On solving engineering problems (rather any problem)

Ask yourself these questions when you are faced with a problem:

1. Is it really a problem?
2. Does the problem need to be solved?
3. Does the problem need to be solved now?
4. Does the problem need to be solved by you/us?
5. Can you/we break the problem into chunks and solve them?

These questions help reveal more information about the problem and allow us to arrive at the best possible solution.