The Playbook

Problem-solving patterns

How to turn a vague problem into a crisp model What to measure—and what to ignore Finding the right abstraction level Decomposition: breaking big into small When to brute force, when to optimize

Case Studies

Real problems, dissected

Case: Designing a rate limiter Case: Building a recommendation system Case: Debugging a distributed system

Exercises

Train the reflex

Each problem-solving post includes exercises—small prompts designed to build your intuition. Practice turns knowledge into instinct.

Exercises section coming soon.