[pdpi]

Right idea, wrong reason. You have a tonne of assumptions about how the product works that I don’t. If the bug is that subtle, dollars to Donuts says that one of your assumptions is wrong, but you just haven’t thought to question it yet.

When you explain the issue to me, I’ll ask dumb questions about context I lack, so you’ll explain stuff you take for granted. And it’s answering those questions that will make you figure out where the problem is.

[koonsolo]

If I explain the technical stuff to another programmer, spot on indeed.

Managers who don't know what a variable is, SQL or TCP or a while loop or whatever, in my experience it is just that: dumb questions.

[pdpi]

Something's terribly wrong with the hiring if managers for a tech team are that clueless about tech, though.

[Gibbon1]

Sometimes a good manager can help by expanding the solution space or by shifting the problem somewhere else.

[gricardo99]

Spot on.