Another sample problem domain is crossword puzzles:
Don’t stop at the first good answer—You can’t write in the first word that seems to fit, you need to see if it is going to let you build the other words.
Explore multiple approaches simultaneously—Same idea, you often can think of a few different possible words that could work in a particular area of the puzzle, and you need to keep them all in mind as you work to solve the other words.
Trust your intuitions, but don’t waste too much time arguing for them—This one doesn’t apply much because usually people don’t fight over crossword puzzles.
Go meta—This is a big one, because usually crossword puzzles have a theme, often quite subtle, and if you look carefully you can see how your answers are building as part of a whole. This then gives you another direction to get ideas for possible answers, as things that would go with the theme, rather than just taking the clues literally.
Dissolve the question—Well, I don’t know about this, but I suppose if you get frustrated enough you could throw the puzzle into the trash.
Sleep on it—This works well for this kind of puzzle, I find. Coming back to it in the morning you will often make more progress.
Be ready to recognize a good answer when you see it—Once you have enough crossing words in mind you can have good confidence that you are on the right track and go ahead and write those in, even if you don’t have good ideas for some of the linked words. You need to recognize that when enough parts come together and your solution makes them fit, that is a strong clue that you are making progress, even if there are still unanswered aspects.
Another sample problem domain is crossword puzzles:
Don’t stop at the first good answer—You can’t write in the first word that seems to fit, you need to see if it is going to let you build the other words.
Explore multiple approaches simultaneously—Same idea, you often can think of a few different possible words that could work in a particular area of the puzzle, and you need to keep them all in mind as you work to solve the other words.
Trust your intuitions, but don’t waste too much time arguing for them—This one doesn’t apply much because usually people don’t fight over crossword puzzles.
Go meta—This is a big one, because usually crossword puzzles have a theme, often quite subtle, and if you look carefully you can see how your answers are building as part of a whole. This then gives you another direction to get ideas for possible answers, as things that would go with the theme, rather than just taking the clues literally.
Dissolve the question—Well, I don’t know about this, but I suppose if you get frustrated enough you could throw the puzzle into the trash.
Sleep on it—This works well for this kind of puzzle, I find. Coming back to it in the morning you will often make more progress.
Be ready to recognize a good answer when you see it—Once you have enough crossing words in mind you can have good confidence that you are on the right track and go ahead and write those in, even if you don’t have good ideas for some of the linked words. You need to recognize that when enough parts come together and your solution makes them fit, that is a strong clue that you are making progress, even if there are still unanswered aspects.