Guesswork
Guesswork is a problem-solving approach where developers make educated guesses or assumptions to progress when faced with incomplete information, uncertainty, or time constraints. It involves using intuition, experience, and heuristics to estimate solutions, often as a temporary measure to unblock development or testing. This methodology is common in agile environments, debugging, and rapid prototyping, where perfect data may not be available.
Developers should use guesswork when dealing with ambiguous requirements, debugging complex systems without clear logs, or in time-sensitive situations like hackathons where quick decisions are needed. It helps in moving forward by making reasonable assumptions, such as estimating API response times or hypothesizing bug causes, but should be followed by validation to avoid errors. This approach is particularly useful in exploratory phases or when collaborating with non-technical stakeholders to clarify needs.