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> The thing that's always frustrated me the most is when someone new doesn't ask questions when they don't understand something or aren't sure if they're doing

> The thing that's always frustrated me the most is when someone new doesn't ask questions when they don't understand something or aren't sure if they're doing the right thing then powers ahead anyway only for me to inevitably have to come along and waste even more time fixing the problem than it originally would have took had they just asked first. Until you get the person who questions everything, draining all your time. Then they become reliant on you, and stop thinking for themselves.

mlader 5y ago
This can usually be solved by coaching, not only for this person, but for the teammates who are spending more time answering questions. For coaching the questioner, I ask them how they approach finding information, and recommend they time box their exploration, and only ask their question if they've given it a good try. I I also will describe my personal workflow to find answers when answering their questions. For coaching the rest of the team, I often suggest they ask "what have you tried so far?" or "where have you looked so far?" before just giving an answer. This can help show knowledge gaps, and oftentimes the questioner will take another look and discover the answer themselves. And yes, if they never get away from this behavior even after getting feedback multiple times, then that turns into a different sort of conversation.
grawprog 5y ago
I guess maybe I could clarify. I do agree there's a difference between a person who asks a lot of questions and one who just asks questions out of laziness. There's a difference. If a person is asking a lot of questions, especially the same ones over and over without any clear signs of gaining understanding, yeah there's definitely a problem, that person is dragging down work then. But I do think there's a difference. If a person generally asks a lot of questions, but there's clear signs of improvement and they're trying to pull their weight, then I really don't see it as a bad thing.
- yarky 5y ago
  I agree both as a junior and as a senior human.
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mlader 5y ago

This can usually be solved by coaching, not only for this person, but for the teammates who are spending more time answering questions. For coaching the questioner, I ask them how they approach finding information, and recommend they time box their exploration, and only ask their question if they've given it a good try. I I also will describe my personal workflow to find answers when answering their questions. For coaching the rest of the team, I often suggest they ask "what have you tried so far?" or "where have you looked so far?" before just giving an answer. This can help show knowledge gaps, and oftentimes the questioner will take another look and discover the answer themselves. And yes, if they never get away from this behavior even after getting feedback multiple times, then that turns into a different sort of conversation.

grawprog 5y ago

I guess maybe I could clarify. I do agree there's a difference between a person who asks a lot of questions and one who just asks questions out of laziness. There's a difference. If a person is asking a lot of questions, especially the same ones over and over without any clear signs of gaining understanding, yeah there's definitely a problem, that person is dragging down work then. But I do think there's a difference. If a person generally asks a lot of questions, but there's clear signs of improvement and they're trying to pull their weight, then I really don't see it as a bad thing.

yarky 5y ago
I agree both as a junior and as a senior human.

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