Problem-solving is boring on purpose
The unglamorous habit that separates junior talent from everyone else in the room.
The way problem-solving gets taught in school is almost the opposite of the way it gets used at work. In school, the interesting part is the answer. At work, the interesting part is the setup.
What the setup looks like
A senior engineer at a real company doesn't start by trying things. They start by writing down what they know, what they're guessing at, and what would make them wrong. It takes fifteen minutes. It saves three hours.
Then they try the smallest possible thing that would prove one of those guesses wrong. They don't try the fix. They try the diagnostic.
Why students skip this
Because it's boring. And because it feels like not working. Sitting still and writing down assumptions doesn't produce anything you can hand in. So students don't do it. So they end up flailing at three problems at once and can't tell which one is actually broken.
The drill
Before touching anything, write two sentences: 'I think the problem is X. If I'm right, then Y should be true. Let me check Y.'
Do that ten times in a row and you've built the muscle. It's a boring workout. That's why most people don't do it.