That's one way to solve the problem

I find it bizarre that I remember very few specific classes from my college or grad-school daze, but one seminar I vividly remember and still recall occasionally was a presentation by a now-forgotten candidate for the math department at Allegheny College on the Travelling Salesman Problem, Directed, Acyclic Graphs and various theories about networks (not computer networks, but networks of connections of things, regardless of the media).

I think it forever changed (not sure if for the better) my approach to looking at lists of things to be done, whether programming, travelling, project management, etc. The intuitively most direct path is not always the best path to take.