Bill James Quotes

Sometimes big problems are best solved with lots of small and creative solutions.

We must break problems down into small, digestible bits. We must define the concepts that we use and explain what components they consist of. We must tackle small problems.

No matter how complicated a problem is, it usually can be reduced to a simple, comprehensible form which is often the best solution.

The world is complicated. But does every problem require a complicated solution?

He [John von Neumann] had the invaluable faculty of being able to take the most difficult problem and separate it into its components, whereupon everything looked brlliantly simple.

Tinkering is a way of understanding difficult problems, of wrapping our heads around them and quantifying the unknowns.

I'd be wary of simple solutions to complex problems.

Solving big problems is easier than solving little problems.

Early on, in discussions of financial oversight, people would say, 'Well, this is a very complicated problem, therefore it requires a complicated solution.' And at that step, I would say, 'Well, wait a minute. Just because it's a complicated problem doesn't mean the best course of action immediately is one that's complicated.'

Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it.

I'm a perfectionist. And that's served me very well in my career. It allows me to handle these large, complex problems without letting things fall through the cracks... That is the mentality you have to have to attack these complex problems of chip design, for example, when you're overwhelmed with complexity.

The easiest way to solve a problem is to pick an easy one.

Simple solutions seldom are. It takes a very unusual mind to undertake analysis of the obvious.

I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which, when you looked at it in the right way, did not become still more complicated.

I think sometimes a part requires more than one approach or thought.

If you go deep into a problem, you'll find most all of the time that there are yet more problems to be solved from the ground up.

No problem exists in isolation, one must first reduce it to its basic components, then tackle each component in turn.

Our goal is to try to bring a calm and simplicity to what are incredibly complex problems so that you're not aware really of the solution.

Divide each difficulty at hand into as many pieces as possible and as could be required to better solve them.

Approximating involves making a series of educated guesses systematically by partitioning the problem into manageable chunks, identifying assumptions, and then using your general knowledge of the world to fill in the blanks.

I'm a common sense person who tries to analyze and I have to look at all sides of the issue because you don't want software that only does something but doesn't fix the other errors.

Engineers are very logical and everything has to be tested so when we fail, we'll know why and how to improve things.

Folks that has brought up children know that there's no hard and fast method in the world that'll suit every child. But them as never have think it's all as plain and easy as Rule of Three—just set your three terms down so fashion, and the sum'll work out correct.

The problem is that we attempt to solve the simplest questions cleverly, thereby rendering them unusually complex. One should seekthe simple solution.

When you first start off trying to solve a problem, the first solutions you come up with are very complex, and most people stop there. But if you keep going, and live with the problem and peel more layers of the onion off, you can often times arrive at some very elegant and simple solutions.