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10+1 Steps to Problem Solving:

An Engineers Guide

Online Access - read the first 4 chapters!

Enjoying what you're reading? Consider purchasing a copy of the book

10+1 Steps to Problem Solving.

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It will be available as an eBook, audiobook or paperback.

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Thank you for your support, 

Engineer

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Introduction>

10+1 Steps

How can you improve your problem-solving skills?

What does an engineer do?

The Spectrum of Problems 

How grief can appear when stuck on a problem?

Helping someone solve a problem

FISH vs PDCA problem-solving techniques

The problem with standard problem-solving

Using the 10+1 method

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Step 1: The Question>

The Socratic Method for Engineers

The Types of Questions

Questions the Good Engineers Ask

Next Level Questions

The Legion of Fish

Create a Narrative for the Problem

Don't Make a Plan

To Question or Not to Question?

Questions subject matter experts ask

The Soothing Sound of an Explosion

Deriving Questions from a Requirements Spec and keeping clients happy

Questions When Inventing a New Solution

The Physics Framework

We vs. You vs. I

The Power of the Question

Your Checklist for this Step

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Step 2: The Obvious>

What Should Work?

The Logical Slippery Slope Fallacy

The Serial Obstacle

Solving Problems Only Using the First 2 Steps

Common Sense Isn't Very Common

The Donkey Tunnel Conundrum

What is an Obvious Task?

How The Obvious Expands with Experience

How Experience Turns Into Expertise

How an expert engineer processes information

How an expert engineer interacts with information

How an expert engineer uses feedback to make incremental improvements

Developing expertise over time

The Expert trap

Getting Paid the Big Bucks

The importance of The Obvious

Your Checklist for this Step

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Step 3: Eyes>

Eye of Horus

How to get Eyes on the situation

Press Where it Hurts

Dealing with a Problem you can't Reproduce

Sleeping on a Missile

How to know where to place your Eyes

How easy is it to turn on a light bulb?

The Sixth Sense

Your Checklist for this Step

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Step 4: Check Yourself (in full book)

Before you wreck yourself

What is Layer 1?

Can you hear me?

Examples of Layer 1 Checks

Solving Application Startup Issues with 10-minute test cycles - Part 1

Turn it Off and On again

The difference between something Obvious and Fundamental

The problem the whole time

Risks when changing fundamentals

Your Checklist for this Step

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Step 5: Doctor G (in full book)

Let me Google that for you

How do I know when the right time is?

Dealing with vague problem statements

The Single Worst Question you could ask

Get your ears close to the floor

The 4 Elements to Faster Knowledge Downloading

A normal search after vague instructions

The 4 Elements

Power Sifting Query Results

Using Query results as new questions

Utilizing other forms of media results

Switch focus for finding answers

Your Checklist for this Step

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Step 6: The RTFM Protocol (in full book)

Read the effing manual

Do your homework

How do we mitigate the risk of rigorous testing?

Handling a high-pressure situation needed for testing

An 8-Step Investigation Plan

What's the value of documenting the chain of tests

Control Logic - False Positives

Open the Box
Your Checklist for this Step

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Step 7: Strip (in full book)

Reduce Complexity

The Physics Approach

Hacking Critical Infrastructure with a printer

Using the Strip Method to Create a Chain of Events

Blood, Sweat and Tears

How to Rapid Strip piece-by-piece

Solving Application Startup Issues with 10-minute test cycles - Part 2

Your Checklist for this Step

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Step 8: What about the Environment? (in full book)

The Grass is always greener on the other side

Solving a problem that hides when you look

Relationship Issues

One Drawing can solve 1,000 problems

Chain of Events

Swim Lane diagram

Fishbone Cause-and-Effect diagram

The Ghost Car

Water your plants

Your Checklist for this Step

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Step 9: Phone-A-Friend>

This step could be earlier

When is it Okay to Ask for Help?

What Should I Ask?

How Should I Ask?

Developing a Syllogism

The Signal as a Root Cause Syllogism

Mechanical Failure as a Root Cause Syllogism

Don't Fall for a Logical Fallacy

You want to be right something is wrong

Black Screen of Death

Black Screen of Death Syllogism

Your Checklist for this Step

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Step 10: Pray (in full book)

Who will answer your call?

Quack, quack. The Rubber Duck Debugging Method

Using the Sequence of Events to Create a Pattern

Designing an AI Plugin for Control Systems - In My Dreams

Spinning on Chairs and Flying Toy Drones

Aristotle Pacing in the Lyceum

Your Checklist for this Step

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Step 11: The Secret Step (in full book)

10+1 - Clutching at Straws

Identifying you have tried everything and need a secret step

The Loyalty of Unsolved Problems

Be Leonardo da Vinci Level Observant

The Known vs. the Unknown vs. the Unknowable

Something from Nothing

Reverse Engineering

The Seemingly Unrelated

Triggering Correlations

Follow the Cluster F**k

Reporting the Unsolvable to Management and Clients

18-Hour Critical Situation Turnaround

A Temporary and Long-term plan

An Unexpected Outcome

Hierarchy of Engineering Controls applied to problem-solving

Hierarchy of Engineering Controls for a technical problem

Hierarchy of Controls for a real-life problem

The Secret

Your Checklist for this Step

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Engineering In Real Life (in full book)

Engineering IRL

Practical Application of 10+1

Lessons Learned

Quantify Your Pay Rise

Get on Bigger Projects

Applying to Real Life

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Purchase the 10+1 Steps to Problem Solving Book

My hope is that 10+1 will give you some much-needed clarity.

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If you'd like to own the book, it is available in different formats including paperback, audiobook and eBook

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Click below to purchase the paperback, audiobook, ebook, or to gift a copy to a fellow Engineer:

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