Problem Solving

Where were you blocked on a simple problem?

I was working on several automation scripts for app deployment while using device management, trying to move away from having to spend 3-4 hours of manual labour and compact it into an hour of time at most. The issue I was having was the the turn-around time between writing the script for the remote management tool that my company was using at the time: it was taking anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour to get the script to upload to the system, then deploy on the target test device, then execute and report back to the dashboard about the success or failure status. After struggling with this for a few days, I did some research and approached my manager with a suggestion to replace the tool with a different system, where the turn-around would be less than a minute for the exact same actions. After a couple of weeks of testing and a trial run, I was allowed to replace the system entirely. This sped up the development time by leaps and bounds, and I was able to automate a lot of my tasks with scripts much quicker.

While doing this, I was feeling excited for being able to run my solution without so much as a complaint or objections. I learned that proper research and suggestion with and adequate management can make wonders for workplace improvements.

An elegant solution

I was trying to come up with a solution for one of my customers where they were frequently forgetting to move large files out of their SharePoint cloud storage. Sharepoint itself has a notoriously bad system for low space notifications and frequently allows companies to have gigabytes of data stored above capacity, before notifying the IT department. I wrote a script that connected to the Sharepoint tenant via PowerShell and collected storage data on existing sites in the system, calculated the percentatge of space available and then sent an alert to the stakeholders to remind them that space was below 10% or 5% of total capacity, with different email design as well to attract attention. This was very helpful for both me and my customer, as it served as a reminder and a warning.

I used some researching skills and programming to solve this and I believe that now, three years later, this system is still in place.

How confident are you with the following problem-solving skills?

• Pseudocode: I am very comfortable with pseudocode as I almost always write out what I want to achieve step by step if I do not know the solution off the top of my head.
• Trying something: this is my goto method when trying to figure out if something is working as I intend it to. Very comfortable, frequently used.
• Rubber ducky: I rarely have to use this and I do not have a rubber duck, however, I have had a couple of times where I was asking another colleague about an issue and while explaining it to him, I figured out a solution in my head. Somewhat comfortable.
• Reading error messages: very comfortable with this as I had to read a LOT of them when trying to decipher why some systems are failing to start or software is refusing to work.
• Googling: my go to when looking for error code descriptions, or just any general research realted to the problem at hand. 5 stars.
• Asking peers: I am comfortable asking my peers without reservations as I always try to build up rapport and respect within the team I am operating in. This goes both ways and I try to make it as comfortable as I can to ask me for help too.

When were you reluctant to ask for help?

Never really. I do my best to solve an issue myself, but if all else fails, I do not hesitate to ask for another opinion. Perhaps I am looking at the problem in the wrong way? A third-party perspective usually gives a different point of view.