INTJ vs The Rubiks Cube

Everyone knows the little bugger.  3x3 cube with innocent colors?  I had one when I was little, but really it only served to annoy me.  I didn't get why anyone would spend time rotating these little blocks around and around to apparently no good end.  I don't think I ever saw anyone actually solve it, unless it was by taking off the stickers. 

While I was Christmas shopping, I saw a bin full of new-age "fast action" Rubiks Cubes and thought "meh, why not?"  I put it on my list of "Christmas gifts to me" (a habit surely created by years of single parenting) and on Christmas day I looked long and hard at it before I took a deep breath and began mucking it all up.  I knew that it may never return to its original state, especially considering that there are no longer stickers on the thing.  The colors stay where they are.

Thankfully, in this digital age, there are other ways to cheat.  Plenty of Youtube videos exist to help you learn to solve the cube, but the most helpful place of all was actually the Rubiks Cube website.  They have a very simple, step by step instruction guide for solving your cube, no matter how tangled up it is.  

I must say that I was just a little put off at first by the fact that there is no grand mystery in this little block of irritation.  It can be solved with just a few learned sequences.  The part of me that struck out on the path to learning physics appreciates the beauty and simplicity of it though, and even though I cannot yet explain it myself, I know that there is actually a mathematical formula that exists around it.  (Visit this location for a decent description: http://web.mit.edu/sp.268/www/rubik.pdf )

This cube will be my inspiration for physics classes.  Something that appears impossible can often be reduced to basic concepts and elements that are easier to tackle.  The fact that something as useless and annoying as a Rubiks Cube could engage generations of children (and adults) proves that we are inclined to problem solving, even if some of us give up more quickly than others.  

It didn't take me long to Google... I knew there were solutions available because I'd seen them before.  I suppose it's the mark of INTJ efficiency to avoid "reinventing the wheel" but I'm a little disappointed in myself now, after seeing the solution and working through it numerous times.  I wish that I'd held off for a while and really put my attention to trying to figure it out.  The best I can do now is to watch what the cube is doing as I move through the sequences and understand why they work.  Perhaps as I advance through my classes at school I will begin to understand the math that can derive the solution.

On a happier note, I'm proud to say that I did solve a unique problem of my own recently.  I was inspired by Pinterest, but their solution didn't quite work for me.  I'm sure by now many have seen the "paperclip stuck to the table" solution for holding electronic device chargers where they can be easily accessed.  Just in case you haven't, here it is.  I had used the idea previously with actual paperclips taped to the back of the table so just a little loop appeared above the table where the wire was, however I rearranged things in my room so this table no longer sat where it was needed.  Now there is a desk there, with all kinds of abnormal curves and no really good place to put a clip like this.  I tried all sorts of solutions, but finally realized that I have a bunch of magnets sitting here that I play with from time to time.  The under-side of the keyboard tray that rolls out is metal...

Now, the paperclip is stuck to a rare earth magnet on the underside of the keyboard roller... and it never falls.  In fact, if the clip is ever misaligned so that it would bump into the desk itself as the tray rolls back and forth, the clip just spins around on the magnet so it never gets caught.  It was quite a brilliant solution, I thought.  Onward to the next problem!

INTJ "Grit"

I have a thing for turtles.  I rescue them from roads (or cause them to be run over in my attempt to rescue them... don't ask, it was traumatizing) and love watching them.  The Tortoise and the Hare was one of my favorite stories when I was little and I actually had a little painted turtle when I was young. Something about that constant determination to get from point A to point B resonates with me.  Turtles may not be the most fierce creatures on the planet, but they're resourceful and consistent and tranquil.  Maybe the turtle would be my "spirit animal" hehe.  

All my life I've had a tenacity for accomplishing things that I feel are important. I can become absolutely relentless, even if it takes me years to reach a goal. Sometimes it felt like I was really "lucky" but after a while I realized that all the planning and work would usually align with the perfect place in time where everything would just fall together, almost magically.  My intuition (and some common sense) helped me know how to lay the foundation and when the time was right to build the house (so to speak) I would be ready.  

