Written by Nick Otter.
Jon Crickett recently discussed “How To Ask Questions As A Developer”, let’s take a look.
Asking questions is one of the most undervalued skills as a software engineer. It can help us take the lead in unlocking value in our team/organisation and as individuals to develop our careers.
Asking questions drives learning and the exchange of ideas, it fuels innovation and performance improvements and allows us to build rapport and trust in software engineering teams.
By asking questions we can uncover unforeseen challenges with our products, software or processes allowing us to mitigate risk and build better software and better businesses.
Unfortunately we don’t often think of questioning as a skill that can be developed in ourselves and our teams. Nor do we give enough thought to how we can answer questions in a way that will make the subsequent conversations more productive.
That’s a missed opportunity. By asking questions we can improve out emotional intelligence which in turn helps us ask better questions in future and provide better answers - a virtuous cycle.
Here are six tips to developing your questioning skills:
Ask more questions - to get better at anything you need to practice.
Ask follow-up questions - follow-up questions signal that you’re listening, care and want to know more. People interacting with people who ask follow-up questions tend to feel respected and heard.
Ask open-ended questions - this helps to avoid making it seem like you’re interrogating the other person.
Ask in a casual tone - a formal tone to your questioning will make result in the responses being more guarded, equally be mindful of your position..
Pay attention to the group dynamic - if members of the group aren’t joining in it will put off others, conversely once people start to open up others will follow suit.
Think carefully about how you answer questions - being transparent can create great opportunities to bond, but might not always be appropriate.
Remember personal growth, creativity and organisational innovation rely on a willingness to seek out new information. Asking questions and providing thoughtful, considered answers can lead to more-effective interactions, strengthening rapport and building trust.
Additional comments:
A great place to start is my summarising what you heard the presenter say, and asking "Is that correct?", before leading into another question.