Jan 12th, 2022
Courage
Part 1: Asking Stupid Questions
Written by: Craig Vosper, Chief Delivery Officer
I once had a college professor who began the semester by telling our class how the school determined which students were assigned to which classrooms. To make a long story short, his resulting explanation ended with him stating “that makes you the dumbest room in the class”. He quickly followed that statement with, “which means you should be asking questions. No one else in here will know the answer either, so there’s no need to feel silly”. The crazy thing, at least for me, is that this advice actually worked and has stuck with me ever since.
Asking dumb questions is terrifying, especially around geeks. They love to use acronyms and terms that are ambiguous and hard to understand. It’s easy for people to feel inferior, like they should know what the geeks are talking about, but why should they?! Whenever someone is failing to communicate clearly, it’s usually not just you who’s having a difficult time understanding them.
Its critical in projects that everyone understands what is being said, what the requirements are, and what solution is being implemented. Whenever there are gaps in that understanding it leads to overlooked requirements and missed expectations.
So, ask those dumb questions! Not only will you get the clarity you need, but everyone else will be happy that you asked the question they were too scared to!