Why I Wrote “Method Matters”

With my book’s recent launch on Amazon, I’d like to discuss why I decided to write Method Matters and how I initially approached the process of writing this book.

Over the last decade and a half, I’ve spent a lot of time trying to improve myself. A large portion of this time was dedicated to improving my skills of reasoning and problem-solving. More recently, I’ve extended that to include methods of making observations and learning information more effectively. These skills have enabled me to make great progress in my career as a software engineer and business owner and played a crucial role in landing my engineering job at Amazon.

Over time, I’ve seen plenty of instances where friends and colleagues around me have made mistakes that could have been avoided or have failed to accomplish something when it was well within their means to do so, many of which are due to a failure in properly applying methods of observation or reasoning. That’s not an insult; if you don’t study these methods, how can you apply them? I’ve spent time trying to help others understand the causes of their failures or show them ways of overcoming them in the future. However, I’ve had very limited success.

Over time, as I reflected on these experiences over time, I realized that two main problems prevented me from being as helpful as I would have liked. If people don’t come to me for advice, then any advice I give them will probably be disregarded or not duly considered. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as one needs to be very careful when giving unsolicited advice in how they approach it, and more often than not, unsolicited advice you may receive will be incorrect. The second problem is that when I was asked for advice, the advice I gave would be specific to the topic of conversation. I found that if I did try to extract the essence of the underlying concepts, they would lose interest and change the conversation back to the specifics. I realized that the solution to both problems that would allow me to help others more successfully is to write a book. The act of buying my book would be analogous to that of coming to me for advice, and the length of the book, combined with practical examples, would allow me to teach general concepts while rooting them in specific examples. I also knew that I would enjoy the challenge of writing and publishing a book from start to finish.

At a high level, this book is about learning the steps of observation and reasoning to give you the skillset you need to plan and accomplish your goals effectively. I wrote it to be as practical and non-technical as possible, as I believe anyone can learn these skills and make good use of them without cracking open the textbook and studying lists of logical inferences and fallacies. Though it is non-technical, I still introduce the major concepts in isolation, such as observation, reasoning, and drawing conclusions, giving enough information to let the reader fully absorb the essentials while keeping the book lightweight and easy to read. I include concrete examples throughout, many of which are taken directly from my own experiences.

I look forward to seeing the reviews and feedback I’ll receive from my readers. If my book sounds like something you would be interested in reading, please consider viewing it on Amazon. Thank you for your interest!