In the name of Allah(God), Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

My strategy to solve ad-hoc and observation based problems:

1. Observe what is GIVEN
2. Observe what to FIND or PROVE or both
3. Find a GREEDY or BRUTEFORCE solution
4. Test it for SMALLER cases
5. Check CONSTRAINTS
6. Observe the PATTERS and FORMULAS
7. Make the solution OPTIMAL, if it is NOT
8. PROVE the CORRECTNESS of the solution
9. Check it for EDGE cases

I think if make a habit of following the strategy, inshaAllah(by the grace of almighty God), I will improve. I will appreciate any suggestion on my strategy.