I've found writing emails can help with this. Many times I've started explaining a problem to someone when I'm stumped on what to do next but during the process of explaining, either the next step becomes obvious or I realize what the full solution is. I've got a friend coworker that has helped me solve many problems just by being willing to help. And he's helped me solve some problems I never even mentioned to him because I figured it out while writing an email to him.