6 ms·

Yeah, the first question I ask is usually : "Describe me what you did." Which allows one to judge whether they are truly stuck or just need to plug at it some

Yeah, the first question I ask is usually : "Describe me what you did." Which allows one to judge whether they are truly stuck or just need to plug at it some more... not to mention all those times when they realize the mistake they made while explaining the problem to you !

sdoering 6y ago
I agree. It also filters out all those people who didn't put in effort and want to use you as their personal "Google". I love to help people. I esp. appreciate the ones that up front tell me what they already did and tried. I had a great colleague once - I loved to help her, because I always knew that she came to me, when she was truly stuck and did not know what to do after trying everything that she could think of. And she was able to succinctly tell what she did so that I was able to narrow down potential causes/solutions quite efficiently. Contrast that with another former colleague who when getting stuck alawys came to me first thing to ask me, if he could just ask a short question. Even in moments when I was clearly deep in concentration and clearly signaling that state. It was always urgent and he never put in any effort to solve the problem himself first.
afarrell 6y ago
Indeed! "What" questions that calmly ask for a list are often really good because they are easy to answer if you know the information. And if someone doesn't know the answer, it prompts them into the good habits of: 1. Doing some work before interrupting someone with a question. 2. Writing down their steps as they do so. Other good ones are: "What are some questions that come to mind" and "What are some paths forward that seem plausible?" to help those who are 1. At a crossroads. 2. Having trouble articulating that they are afraid of going down a rabbit hole. I'm still looking for a good question for helping those who are totally lost without a mental model that lets them put words to the domain.
Afton 6y ago
My first 'real job' as a developer at MSFT. My manager would respond to any problem I was having with 'What have you tried'. Internalizing that question has made me a much better developer that gets 'stuck' much less.

sdoering 6y ago

I agree. It also filters out all those people who didn't put in effort and want to use you as their personal "Google". I love to help people. I esp. appreciate the ones that up front tell me what they already did and tried. I had a great colleague once - I loved to help her, because I always knew that she came to me, when she was truly stuck and did not know what to do after trying everything that she could think of. And she was able to succinctly tell what she did so that I was able to narrow down potential causes/solutions quite efficiently. Contrast that with another former colleague who when getting stuck alawys came to me first thing to ask me, if he could just ask a short question. Even in moments when I was clearly deep in concentration and clearly signaling that state. It was always urgent and he never put in any effort to solve the problem himself first.

afarrell 6y ago

Indeed! "What" questions that calmly ask for a list are often really good because they are easy to answer if you know the information. And if someone doesn't know the answer, it prompts them into the good habits of: 1. Doing some work before interrupting someone with a question. 2. Writing down their steps as they do so. Other good ones are: "What are some questions that come to mind" and "What are some paths forward that seem plausible?" to help those who are 1. At a crossroads. 2. Having trouble articulating that they are afraid of going down a rabbit hole. I'm still looking for a good question for helping those who are totally lost without a mental model that lets them put words to the domain.

Afton 6y ago

My first 'real job' as a developer at MSFT. My manager would respond to any problem I was having with 'What have you tried'. Internalizing that question has made me a much better developer that gets 'stuck' much less.