Decompose

The most underrated skill is learning how to decompose problems. An expert rarely solves a difficult problem all at once. They reduce it until the unknown becomes a collection of smaller knowns.

The same pattern shows up everywhere:

• Software: break a system into modules.
• Robotics: separate perception, estimation, planning and control.
• Mathematics: transform an unfamiliar problem into structures you already know how to manipulate.
• Engineering: isolate variables until cause and effect become visible.

Decomposition converts confusion into experiments. That is the whole point of this skill.

When this triggers

Run this loop before anything else when: