The importance of reviewing and reflection
First, you have to review and reflect to improve. After finishing the Wordle, I use the Wordlebot to analyze my performance and see what I missed. The same applies when building new products or features — or anything, really. Whether it’s shipping without appropriate instrumentation or not stopping to reflect on what processes are and aren’t working, lacking any sort of reflection is a recipe for, at best, stagnation, and, at worst, degradation.
Experience leads to pattern matching
Speaking of, my obsession experience has allowed me to get relatively good at pattern matching. While some suggestions for “best words” are way out there (BOUGH???), reviewing the Wordlebot is helpful to try and deduce what combinations of words are most likely to get to the right answer most quickly, and apply those in future rounds. Experience in any domain allows one to do the same. Whether it’s anticipating problems or sharpening the elusive product sense, it’s only through exposure to different types of problems that we can recognize patterns and behaviors that might be applicable to our current situation and help us move forward.
Stepping away as a way forward
I usually do the Wordle in the mornings. Most times, things just flow and I’m able to solve it within a few minutes. But occasionally, I genuinely cannot think of what the right next word might be. When this happens, rather than wasting a guess and risking not solving the puzzle, I’ll step away from it for a while (and move on to the other little word games). Whether it’s minutes or hours, coming back to the Wordle after some time away usually unlocks a path forward for me. The same is true for challenging work situations or product problems. Whenever I’ve found myself spinning wheels and not being able to crack something, I’ll put it away for a while and come back to it later in the day or even after a couple of days. The space and distance helps me think about the problem in the back of my mind and more often than not find an approach that works.
The risk of optimizing for local maxima
For the early part of my Wordle career, I played in the game’s “hard mode”, where you’re forced to use the correct letters in subsequent guesses. This can seem like the quickest way forward but is sometimes just a path to a dead end. My last streak ended this way: I ran out guesses after being convinced my next word would surely be the right one. It was a good reminder in the risk of optimizing for local maxima. When we’re focused on finding a solution or optimizing an existing user flow, it’s easy to focus on the small(er) optimizations that can be made within the existing space. But that space may just be suboptimal and exploring an entirely new path might be the right approach. So, when in doubt throw a DUMPY in there and see what happens.
You’re not alone
Sometimes space and distance doesn’t work. It’s late, or maybe I’m especially tired or just not feeling inspired and my streak is at risk. When this happens, I call in the big guns — my wife, Mary. It’s a good reminder that we don’t need to work through every problem on our own. Sometimes it’s beneficial to have outside perspective to help you think through a difficult problem. The fresh perspective can unlock a key insight that makes everything else click into place.
Luck matters
While Wordle is a skill-based game, ultimately luck plays a role. Sometimes you end up with a high skill rating and still only solve the puzzle in six turns, or finish in two despite a statistically “bad” guess. Luck is a factor in virtually everything in life, and product work is no different. We’ve likely all had releases that despite thorough research didn’t take off, and others that inexplicably are a success. Having an unlucky game (or exceptionally lucky) is bound to happen — acknowledge that when reflecting, and continue with what should work next time.