I wonder if this "grit" is something that all INTJ's feel.  Despite obstacles, despite naysayers, despite impossible odds, I move forward, always forward, toward my goals.  Sometimes they seem very far away and I wonder how long it will take me to arrive, but it doesn't stop the movement.  Like a turtle staring at a stretch of highway at 10pm, I say a prayer, check for headlights and start walking.

INTJ Mom's - With ENFP Daughters

I have an amazing daughter.  She's funny and intelligent and absolutely lights up my life.  

She's also an ENFP.  A TEENAGE ENFP.  There is a terrific post about ENFP children here and it rings so true for her.  

What it probably doesn't say is that ENFP and INTJ relationships are one of the most laughed about and talked about relationships in MBTI.  Where the INTJ is cast as all serious and prickly, the ENFP is the enthusiastic, heart warming, people loving polar opposite.   

Lucky for her, I'm her Mom and I couldn't run away screaming like a normal INTJ response would presume (lol).   

Imagine my relief when I was finally able to "figure her out" and we discovered her ENFP-ness.  I think she felt the same kind of relief to understand me, at long last.  Now it has become a source of entertainment for her (and for me) to point out those differences.  It gave us some common ground on which to work and probably saved us from driving each other insane as she has morphed into teenage ENFP.  

I discovered a great tactic a while ago to deal with her emotional teenage outbursts.  I talk to her, hug her, give sage advise... and when none of that works I let loose with an incredibly uncharacteristic emotional outburst of my own, complete with arm waving, tears and a voice that raises about two octaves.  At that point she's usually so flabbergasted to see me in such a state that she calms down.  Someday she might realize that it's just a little premeditated  *cackle*  Survival of the fittest, sweety!  I feel totally justified in this since she uses her people-intuition to push my buttons at every opportunity.  

Earlier today, in fact, as I was typing my previous blog post she came up and wrapped her arms around me and said "You're in Thinking mode."  I replied "Yep" and kept typing. She then laughed, squeeeeezed harder and started chanting and yelling "FEEL! I WANT YOU TO FEEL! DO IT!" I began laughing and told her that I was beginning to FEEL something and she was about to be it's recipient.  

She laughed, giggled and squeeeezed some more with glee "IT'S COMING! I CAN TELL!"  I gave a fake growl, snuggled back with her... and then told her to never marry an INTJ. She skipped away, proud of herself for getting me to break concentration and respond to her irrational quest.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm not the most ill-prepared woman in the world to help this child grow into an adult.  She's a complete enigma to me and yet I love her unconditionally and fiercely.  The most entertaining person I know is this confusing little creature I call daughter.  I have no idea how I made something like that.  I'm so incredibly glad that I did.  

MBTI vs HBDI - Making Sense of Nonsense

Recently I attended a great class hosted by The Learning Tree for "Critical Thinking and Creative Problem Solving".  It was one of the most interesting classes I've taken and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Part of my excitement in the class stemmed from my study of MBTI because one of the outcomes of the class was to receive a packet with our own personal HBDI results.  I'd only heard little bits about HBDI, the Herrmann Brain Dominance Indicator, and hadn't paid much attention to it in the past because there aren't really good tests available that aren't done by the HBDI owners, and those cost money.

Prior to the class, everyone had to take the test.  As I proceeded through the questions I could see some similarities to MBTI question types, but there were distinct differences.  This test forced you to choose priorities.  It isn't possible to choose everything with HBDI, so each person has to think carefully about what attributes most fit them.  

When I received my HBDI results in the class, I thought they were wrong. Interesting, but wrong.  

Without going into too much detail, these results indicate a personality that is triple dominant, which is found in about 34% of participants.  It reveals a strong preference for Creative/Intuitive as well as Analytical thinking.  Those two were closely followed by Interpersonal preferences and Organizational was the lowest.  How could this be?  Anyone who knows me says I'm one of the most organized and analytical people they know.  How could a brain that is supposedly hard-wired to lean toward "right-brain" tendencies display the opposite in day-to-day life?  How could both theories be so widely accepted... and so vastly different?  

