When entry-level developers are assigned a business problem, they tend to latch on to the first solution that comes to mind. Not only does this have a tendency to lock in an inferior solution too soon, but it may even cloud thinking to the point of missing some important requirements.

Listening for Clues

Telltale signs of this mistake are in the developer’s vocabulary, so mentors should pay attention. When the rookie attempts to gather a program’s requirements, does he or she jump straight to using programming terminology in describing those requirements, like hash maps, FIFO queues, reference pointers, and LIFO stacks? Or, does he or she carefully stick to problem-domain terminology like definitions, breakdowns, groups, relationships, andpriorities?

If your rookie is indeed having trouble distinguishing the problem-domain from the solution-domain, then the following techniques may help. Continue reading Rookie Mistake: Jumping to Conclusions with Presumed Solutions →