Talk to the Duck
Duck debugging has a long and honourable history, going far back to at least the last century (the first documented mention was in 1999, in Hunt and Thomas' The Practical Programmer).
You don't even need a duck - in a pinch you can stick a pair of googly eyes to almost anything and it makes a perfect duck substitute.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Simple | Simplistic |
| Low-effort | Non-iterative |
| Uses | Generic, first step and triage |
But in all seriousness, talking to the duck is one of the most effective first steps towards solving a problem you can find. In the majority of cases, it'll even get you straight to the answer.
The principle is simple, cheap (unless you're getting a gold duck), quick to use, and can be applied to any area of problem-solving.
- Get a duck (or anything with a face - a pet rock with googly eyes will work, but it must be something you can anthromorphise)
- Put the duck somewhere away from your normal working area, so that you have to step away from any active work to stand by it
- When you have a complex problem, walk to the duck and explain the problem to it clearly and carefully in terms that a duck (or rock) can understand
That's the whole approach. Try it, and you'll be surprised how well it works for a first step in problem solving.
When to Use It
You can apply the duck debugging approach to any form of problem, but it should be a low-effort attempt. Spending hours formulating the problem for the duck isn't going to help you any further, and if you don't get an answer after two or three attempts at explaining yourself then you're best moving on to another technique.
Use it as a triage method - anything not solved by the duck should be tackled with a more in-depth method, but before doing anything more labour-intensive could easily waste time.
How it Works
The technique forces you to explain your problem clearly - articulating a challenge in simple language forces us to better understand the issue and think it through. Often, that forced process of considering the problem is enough to lead us to the answer.
Making it something you can anthromorphise and placing it away from the desk may seem pointless, but they have a sound foundation in how our brains work. We are fantastic at turning things into people, and people are easier to talk to than things. Placing it away from your normal work environment, even a little, forces you to physically move away from the place where you're stuck, which again provides a little psychological release.