HBDI goes to great lengths to repeat that preference is NOT equal to competence, but it still made very little sense to me.  Wouldn't a person who relied heavily on one part of the brain behave in a manner that fit that tendency?  The problem with mine was that they were so evenly distributed that it wasn't entirely clear where the real "winner" was.  I was also baffled by the fact that the "D" quadrant (Creative) scored the highest, if only by a couple of points.  There are many things that I consider myself to be... but creative wasn't usually at the top of the list.  While I have had many, many, MANY different hobbies through the years, I never considered myself very good at them and eventually I would learn what I needed to know about them to be satisfied and I would move on.  The few that stick felt more like "cerebral" or emotionally expressive activities to me, not creative activities.

As we proceeded through the class some things began to ring true about this type that was represented on a neat, colorful little graph.  I am highly intuitive when problem solving or learning and intuition is tied most closely to the D quadrant.  I bought my car because 1) I fell in love with the "space age" dashboard and 2) Because it received high ratings in all the important things.  In that order.  I bought my appliances because 1) The buttons and knobs had the right tactile feel to them 2) Because they had good reviews and great warranties.  In that order.  There are other examples, but it seems that when I make every day decisions there is a part of me that insists something be aesthetically pleasing first... and then functional and reliable.  If I can't justify my desire for something "nice" with the analytical "will this work" part, the purchase isn't made.  It has to be both in equal parts.

When I started looking into my work behavior, I saw it even more.  I have always had a tendency to want to think outside the box and find solutions that aren't obvious.  To me, the perfect solution to a problem is a thing of beauty.  It's elegant.  It's always my goal.  Oftentimes I just know the answer to something without really understanding how I figured it out because my intuition has put pieces together for me without conscious effort.  This is "Creativity" at work.  

By the time the class was over I tended to agree with my results but I was still bothered by the seeming lack of consistency between MBTI and HBDI.  The analyst mentality kicked in and I started writing.  Using the information in the packet that was provided I was able to determine (what others apparently already knew if I had just Googled it) that the four quadrants have a basic correlation to Sensing, Thinking, Feeling and Intuition which are the four basic "functions" of the MBTI world.  Introversion and Extroversion impact how those functions manifest themselves, and the order in which they are "preferred" also plays a huge role.  

Before I go any deeper into this rabbit hole, I would like to mention that I've always been annoyed by the way MBTI grouped personality types.  Using NT/NF/SJ/SP as their baseline always seemed vulgar to my patterned brain.  Why not NT/NF/ST/SF?  What possible difference could the J/P make when they aren't even tied to the base functions?  That question is a key, so hang onto it.

Once I figured out the four quadrants could correlate to MBTI base functions, I started mapping, but I grouped them by the N/S/T/F primarily to accommodate the HBDI.  

If we then place each MBTI type into the quadrant of "dominance", where primary Sensors were all in quadrant A, primary Thinkers were in quadrant B and so on, my issue with MBTI seemed to resolve itself.  No more with the J/P nonsense, this was beautiful!  Here was the initial outline:

But wait... the entire MBTI grouping system was now in jeopardy.  What on Earth could an INTJ, INFJ, ENTP and ENFP possibly all have in common... aside from their dominant intuition?  What indeed.  If I knew more about how actual nerves in the brain were wired I believe it would correspond to what is visible here but that's for another day's research.  Do you notice anything about the little arrows that are drawn next to each type?  I'll give you a hint: The line starts in the primary function quadrant and the arrow indicates the very last quadrant to be reached, at least in the way that the MBTI functions exist.  An INTJ's "thought preference pattern" looks something like this (moving D -> B -> C -> A)

Realistically this would look more like a figure 8 that starts in the D quadrant (there are 8 overall functions for each type but usually on the first 4 are used because the other four are easily plugged in thereafter.  A completed INTJ function list would be Ni, Te, Fi, Se, Ne, Ti, Fe, Si).  The thing is, not every type has this "figure 8" pattern.  Some run clockwise or counter clockwise and they can start in any quadrant.  Introversion/Extroversion doesn't come into play until you start applying the characteristics that belong to each type.  In other words: How does it manifest?

