Read, reproduce, understand. Think of how the programmer was solving a problem and left a problem. Did they probably didn’t understand the problems. The synthetic challenges are often a skill to themselves.

Re attention span, consider different expectations. Professional product engagements are often 2 ftes/2 weeks. Getting a few good findings out in that time is the goal.

Sometimes they run out of time on a thread they are looking at. Sometimes they pull on a thread only to find out there’s no way from here. Sometimes years later there’s an insight that x could work.

Building up that last skill is what makes you more effective. Find someone to bounce ideas off of that’s in the learning curve with you.