turn-based server with < 20 players, all friends, at

http://trevoke.ath.cx/

(you'll see the link easily).
The source code for that is taken from

http://www.dragongoserver.net

which is of course much bigger.
If you want real-time play, you can try on Yahoo (not recommended) or download the KGS client at

http://kgs.kiseido.com/

A new community was recently founded,

http://www.godiscussions.com/

and the forum is an excellent place which gathers many good minds (and the atmosphere is very pleasant). I recommend it for any questions you may have if you become interested

It requires a lot of analysis and I daresay it'll help with critical thinking!

Only known side effect so far : close your eyes and see black and white stones appear on a board.

"That time in Seattle... was a nightmare. I came out of it dead broke, without a house, without anything except a girlfriend and a knowledge of UNIX."
"Well, that's something," Avi says. "Normally those two are mutually exclusive."
-- Neal Stephenson, "Cryptonomicon"

 

[ITGUY53]

just to let you know when things are wrong, and i have time to think about it... i go kayaking out on rivers. there's nothing more serene and beautiful than being in deep vallies just kayaking. during those long flat water paddles, it makes me think of the problems i have in life and it's just like starting from a new plate and carefully piecing things together.

 

[Toni269]

I will totally validate the things others have said:
Exercise, Stimulating Hobbies, removing yourself from the situation and the female opinion. Women are excellent multitaskers and problem solvers. Once I was moving my office and I had this filing cabinet full of files, real heavy and I coulden't tip it onto the dolly. I went to a mostly male department and said I need a strong guy to help me move something. The men were all busy so I went back to my problem, a few minutes later a petite woman came and asked if there is anything she could do to help, and I didn't want to be rude because she was being so sweet so I let her try, she took one look at the problem and how I was going at it and she said, here turn the cabinet sideways and then try. And Voila! It worked so easy. She then looked at me and said, "You don't need a strong man, you just need a smart woman!!!"

One more story - last month I had to take some long flights, normally I live in front of the PC home and work. I was stuck reading a book. Meanwhile my mind was racing with all kinds of ideas to problems I've been trying to solve. I took some time away from the book to "just be" without doing anything and I actually had to get a pen and paper and write all this stuff down. I have a mentor in my field - he's the best in our city, I showed him some stuff I came up with and his jaw dropped. I think sometimes when you can just be silent, meditate whatever, solutions will come to you naturally - like the other example of the sleeper who wakes up with exciting ideas to solve problems.

 

[prosper]

Treat yourself as outsider and relax. You may think of a solution.
Or you can doing other job which requires less thinking, solution may come to your head.

I usually find the answer after I have left the place for examination(When I was a student or When I was an interviewee).