Strategies

The strategies below are time-tested, practical recipes for troubleshooting. They are presented in no particular order: when troubleshooting an actual problem, don’t expect to go through them serially (although you’re welcome to do that as you’re learning). Once you are familiar with them, you’ll intuitively jump to the one you think is going to have the biggest payoff. Knowing where to start is the “art” in The Art Of Troubleshooting. Also, keep in mind that you might need to combine several strategies to actually fix something. Mix and match as needed! If there’s any “magic” here, it’s that the sum of these very simple ideas will make you a very good troubleshooter indeed.

• The Order Of Things: changing the sequence of a machine’s startup or workflow can make a big difference.
• Skillful Questioning, Part 1 and Part 2: when interviewing people about breakdowns, learn how to find clarity and uncover hidden information in their statements.
• Put It Down And Come Back To It Later: the need to step away from a project–you can’t always force a solution.
• Follow The Chain: tracing a problem through a workflow.
• Bare Bones: paring it back to the bare essentials.
• Does It Need To Be Fixed?: making sure a repair is necessary.
• The Phone Is Ringing, So Answer It: listening to what a machine is saying.
• Duplicate The Problem, Part 1 and Part 2: if you can make the failure happen at will, you’ll also know when it’s fixed. Also, Black Boxes and intermittent problems.
• Defaults And Reboots: the advantages of taking a machine back to a more primitive state.
• Change Just One Thing: the need for minimalism so that information can be derived from your actions.
• The Way It Is And The Way It Was: keep track of things as you make a repair.
• Is It Plugged In?: prerequisites for operation. Troubleshooting’s most famous question.
• A Different Point Of View: seeking other perspectives to help you out of a rut.
• Same Symptom, Different Causes: when problems look the same, but they’re really not.
• Improving The Environment: managing when and where you troubleshoot.
• Copy One That Works: a working model can be as good as a manual.
• Let’s Be Reasonable: logical principles and the law of simplicity.
• Know Your Limits: when to call in a pro.
• Where Do I Begin?: starting points for the troubleshooting process.
• What’s Changed?: recent modifications or additions often point the way to the cause.
• Dedicated And Shared Resources: getting your machines to play nicely together.
• A Common Problem: paying attention to context. Pinpoint causes by noticing shared symptoms.
• Clear Up To Here: use the half-splitting method to quickly pinpoint the cause.
• Team Spirit: how to organize a team during a crisis. Plus, the benefits of teamwork for everyday problem-solving, with lessons from the world of “pair programming.”
• Bottlenecks: pinpointing why a system is slow, and making it go faster.
• How Is It Supposed To Work?: knowing how a machine is supposed to function allows you to plot a course between “broken” and “working.”
• Repair Or Replace?: things to consider when deciding whether to fix or replace a broken machine.
• The 50 Percent Rule: problems with a popular rule of thumb used to make the repair or replace decision, along with my suggestion of a better way to resolve the dilemma.
• Talking About Your Problems: how to interact with other troubleshooters. Unexpected upsides when dealing with Customer Service.
• Starting Over: ins and outs of rebuilding and reinstalling.
• Border Lines: boundaries you may find yourself crossing when fixing things. They’re not all technical…
• If You Have To Force It, Something Is Probably Wrong: what should be hard about fixing things.
• What We Bring With Us: “I Want One Of These”: how to prevent those annoying repeat trips to the hardware store.
• What Else Could I Be Doing?: a good question to ask before you start a repair project…

References:

• Header image: Rothstein, A., photographer. (1942) Instructor and students studying a map, Meacham Field, Fort Worth, Tex. United States, Fort Worth, Texas, 1942. Jan. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2017877645/.