[Ultramaroon]

Actually the computer analogy as an example of any complicated system, works well on many levels.

A golden rule - Change only one thing at a time.

Stay away from the shotgun approach. Instead:

1. Make a hypothesis.
2. Take relevant data.
3. Change one thing.
4. Observe and consider results.

To me it's simple shit I learned informally as a kid but I guess it's not common. The key is to never lose track of where you are in a process. That way, if you don't get the results you expected, you can back out of your change AND you can learn from those results. People make careers out of teaching it.

Changing 2 things at once is a recipe for waste and frustration.