One of my favorite stories: Ask the Duck by hwrnmnbsol
I’ve also heard it known as “Rubber Duck Theory”. It’s great for beginning to teach independence in new developers/employees. The general concept being: explain the question to the duck and the answer might suddenly arrive in your brain. Though, really it isn’t so spontaneous so much as it’s just the side effect of rethinking the problem from another perspective.
It goes hand in hand with “give me 5 minutes”. I’ve had great success with this one. “Give me 5 minutes” gets you two things: 5 minutes of peace and typically a developer who figures out the answer themselves without your help. My suspicion is this works because instead of a duck, they are now going back to their desk and starting to frame the explanation and questions for hypothetical future you.
Sixty percent of the time it works every time. Mileage will vary with under performers though.
Jeff of All Trades 