Engineers (including software engineers) need to be both curious and observant. You never know where the solution to your problem will come from but it often comes from outside your domain. I’ve written before about how data entry on the web has close parallels to mainframe remote job entry.
I recently bought a robot vacuum for my pool. It’s not “smart.” It doesn’t see debris and navigate to pick it up. It doesn’t map my pool and execute a regular pattern. It just does a Brownian walk around the pool and when it gets to an obstacle (a corner or the water line) it backs off, turns, and starts forward again.
But like many digital devices, my robot is not truly random. Would that it were. Rather it seems to favor turning in one direction. After an hour or two, the cord is twisted and tangled and I have to spend 10-15 minutes twisting it the other way before restarting or removing the vacuum. I almost wonder if it’s a true labor saver. (Almost!)
One solution to this would be for the robot to randomly choose its turning direction on every turn. But as noted, digital devices often struggle with randomness, and even true randomness could still result in a series of identical turns. However, my experience in the kitchen suggested a different idea. I’ve noticed that every time my microwave starts, the platter seems to turn in the opposite direction from the previous run.
Applying this to my vacuum, if every time it turned, it turned in the opposite direction from the last time the twists in the cord would be much less likely to accumulate. And left, then right, then left, then right is an ideal application for a digital device: keep a “turn direction” bit, 0 means turn left, 1 means turn right, and flip on each turn. Voila!
So, experience in the kitchen designed a solution for my problem in the yard. Stay curious and stay observant: it’ll make you a better developer.