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There's a money side to this that's also important. Had a friend call me a few months back with a technical problem. "How do I fix Y on my server?" Now I knew

There's a money side to this that's also important. Had a friend call me a few months back with a technical problem. "How do I fix Y on my server?" Now I knew that server wasn't bringing in a lot of money, and the Y he wanted to fix could be accomplished the same way with say, 100 bucks of purchasing something else. But I figured it was better if he figured this out himself. So I asked him what X he was using it for. That was it. We never got past that, mainly because he was dead-set on spending a week or two of effort and tens of thousands of dollars on something that was (pretty much) trivial. So after circling the barn a few times on the phones, I gave up. Told him that yes, based on what he was saying he had a fix for Y that was fine. It was just going to take a long time and cost a lot of money. "But there has to be a quicker, cheaper way!" Argghhhh. Yes, there is. But if you can't figure out that you're solving the business problem first, the technical problem second? There might not be one. Technology exists for a reason, and technical problems exist because business needs are not being met. Fix the business problem. It'll drive the tech decisions. It was quite a frustrating call. For both of us. The X of the XY problem might be critical. Or not. People who ask dumb questions get dumb answers.

fwip 7y ago
Maybe just be nice to your friends.
- DanielBMarkham 7y ago
  I was. We were nice to each other. He's a dear friend. I don't think either one of us were being unkind to the other. I stayed on the call as long as I could. I wanted to help him out. He was just trying to scope down the conversation at the wrong time. I understand his motivations and reasons, but it was premature. I worked with a really smart leader of a large agency many years ago. Not only a nice guy, he was also brilliant and on top of everything. I could see several projects he had were going off-the-rails. Why?. Because he kept asking technical questions and getting technical answers. The questions were fine but context-free. The answers were good but context-free. There was no X. He kept asking Y questions and getting really smart, detailed answers. It was a terrible mess. If you have no context for a technical answer, the only thing an answer is going to do is confuse you. It's like the old joke about the guys getting lost in a hot air balloon. As they passed over a building, they saw some people on the ground. "Where are we?" "In a hot air balloon!" Now that's a joke, but it hides a truth: without context and a shared language you can get answers all day long to questions and not be any better off at the end than when you started. Probably worse off.

fwip 7y ago

Maybe just be nice to your friends.

DanielBMarkham 7y ago
I was. We were nice to each other. He's a dear friend. I don't think either one of us were being unkind to the other. I stayed on the call as long as I could. I wanted to help him out. He was just trying to scope down the conversation at the wrong time. I understand his motivations and reasons, but it was premature. I worked with a really smart leader of a large agency many years ago. Not only a nice guy, he was also brilliant and on top of everything. I could see several projects he had were going off-the-rails. Why?. Because he kept asking technical questions and getting technical answers. The questions were fine but context-free. The answers were good but context-free. There was no X. He kept asking Y questions and getting really smart, detailed answers. It was a terrible mess. If you have no context for a technical answer, the only thing an answer is going to do is confuse you. It's like the old joke about the guys getting lost in a hot air balloon. As they passed over a building, they saw some people on the ground. "Where are we?" "In a hot air balloon!" Now that's a joke, but it hides a truth: without context and a shared language you can get answers all day long to questions and not be any better off at the end than when you started. Probably worse off.