Advice is a solution to a problem. When you give advice, you need to understand where a person is on this awareness scale: 1. Problem unaware 2. Problem aware

Advice is a solution to a problem. When you give advice, you need to understand where a person is on this awareness scale: 1. Problem unaware 2. Problem aware 3. Solution aware 4. Implementation aware 5. Very aware If you approach someone with advice about the best way to speed up their DB, but they don't think that their DB is slow, they won't listen to you. If you approach someone with advice that RabbitMQ is the best message queue, but they have no idea what a message queue is, they won't listen to you. You need to understand where a person is before you give advice. When talking with them, you need to adapt your language to their awareness level. Problem unaware people either don't have a problem. If you want to give them advice, ask questions that will make them realize that there is a problem. Problem aware people know that they have a problem but don't know that a solution exists. A while ago I knew that setting up my own MTA was a pain, but I did not know that SaaS email senders existed! When speaking to people like this, let them know that a solution exists for the problem, and see if they are interested in hearing more. Solution aware people know that a solution exists, but don't know which particular solution is best for them. This is a good time to give advice and make them aware of a particular implementation. Implementation aware people know about a sufficient solution for their problem, but might not be aware of how to fine-tune it, or about other solutions that offer a different set of tradeoffs. This is a time to have an in-depth conversation. P.S. I adapted this from another framework called "Schwartz's five stages of awareness" https://vipcreative.co.uk/the-five-stages-of-awareness-and-how-to-communicate-with-them/ https://vipcreative.co.uk/the-five-stages-of-awareness-and-h...