The only other type that has the same "thought preference pattern" as an INTJ is the ENTP, but on the surface these two types have very little in common as far as behavior are concerned.  Scratch just a little bit deeper though and there are some similarities in how they can generate possibilities and grasp big-picture ideas.  Both also have a bit of an obnoxiousness to them in stereotypical descriptions.

What does all of this mean?  Right now, I am hesitant to jump to conclusions but these are my thoughts as I continue to review:

1. The "Thought preference pattern" for every single "type" both starts and ends in either the Neocortex (quadrants A/D) or the Limbic system (quadrants B/C).  It can't be a coincidence that no "patterns" were left/right aligned.  This may be tied directly to how the brain is hard-wired.  
2. Order matters, a LOT, when reviewing functions... but HBDI doesn't seem well equipped to handle this fact.
3. Dominance matters, a LOT, but MBTI doesn't seem well equipped to handle this fact.  (I have not yet determined how reliable the HBDI "dominance" factor lines up with MBTI primary functions, except to note that my own dominant quadrant (D) does in fact line up with my primary MBTI function of Intuition)
4. Competence seems to be a product of environment, will power and practice... variables that are difficult to measure in a "test" environment.  Is this "wild card" factor measurable in some way? What does it do to HBDI/MBTI measurements over time?
5. I want to explore the difference in personality manifestations that compare types that are 'cross functional' against those that run clockwise or counterclockwise.  
6. Enneagram works at a very subconscious level.  Could there be a correlation in these patterns to enneagram types?
7. I really do think the key is in the J/P dichotomy... but where is it found?  It seems to be completely ignored in HBDI.  Could this area be a manifestation of the "third brain" or "Reptilian" brain that equates to "fight" or "flight"?  In a loose sense, maybe "fight" is the J preference and "flight" is the P preference.  Maybe...

Work - Intuitive Business Analysis - Part 2

Intuition is a difficult thing to describe.  My experience with intuition in it's most basic sense seems to be simply a collection of knowledge points that, when combined, trigger some kind of little flag in my mind.  

When I was younger I used to sometimes have very strong reactions to conversations I was having with someone.  The best way to describe it was that the words I was hearing suddenly faded into the background as my brain focused intently on something else that was less tangible.  I would not be able to recall a single word spoken to me during those moments, but I could intensely remember how I FELT.  I later associated these instances with being lied to, but it took me a lot of time and experience to recognize it as such.  It was difficult to learn to trust my "gut instincts" with people when it seemed like such an irrational way to relate to others.  I wanted desperately to be able to accept others at face value, but learned that others sometimes had hidden agendas and motives.  

When dealing with people, I now know that if I feel like something isn't on the up-and-up, I should become suspicious and I start analyzing.  I've also developed a certain amount of reservation when providing information to others, I suppose as a form of self-preservation.  I slowly test people as I come to know them, revealing little things that I know to see if they are a reliable confidante.  If they build my trust over time, then I may come to rely heavily on them as a person I can speak freely with... provided that my intuition doesn't send up some other kind of warning.

My intuition though is at its strongest when dealing with computer systems.  As I've grown older and accumulated more I.T. knowledge it seems to be easier and easier to just know what's wrong when something is broken.  Experience is a part of it, but there is also an uncanny ability to point directly to the source of an issue without knowing exactly why.  90% of the time, I am right on the money.  

For example: I was working on testing an IVR system recently and heard an "Unexpected Error" message that plays when some sort of failure occurs... basically a system error indicator.  I have heard these messages in the past, and each time that I would call back to test the data again to try to reproduce it, I proceed without error... so I assumed it had been a temporary glitch in the test system or some sort of connectivity hiccup with the database.  This time though, I knew something wasn't right.  I had been systematically tracing every step, every change in the databases as I performed tasks in each system as I went along.  There were two web-based applications, multiple mainframe sockets, Oracle database procedures, IVR logic and an underlying shared backbone application at work in this process, so my review and documentation had been slow and painstaking.  I knew there shouldn't be an issue.

