What does being captain of the US Puzzle Team and winning the Global Integration Summit competition have in common? Quite a bit, actually. After all, designing and building software solutions is just another type of  problem solving.

It turns out that a lot of people who compete in puzzle contests are computer folks. And my experience as a puzzle champion really comes in to play in knowing how to anticipate problems in my work. For instance, during Global Integration Summit competition, we were told to expect a curve ball at some point. Most of the other companies never figured it out—but we anticipated the exact trick they delivered a week in advance. Our product suite was the undisputed winner of the competition, but many times in problems or puzzles the ability to anticipate can make all the difference. Little edges like this one didn't hurt.

I’ve always liked puzzles and got started competing in high school math contests. In 1992 I was on the first US Puzzle Team where we won the first of five World Puzzle Championship team titles. Now I'm the team captain and along with Will Shortz, editor of the NY Times crossword puzzle, I run the Google sponsored US Puzzle Championship to select who competes in the October world championship.

If you’re interested in learning more about puzzle competition, check out the sites below.

• Team USA web site: http://wpc.puzzles.com
• A physical puzzle design competition, which I chair:  http://www.puzzleworld.org/DesignCompetition
• Or contact me directly with questions at [email protected]