This resonates with my experience. Often, the only thing I do when helping someone solve a problem, is try to make their implicit model explicit. “Why does this thing happen, exactly?” “What happens between these two points?” “What do you predict happens if this part changes?” This typically creates a conversation where the other person has enough space to work through the implications (and make good suggestions) themselves.
It has the advantage that, if a solution comes up, they fully understand what generated it, and so they’re not likely to forget it later. This is in contrast to a situation where I say “Oh, x totally will work” and they don’t *really* get why I think it works.
(I’ve been trying a bunch of more advanced moves very recently, but getting this basic skill has been my main practice and cause of success in this domain in the past few years.)
This resonates with my experience. Often, the only thing I do when helping someone solve a problem, is try to make their implicit model explicit. “Why does this thing happen, exactly?” “What happens between these two points?” “What do you predict happens if this part changes?” This typically creates a conversation where the other person has enough space to work through the implications (and make good suggestions) themselves.
It has the advantage that, if a solution comes up, they fully understand what generated it, and so they’re not likely to forget it later. This is in contrast to a situation where I say “Oh, x totally will work” and they don’t *really* get why I think it works.
(I’ve been trying a bunch of more advanced moves very recently, but getting this basic skill has been my main practice and cause of success in this domain in the past few years.)