How do you solve hard problems if you can't make incremental progress?
oomkiller: I'm not sure if I'm unique in this regard, but I seem to have the ability to fully visualize complex systems and problems.  The key for me is understanding the problem fully, as I have to pull all of the pieces together.  I find it difficult sometimes because other people aren't used to working this way, so they try to feed you bite-sized pieces, where what I really want is the entire problem.