I didn’t realise it until I sat down and reflected on my most recent and arguably greatest ever (!) accomplishment that I am always solving puzzles in my professional life. We all are in some way on a daily basis.
Growing up in the eighties with two older brothers there was always a Rubiks Cube knocking about the house and I spent many an hour getting frustrated and never solving more than two faces of this simple but perplexing puzzle. I think at one point I teased all the stickers off, stuck them back in order and proudly presented my work to my oldest brother who clearly was not convinced.
Fast forward a “few” years… I saw a rubik’s cube on tv one Sunday morning a few weeks ago and realised I had unfinished business with this multi-coloured plastic cube of annoyance. I hate not seeing a challenge through and usually I persist until a solution is found, but it doesn’t usually take me 35+ years!
Right then, let’s make a plan
Requirements
- solve Rubik’s Cube
- solve Rubik’s Cube in under 3 mins
solve Rubik’s Cube in under 3 mins blindfolded
Design
- Link brain to hands to square box plastic thing
Procurement
- Amazon
- eBay
- Rubiks Cubes R Us
Knowledge gathering (Google the **** out of it)
- concepts
- methods
- practice
- back to concepts
- try more methods
- much more practice
- and so on
Implement
- turn faces in various directions
- spin cube left and right
- turn faces some more
- spin cube some more
Test
- are all faces the same colour?
- provide evidence
Review
- practice more
- learn more
- implement more
- become an expert
- teach others
Two weeks after recalling memories of childhood shattered dreams (slightly over dramatic!) here it is. Solved.
But it’s during this process that I realised I set about the challenge in pretty much the same way I do every work day. Ultimately my job is about solving problems, no matter which specific role I have at any one time. If you sit down and really think about it I bet you can say the same, no matter what industry you’re in or role you have. At some point during the day you are solving puzzles.
It’s how we go about it that differs and in most cases there can be multiple ways of solving the puzzle.
We’re not born knowing how to solve a Rubik’s Cube. We don’t leave school knowing how to design a complex infrastructure architecture supporting a global banking system. But we learn as we go and ultimately it’s the ability and willingness to learn that is the most important thing.
Don’t be scared or intimidated by not knowing the solution to a problem. Be intrigued and excited about working out how to solve it.
Matt is a technology consultant with over 20 years experience helping organisations around the world achieve data success using proven and emerging technologies. He is the Principal Consultant and Head Trainer at Kuzo Data.
Connect with Matt on LinkedIn.