Asking Questions
aaronkharris.com
Asking Questions
1–10 of 22 posts
Re: Asking Questions
#2I like his example at the beginning, something I've thought about too. I've noticed that most of the time people don't seem to ask at all.
https://zalberico.com/essay/2017/02/21/asking-questions.html
Re: Asking Questions
#3I like his example at the beginning, something I've thought about too. I've noticed that most of the time people don't seem to ask at all. https://zalberico.com/essay/2017/02/21/asking-questions.html
Have you found any effective ways to encourage new hires to ask questions?
Re: Asking Questions
#4Love it. Thank you for sharing. Reminds me of some Asimov: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/531911/isaac-asimov-asks-...
There must be "ease, relaxation, and a general sense of permissiveness." which sounds like an environment that would be conducive to basic questions.
He goes on to say "isolation is required" (for having creative ideas) and maybe that's because it is a way for him to avoid the adult-being-and-always-sounding-smart-forcing-function... even as costly as being alone from a team may be!
Feels like some tall shoulders probably agree with you:)
Re: Asking Questions
#5Love it. Thank you for sharing. Reminds me of some Asimov: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/531911/isaac-asimov-asks-... There must be "ease, relaxation, and a general sense of permissiveness." which sounds like an environment that would be conducive to basic questions. He goes on to say "isolation is required" (for having creative ideas) and maybe that's because it is a way for him to avoid the adult-being-and-alw…
"Reminds me of some Asimov" may be the single greatest compliment I've ever been paid.
One of the things I love about Asimov's writing is the way in which he builds complex situations with simple building blocks. The Three Laws are the best example of this, but one of my favorites remains his first "article" on Thiotimiline.
Re: Asking Questions
#6I would have loved some actual questions. I've been reading some of Google's Project Rework "What makes effective teams", and it revolves around psychological safety. It is very accurate in terms of my experience as well as a software engineer. If I feel empowered to ask questions like "what's the goal of the project?" to upper management without sounding impudent, that seems like a great culture to be in.
Re: Asking Questions
#7> The way I’m working on this is to stop myself each time I’m about to ask a question and figure out what I actually want to know, and then see if I can just ask that specific question in no more than a single simple sentence. If the question does not produce a satisfying answer, I’ll try to understand if it is because I worded the question poorly, or did not provide enough context. If I need more context, I’ll add one or two sentences of context, and ask the question again.
That. Exactly that.
I've worked with people who will ask questions faster than I can answer them, or ask questions in a circle where it's clear that they never listened to my first answer... They are the hardest people to work with, no matter how smart, motivated, or capable they are.
Re: Asking Questions
#8I like his example at the beginning, something I've thought about too. I've noticed that most of the time people don't seem to ask at all. https://zalberico.com/essay/2017/02/21/asking-questions.html
Have you found any effective ways to encourage new hires to ask questions?
I've found it takes practice and encouragement (a few times). Basically they have to realize that they really won't be hurt by admitting they don't understand something. I think it's a learned skill. I also make an extra effort to ask questions both to them when I'm trying to understand something and in front of them to others when I don't understand something or want to learn more about it (which is often).
That said, most of the new hires I've worked with were college grads right out of school so this probably is partly influenced by that life stage in general.
Re: Asking Questions
#9The trouble with this is that it fails above first order thinking. For example, I remember asking a photographer, "what's the value of 20 megapixel cameras"? His answer was something like, "the more the the MP, the better the detail."
I knew that already, but he didn't know I knew that. I was wondering because most mediums with which I view these photos don't support that high a resolution.
As a result, I've tried to do what the above author prescribed, but add an "I understand how x..." to avoid wasting time with the obvious answer.
There's even an issue when doing that, though. The question becomes too complex (as the author was getting at). I see this mostly when I'm troubleshooting something on the phone, and the tech is used to giving the "on script" answer.
Re: Asking Questions
#10Interesting. Albert Einstein famously said his child-like curiosity is what led him to theorise about space-time continuum [0]. He thought, a child-like inquisitiveness was key to what he did [1]. On asking questions, he said: "Most teachers waste their time by asking questions that are intended to discover what a pupil does not know, whereas the true art of questioning is to discover what the pupil does know or is capable of knowing" [2].
Here's a contrasting article that I remember very vividly [3]. For me, after reading it, I felt that it was perhaps okay to admit not knowing things one ought to know because it opened up an avenue to honestly engage in a thoughtful discussion with people who might know more. I can't really say if it changed how folks around me perceived me, but I didn't really feel awkward anymore answering queries with a "I don't know but...".
[0] https://www.azquotes.com/quote/616908
[1] https://www.azquotes.com/quote/405452