So why write a blog? Have you ever experienced talking to a coworker about an issue and then suddenly “getting” the answer as your explaining the problem? Your coworker said nothing. There was zero exchange of information, but you figured it out.
In software engineering this is called rubber duck debugging and I find this phenomenon fascinating. By articulating the problem out loud the human brain has the ability of crystalize concepts and give additional insights with no outside stimuli. Your can literally be talking to an inanimate object – a rubber duck in this example – and get enlightened.
This works because we are creating distance between ourselves and the problem and looking at it objectively. We see the forest instead of the trees. This ability of our brain to just “figure things out” can be utilized by writing as well. The popular learning technique named after Richard Feynman prescribes explaining a concept on paper as if you are talking to someone who has no zero context. The adage “Think on paper” refers to this act of externalizing issues on paper so that you can distance yourself and refine your thinking.
That is what I am doing here. Refining my thoughts around what I have read or learned. This site is just as much for me to figure things out as I hope it is some source of value to you.
Allow me to introduce you to my rubber duck