A Question Doesn't Need Questioning?
12 Sep 2019
Bad Communication
Imagine you are on the phone talking with your friend. She tells you to meet her at the park under a green tree. You agree and head over to the park. At arrival you realize you can’t find her. There’s a crowd of people there. There are green trees and grass everywhere as far as the eye can see. You contact her again about her location. She tells you the same thing.
So why couldn’t you find her in the park? Was her answer too vague? Too simple? Too confusing? Did she give you enough information to find her in the first place? Was it the way she told you? The chances are, it was all of it. The communication between you and her was terrible. You couldn’t understand what she really meant. You also couldn’t find any leads that would help you find her.
Writing Smart Questions
As software engineers, we encounter problems all the time. If we are asking a question, we have to communicate it effectively so others can replicate the problem and find a solution. We call this the “smart way”. There is no need to question the “question”. If we follow the proper guidelines, we will always get the help. Sometimes, they may already give you a solution. Let’s look at two examples from StackOverflow.
Bad Example
This first example comes from this link: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/57895641/bootstrap-4-text-refuses-to-go-in-the-middle-of-a-div.
This illustrates a scenario when a user doesn’t ask a question the “smart way”. The title of the post is “Bootstrap 4 - text refuses to go in the middle of a div”. The first thing I noticed was the question. I wasn’t sure what he was trying to ask. The question is very misleading and is very sloppy.
The second thing I noticed is the description of his problem. It is very unorganized and confusing. It very hard to distinguish what he wants and how to attack the problem. The last thing I noticed is the responses. Since he didn’t post the smart way, only one person tried to help him. It’s also important to note that the response did not seem promising either.
Good Example
The second example comes from this link: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/42283011/add-validation-to-a-mediatr-behavior-pipeline
This shows a “smart way” of asking. The title of this post is “Add validation to a MediatR behavior pipeline?”. Unlike the last post, the user is much more clear in illustrating his proble. First thing to note is the title. The question is gives us an idea on what his issue is before reading his post.
Second, he describes his situation clearly with lots of detail. He tells us what he is using and what he wants to accomplish with it. He also provides code in such a well organized matter. Finally, the most important thing to note is the response he got. Because of how effective he communicated, another person was able to give him a step-by-step solution to his problem.
Conclusion
From those two examples, you can clearly see impact of asking the “smart way”. If we ask the right way, you get help. Most of the time, someone else already has the answer to your problem and will give it to you. Asking the “smart way” also tells others the level of understanding we have. In Conclusion, asking the “smart way” yields really good results. It solves problems, makes you smarter, and makes you a better person.