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Discussion on: What's the best thing to do when you've run into a debugging dead end?

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Fernando • • Edited

Start a draft question on StackOverflow (or similar). That’s my last resort, because it forces me to run through a mental checklist along the lines of:

  1. Really make sure there’s no duplicate question out there (with an answer 🤞🏼)
  2. Write a concise explanation of the problem (helps understand the problem better if you can explain it)
  3. Look for evidence other people will eventually ask for (i.e. logs, print screens, reproduction steps, etc)
  4. Continue to work on the draft by asking yourself follow up questions others might eventually ask you (i.e. “have you checked the config file?”, “have you read the man page to look for other options available?”, etc)
  5. After double/triple checking the draft and still not finding a solution, post the question (internet strangers help each other everyday)
  6. Feel guilty for not doing enough research, so you keep trying and might even solve the problem on your own after coming back fresh another day, if the question hasn’t been answered yet (I wouldn’t recommend the guilt part but that’s just usually me at this point)