4 ms·

How to Work with Stupid People

13 points by dan_sim 16y ago

mixmax 16y ago
Original article: http://jasoncrawford.org/2010/04/how-to-work-with-stupid-people/ http://jasoncrawford.org/2010/04/how-to-work-with-stupid-peo...
- rs 16y ago
  And the HN submission: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1299764 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1299764
mootothemax 16y ago
I don't know about other people, but throughout my career I've routinely assumed that I'm the stupid one, and it hasn't done me any harm so far... I hope ;)
- mullr 16y ago
  I usually assume the same thing and it usually works. But it hurt me once, pretty badly. I spent about a month (!) trying to wrangle good color performance out of a particular scanner for an imaging system. The unit was pre-chosen, I was to make it work. I was assuming the whole time that I was doing something wrong, or that I didn't know something. The real answer was that the scanner manufacturer had fired all of its color scientists and the scanner it question had hardware flaws that were effectively non-correctable. In this case, it would have been far better to be more aggressive. I could have started screaming as soon as things started to look strange and thus saved myself several weeks. But usually the heuristic is a good one.
  - astine 16y ago
    I find that if I complain and bring up my issues with something right away(or, right after checking all the low-hanging troubleshooting fruit,) I usually get the source of the problem quicker. If I'm at fault, I'll find the real problem quicker, and if others are at fault, I won't spend a month wondering what I did wrong.
joelhaus 16y ago
A solid framework for understanding and addressing disagreements, but there isn't enough emphasis on the time constraints imposed by reality. I often find that you must be willing to let a disagreement stand, even though, with enough time, it could be worked out. Advice on two derivatives of this problem would be even more helpful: 1) How can you tell when you have sufficiently refined your communication with the other party? 2) How to reasonably judge the point at which the costs of continuing the discussion out-weight the benefits. This is usually situation specific, but please share if you have any rules that can be applied.

13 points by dan_sim 16y ago

Original article: http://jasoncrawford.org/2010/04/how-to-work-with-stupid-people/ http://jasoncrawford.org/2010/04/how-to-work-with-stupid-peo...

rs 16y ago
And the HN submission: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1299764 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1299764

mootothemax 16y ago

I don't know about other people, but throughout my career I've routinely assumed that I'm the stupid one, and it hasn't done me any harm so far... I hope ;)

mullr 16y ago
I usually assume the same thing and it usually works. But it hurt me once, pretty badly. I spent about a month (!) trying to wrangle good color performance out of a particular scanner for an imaging system. The unit was pre-chosen, I was to make it work. I was assuming the whole time that I was doing something wrong, or that I didn't know something. The real answer was that the scanner manufacturer had fired all of its color scientists and the scanner it question had hardware flaws that were effectively non-correctable. In this case, it would have been far better to be more aggressive. I could have started screaming as soon as things started to look strange and thus saved myself several weeks. But usually the heuristic is a good one.
- astine 16y ago
  I find that if I complain and bring up my issues with something right away(or, right after checking all the low-hanging troubleshooting fruit,) I usually get the source of the problem quicker. If I'm at fault, I'll find the real problem quicker, and if others are at fault, I won't spend a month wondering what I did wrong.

joelhaus 16y ago

A solid framework for understanding and addressing disagreements, but there isn't enough emphasis on the time constraints imposed by reality. I often find that you must be willing to let a disagreement stand, even though, with enough time, it could be worked out. Advice on two derivatives of this problem would be even more helpful: 1) How can you tell when you have sufficiently refined your communication with the other party? 2) How to reasonably judge the point at which the costs of continuing the discussion out-weight the benefits. This is usually situation specific, but please share if you have any rules that can be applied.