I checked the Oracle table and sure enough, the data had changed.  I knew the Update procedure had run and succeeded... but there were a lot of other decision points in the IVR call flow between that update and the next voice prompt.  Any one of those could have caused the error.

I reviewed all of the data as it had existed during the call and didn't find anything that should have caused a failure.  The data was sound and the decisions matched the path I thought I should be on.  My eyes settled on the Oracle update reference and I knew that something had gone wrong with the Oracle update, even though it was successful (according to the data).

After the vendor reviewed my test and the data I provided, they found that a Boolean result path was opposite of what it was supposed to be.  When that update into Oracle was successful, it sent back the correct response... but the phone system developer had mapped the Success flag to go down the Failure path.  The hilarious, evil, devious part of the thing was that once that Oracle table was updated, the test could not be reproduced because the query INTO that table on subsequent calls would turn the caller down a completely different path.  One little keystroke, done years before when the system was developed, had caused an error that could not be reproduced.  It was a hunch... one Unexpected Error out of a hundred that I'd heard in the last couple of years, but this time I knew that something was broken, and I could fix it.

A similar thing happened a few months ago.  This time it was a set of events leading up to a chance review of data that caused me to stumble across it.

We had implemented another phone system about 8-10 weeks prior, and I decided to request a tally of the 'checkpoints' we had built into the system that basically do a count of every time someone passes a certain point in the call flow.  Each one was labeled, and since I had been the Analyst and PM on the project, I knew the call flow inside and out... in my sleep.  (Fifty revisions of a detailed change request literally appeared in my dreams before the project was rolled into Production.)  The system was a nimble gathering of determined information that ultimately resulted in a push to the mainframe where the data was stored.  

The familiar labels and their tally's landed in my inbox and after seeing a dramatic difference between the number of people calling versus the number of people who reached the end where the data is submitted, I decided I would outline where we were losing the callers to see if anything stood out.  When I was finished, most of the dropped calls could be accounted for (transfers, etc) but there was one area that had a drop rate of over 50%!  It was in an area that requested a four digit date to be input, that would then be verified against the Oracle database.  It seemed strange that so many people would enter the wrong date and ultimately be routed out of the system.  

I passed my findings along to the business and then it was on to other things that demanded my attention.  

A few days later, on a separate project, I happened to be sitting with the DBA, reviewing data with him at his desk.  He ran a few quick queries, briefly pulled up a table and scrolled a few times before we moved on to the next... but something had caught my attention.  I stopped him and backed him up to the previous query results, looking at the field that held the date that so many people were unable to correctly enter.  Some of the fields only held three digits.  Three??  But it's a four-digit entry... MMDD.  I knew that the phone system validated the input on the front end, so how could this be possible?

We realized that the Oracle field was a NUMERIC field... which was dropping any date with a leading zero.  The very first record in the table, dating back to years ago, had only three digits.  This explained why so many people were dropping off as they tried to authenticate against this field... up to 3/4 of the dates available in a year wouldn't work!!!  Only dates in October, November and December were technically 'valid' as a four digit date that we were asking callers to enter. 

The combination of timing and circumstance made it possible to find and fix the problem.  I was both proud and disappointed in myself.  Proud that we had found it, almost by happenstance... but disappointed that it hadn't been discovered in my own testing of our new system.  For the sake of ease in test cases, I had been instructed that the default date of "1111" was entered into all of the test cases whenever asked for, and it didn't occur to me to question it or use anything else.  In the name of speed in testing, we had committed a Q/A sin.

Intuition is a tricky thing.  Sneaky.  It creeps up on you when you aren't looking for it and sometimes it can "miss the forest for the trees".  More often than not though, I believe it makes connections that seem unrelated to others... and helps me find the true source of how things work.  There is something very satisfying in discovery; in new understanding.  I am glad, all things considered, that I have such a powerful tool at my disposal... even if I can't control it.

