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> What I did is come in as an outsider [and] let my naivety guide my investigation... I call this being "a useful idiot", which I sometimes use to describe my
by altacc 3y ago
> What I did is come in as an outsider [and] let my naivety guide my investigation...
I call this being "a useful idiot", which I sometimes use to describe my role. A large part of my job is floating between teams & applications, identifying gaps and problems and knowing just enough to ask meaningful questions whilst not being deeply invested in the existing code & processes. I can see people asking themselves "why are they wasting my time even asking these questions?!" but in explaining the answer they get to review the process and sometimes work out a new solution. We all get comfortable with how things are and someone prodding us occasionally helps creativity.
- mbork_pl 3y agoNice, but nit: this is not what a "useful idiot" usually means.
- vxNsr 3y agoIt’s an ironic use of the term.
- altacc 3y agoI live in a country where English is not the native language and the idiom is not in common usage, so the literal translation works. Sometimes I often wonder if it would be useful for more internet forums to allow users to add a flair to denote they are non US, as the assumption on so many sites is that everyone is US and living on the east or west coast.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- mbork_pl 3y agoI think I agree in general, but in this case he "idiom" (in fact, more of a metaphor, I guess) is actually Russian and just translated literally into English.