Thursday, March 12, 2015

Breaking Things Down To Understand

"...Professor Tony McCaffrey of the University of Massachusetts Amherst asked his students to describe objects generically by their shape, size, and materials-rather than by their common name. For example, one of his students might describe a candle as a wax tube, and a wick as a string. The only rule was to avoid describing the object in a way that implied a particular use. Students who were able to break down common objects in to their generic piece parts showed a 67 percent increase in their problem solving skills."
-P.103 of "Hidden Solutions All Around You - Why some people can see them and some can't" book by Daniel R. Castro

In fields such as Software Quality Assurance, breaking down the software into manageable pieces allows someone to better understand and test the application. Mechanics also use such skills when working on motors.

Solutions come easier to us when we allow the mind to break things into individual pieces to have a better understanding of the complete picture.

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