4 ms·

I had this happen to me yesterday. Hey, can you tell me why my query is slow? <5 minutes later> Nevermind! I had a typo. It’s like people want to outsource

I had this happen to me yesterday. Hey, can you tell me why my query is slow? <5 minutes later> Nevermind! I had a typo. It’s like people want to outsource their problem solving to other people’s brains.

majewsky 5y ago
In many cases, they actually need a rubber duck and don't know it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging
- WesolyKubeczek 5y ago
  You need to actually believe that the rubber duck is going to bestow its wisdom upon you for it to work. I usually write a detailed question to a colleague whom I believe to be more knowledgeable than me. The trick is, I never send it unless I'm really stuck despite my research. When I do send it, though, the question is good and usual suspects are ruled out.
  - evilduck 5y ago
    In your case, your rubber duck is the email editor. The trick is that your efforts to summarize and clarify the problem for someone else and doing your due diligence for others that you may not have done for yourself at first before you _actually_ press send is oftentimes enough to solve the problem outright. If it doesn't work, you're ready to go with an amazing summary of the problem already.
  - OJFord 5y ago
    I do the same thing - I just haven't quite managed to reach the level where I do it as a deliberate method, I always think I'm going to send it! I've on occasion done it to StackExchange sites too, nice thing about that is when you have your Aha moment, you can just tick 'Answer my own question', detail the answer, and post both together for other people's (your future) benefit.
- swader999 5y ago
  I explain my code to my cat. It always helps.
yellowstuff 5y ago
There can be a thin line between doing too much of your own QA and too little. The flip side is when I've spent 30 minutes QAing an issue and another 30 minutes writing up what I've learned, and then the response is "I brought that server down for maintenance, it'll be back in a few." After a few times of that the sys admin is going to get some very poorly thought out bug reports from me, because I don't want to burn any more of my time QAing known issues.

majewsky 5y ago

In many cases, they actually need a rubber duck and don't know it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging

WesolyKubeczek 5y ago
You need to actually believe that the rubber duck is going to bestow its wisdom upon you for it to work. I usually write a detailed question to a colleague whom I believe to be more knowledgeable than me. The trick is, I never send it unless I'm really stuck despite my research. When I do send it, though, the question is good and usual suspects are ruled out.
- evilduck 5y ago
  In your case, your rubber duck is the email editor. The trick is that your efforts to summarize and clarify the problem for someone else and doing your due diligence for others that you may not have done for yourself at first before you _actually_ press send is oftentimes enough to solve the problem outright. If it doesn't work, you're ready to go with an amazing summary of the problem already.
- OJFord 5y ago
  I do the same thing - I just haven't quite managed to reach the level where I do it as a deliberate method, I always think I'm going to send it! I've on occasion done it to StackExchange sites too, nice thing about that is when you have your Aha moment, you can just tick 'Answer my own question', detail the answer, and post both together for other people's (your future) benefit.
swader999 5y ago
I explain my code to my cat. It always helps.

yellowstuff 5y ago

There can be a thin line between doing too much of your own QA and too little. The flip side is when I've spent 30 minutes QAing an issue and another 30 minutes writing up what I've learned, and then the response is "I brought that server down for maintenance, it'll be back in a few." After a few times of that the sys admin is going to get some very poorly thought out bug reports from me, because I don't want to burn any more of my time QAing known issues.