Work - Intuitive Business Analysis - Part 1

Like many who enter the workforce, my early "careers" were unimpressive.  I worked in retail, I worked as a waitress, I worked as a fast food restaurant cook and cashier.  Some jobs were better than others... I made a terrible waitress and actually feel sort of bad for those who were unfortunate enough to have me as their attendant.  I had no sense of haste about me, no ability to anticipate their needs and frequently forgot things that were requested.  My mother tells me that I once told a person who asked for ketchup that they didn't need it.  (I don't remember doing it, but she insists that I did... and it isn't really that unlikely.)  

My first real job was as an accounts receivable clerk, making outbound calls to collect on unpaid accounts.  While my manager saw potential in me and recommended me as his replacement when he moved on, my lack of inter-personal skills cost me the final votes to actually gain the position, even after serving in that capacity in the interim.

A murky career as a car salesman/office administrator brought me at long last to the beginnings of my IT career at the age of twenty six.  Over the next five years I accumulated a vast amount of experience in a multitude of areas.  I had no idea how much I was learning.  The company was small when I was first hired, and more than doubled in size while I was there.  A constantly changing work environment where everyone has to wear every sort of hat imaginable was a dream come true for someone with the curiosity that I carried in me.  My ideas for improvement were often implemented and I was exposed to and participated in many facets of the company.  Technical documentation, business analysis, data analysis, development, system testing, project management, release planning, public speaking, training, help desk support, forums management, newsletter editing, contract management... the list of things that I learned is very long.  My successes though eventually lost their luster because I still did not understand the impact that my words could have.

While my list of successes grew and the size of projects that I tackled became more complex... I believe I also managed to become a thorn in the side of upper management.  My tendency to always point out the things we were "doing wrong" was surely wearisome after a time.  The language that I used to describe problems was often out of proportion with the true scope, and I frequently used strong words so as to be taken seriously, perhaps.  I could clearly see the things we needed to change, and I could not easily describe to those around me why I had arrived at my conclusion.  Instead, I used emphatic language to convince my audience of the importance of the change so that they would support my ideas.  The behavior was juvenile and I was rarely aware of this tendency in myself at the time.  Looking back, I hope that I had some sort of positive influence and lasting impact on the business, but if I had a chance to do it again I would go about it differently.  The lesson was learned only as I was on the verge of leaving.

When I finally resigned and moved on to the next step in my career, I was well prepared to meet the challenges of my new career path of Business Analyst.

I distinctly remember my first interview.  Four people sat across from me and asked me questions at what seemed to be a breathless pace.  I barely finished responding to one question when another was asked.  This went on for an intense hour and my head felt as if I had whiplash from redirecting my attention from one end of the table to the other.  Finally, one of them gave a small smirk to another and I knew they had a trick question incoming.  The woman finally said "Is there anything we should have asked you today that we haven't already asked?"

My brain short circuited... this wasn't a fair question!  I was now on the spot, under pressure and frazzled from an hour long barrage of interrogation.  I could barely even remember what they had asked me anymore.  My mind could not think, and I literally had no words.  I scanned my notes.  I felt the heat rising in my cheeks and it seemed like an eternity ticked by.  Just as I began to raise my eyes to the questioner and began forming the hopeless (interview killing) response of "I have no idea." my brain suddenly flew into action and the words that came out sounded like this:

"It seems, from your questions, that experience with mainframe systems is a critical requirement for this position.  While I do not have any experience in this area, I think that perhaps if you had asked me how quickly I can learn a new system I could have told you that I am extremely good at understanding new things.  I am not afraid to research things that I don't understand.  I believe I could learn and be up to speed in this area in a very short time."

I got the job.

In the moment that I stopped thinking about the problem, my intuition identified the one major gap in my credentials and reassured my interviewers that it wouldn't be a problem.  

This phenomenon of instinctively falling into a solution is not unique to INTJ's... everyone has the potential to use their natural abilities and become successful analysts.  For me, being placed in the B.A. role fit my natural tendencies in a very fulfilling way.  I felt like a fish who had been gasping for air on dry land and then suddenly finding itself tossed into a lake.  I am at home in the analysis world, and hopefully this blog can provide some insights that are helpful to others in the B.A. world.  

Part 2 of this entry will provide some specific examples of intuitive understanding, and how it can be harnessed by others as well.

Stay tuned!