4 ms·

Seconding this. Anecdotally, the more multicultural a space is, the more it trends towards "ask".

solarmist 3y ago
Through necessity.
jiggawatts 3y ago
Unfortunately, this is not my experience. I work with many immigrant software developers, and the vast majority have not realised that they have to switch to an "ask" approach. They will say "yes" to everything, no matter what, and then never ever ask a followup question. For example, if assigned a task that I know they cannot possibly complete (i.e.: due to a lack of access), they'll say "yes" and then... I won't hear from them again. A week later, the conversation will go like this: "Have you started on the task?" "Yes." "How? I haven't seen you log in to the source control system, and thinking about it, I don't think you have access." "Yes." "So, do you have access?" "Yes." "How? Can you check out the source code successfully?" "Yes." "Can you show me what you've done." "Umm... yes." "That's an empty folder!" "Yes, I don't have access, so this is all I can do."
- RangerScience 3y ago
  My brother had a good tip when traveling internationally; ask questions where the correct answer is “no”. So don’t ask if the food is vegetarian, ask if there’s meat in it. Of course, that was for language barriers. Also, I don’t know how to tell you this, but that doesn’t sound like an “ask” culture- that sounds like a “yes-man” situation.
  - jiggawatts 3y ago
    It's definitely cultural. You only get this "yes" answer to every question from this area of the world starting somewhere in the middle east through to western parts of asia. It's not any specific country or language, but it's definitely from that region.
  - solarmist 3y ago
    Or in this case don't ask yes/no questions. Don't give them he option to give the answer they think you want to hear. What have you done? What is your next step?
    - RangerScience 3y ago
      Oh, good advice. Reminds me of another tidbit: A lot of people will hear "why" as accusatory: "why did you do it this way?!" becomes a question about culpability rather than causality; "what" is (apparently) what you want to use: "what led you to make these choices?" (it's probably a moving target tho, although one that moves slowly)
      - solarmist 3y ago
        Yeah “why” implies internal thought processes. “What” is about external actions.

Through necessity.

Unfortunately, this is not my experience. I work with many immigrant software developers, and the vast majority have not realised that they have to switch to an "ask" approach. They will say "yes" to everything, no matter what, and then never ever ask a followup question. For example, if assigned a task that I know they cannot possibly complete (i.e.: due to a lack of access), they'll say "yes" and then... I won't hear from them again. A week later, the conversation will go like this: "Have you started on the task?" "Yes." "How? I haven't seen you log in to the source control system, and thinking about it, I don't think you have access." "Yes." "So, do you have access?" "Yes." "How? Can you check out the source code successfully?" "Yes." "Can you show me what you've done." "Umm... yes." "That's an empty folder!" "Yes, I don't have access, so this is all I can do."

RangerScience 3y ago
My brother had a good tip when traveling internationally; ask questions where the correct answer is “no”. So don’t ask if the food is vegetarian, ask if there’s meat in it. Of course, that was for language barriers. Also, I don’t know how to tell you this, but that doesn’t sound like an “ask” culture- that sounds like a “yes-man” situation.
- jiggawatts 3y ago
  It's definitely cultural. You only get this "yes" answer to every question from this area of the world starting somewhere in the middle east through to western parts of asia. It's not any specific country or language, but it's definitely from that region.
- solarmist 3y ago
  Or in this case don't ask yes/no questions. Don't give them he option to give the answer they think you want to hear. What have you done? What is your next step?
  - RangerScience 3y ago
    Oh, good advice. Reminds me of another tidbit: A lot of people will hear "why" as accusatory: "why did you do it this way?!" becomes a question about culpability rather than causality; "what" is (apparently) what you want to use: "what led you to make these choices?" (it's probably a moving target tho, although one that moves slowly)
    - solarmist 3y ago
      Yeah “why” implies internal thought processes. “What” is about external actions.