[Vanclief]

1. I try to break the problem into smaller problems. 2. Pick the hardest one from those smaller problems and apply step 2 until it can't be broken into smaller pieces. 3. Once I have a "constrained" hard problem, I just try to solve it however I can.

If I solve that problem, that normally allows me to build from there, otherwise I may have to re-frame the problem. But by just starting, I get more information and ideas on how to tackle it.

[blisterpeanuts]

This is my approach as well, and I think it's generally considered a best practice in engineering, at least on the software side.

When faced with what sounds like an insurmountable,"where the heck do I even begin?" type of challenge, I like to slice it up and get the obvious bits working, just to build confidence & domain knowledge, while my brain autonomously digests the main problem.