I had a rubber duck moment today. “Rubber duck debugging” is a popular software engineering term that can actually be used in any situation. It is a powerful technique to find answers when you get stuck.

Let me quote from a popular book among developers, The Pragmatic Programmer :

A very simple but particularly useful technique for finding the cause of a problem is simply to explain it to someone else. The other person should look over your shoulder at the screen, and nod his or her head constantly (like a rubber duck bobbing up and down in a bathtub). They do not need to say a word; the simple act of explaining, step by step, what the code is supposed to do often causes the problem to leap off the screen and announce itself.

Simply said, explain your problem in detail to a rubber duck and the answer will most probably jump to you. Mind you rubber duck doesn’t know anything, so you have to explain in really simple terms.

You can use this technique in any problem you face. Technical or non-technical. Any dilemma in life, explain it to the rubber duck. Try it. It gives almost miraculous results ! 🙂

In my case, I was stuck at a point for quite some time and didn’t know how to proceed. I started talking about it to one of my colleagues and the solution jumped to my front, without him even opening his mouth. He was my rubber duck. 😛

More later.

Peace,

Shyam

P.S.

Let me quote another link with a nice story on Rubber duck technique, to drive the point home :

Bob pointed into a corner of the office. “Over there,” he said, “is a stuffed duck. I want you to ask that duck your question.”

I looked at the duck. It was, in fact, stuffed, and very dead. Even if it had not been dead, it probably would not have been a good source of design information. I looked at Bob. Bob was dead serious. He was also my superior, and I wanted to keep my job.

I awkwardly went to stand next to the duck and bent my head, as if in prayer, to commune with this duck. “What,” Bob demanded, “are you doing?”

“I’m asking my question of the duck,” I said.

One of Bob’s superintendants was in his office. He was grinning like a bastard around his toothpick. “Andy,” Bob said, “I don’t want you to pray to the duck. I want you to ASK THE DUCK YOUR QUESTION.”

I licked my lips. “Out loud?” I said.

“Out loud,” Bob said firmly.

I cleared my throat. “Duck,” I began.

“Its name is Bob Junior,” Bob’s superintendant supplied. I shot him a dirty look.

“Duck,” I continued, “I want to know, when you use a strap hanger, what keeps the sprinkler pipe from jumping out of the strap when the head discharges, causing the pipe to…”

In the middle of asking the duck my question, the answer hit me. The strap hanger is suspended from the structure above by a length of all-thread rod. If the pipe-fitter cuts the all-thread rod such that it butts up against the top of the pipe, it essentially will hold the pipe in the hanger and keep it from bucking.

I turned to look at Bob. Bob was nodding. “You know, don’t you,” he said.

“You run the all-thread rod to the top of the pipe,” I said.

“That’s right,” said Bob. “Next time you have a question, I want you to come in here and ask the duck, not me. Ask it out loud. If you still don’t know the answer, then you can ask me.”

“Okay,” I said, and got back to work.