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by quietbritishjim
3022 days ago
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Indeed, and the first example in the article is a little like this. "What is the ticket number" roughly translates to "go search the bug tracker for me, even though I could do that just as easily (or could do with the practice)". Maybe sarcasm wasn't warranted, but at best the answer is "I don't have that to hand, and couldn't find any quicker than you could". In a real sense, someone acting like this is insulting. Rather than the homeless guy anecdote in the article, it's like someone asking you for money, not because they're desperate, but because they just think you're a sucker. For the genuinely well meaning and self motivated learners, I agree we should try hard to be sympathetic and respectful. |
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I agree with this, but I think part of this is fighting the instinct to sarcasm or hostility even when people are looking for the easy way.
Whenever people start employing public hostility, the people who are deterred the most are the least confident and most well-intentioned people. If you're asking someone else to do your work for you, you presumably don't care much about their time and frustration. But if you're cautious and respectful and already worried about wasting people's time with dumb questions, then seeing someone who's annoyed and likely to snap at you is a huge deterrent.
"What's the ticket number" may not be a productive question, but I still winced at that answer - I can't imagine that a Slack where people are that hostile is one where people feel comfortable asking potentially 'dumb' questions and getting support. Better to stay silent, or say "that's something you can do as well as me", or politely say "their ticket queue actually has a great search feature". Calling out unjustified questions is hopefully less alienating, because it at least shows why you're annoyed, and that you wouldn't do the same to a question that's novice-level, but not rude. And if these questions are too common to handle politely, that's its own serious issue at the company.