The Scientific Method of Troubleshooting - Blithe Rocher at New Relic

The Scientific Method

of Troubleshooting

@blithe

Scientist

PhD in Physical

Chemistry

Physics

Chemistry

6 Years!

Experiments

Scientific Method

Developer< >

StackOverflow

Problem solved?

Learn anything?

Most Important Part

Scientific Method

Set of Techniques For Acquiring Knowledge

Methodical

Systematic

“Has anyone seen string interpolation

fail?”#

Define the Problem

2 3 4 5 6 71

Expected behavior?

Expected behavior?

Actual behavior?

Expected behavior?

Actual behavior?

Criteria for success?

Do Your Research3 4 5 6 7Define 2

Know your environment

Read the literature

Discussions

Make it fail!

Establish a Hypothesis

5 6 7Define Research 43

Design the Experiment

6 7Define Research Hypothesis 54

Divide and conquer!

Limit the variables

Try something weird

Hierarchy of Blame

Gather

Data6 7Define Research Hypothesis Experiment 5

Current status?

Read the error message!

Analyze Your Results

7Define Research DataHypothesis Experiment 6

Problem solved?

Learn anything?

Understand the Why

Future Experiments

Embrace the Success

Keep a Good

Lab Notebook

Define Research DataHypothesis Experiment Analyze 7

You won’t remember

Logs aren’t enough

Commit Messages

Update the Docs

Contribute

Share the

Knowledge

Questions?Thanks!

@blithe