Struggling to Ask Critical Questions? Follow this!
Learn This 1 Powerful Skill to Be the Most Efficient Engineer in the Team
Ever wondered why not asking clarifying questions during interviews is a red flag?
How often does your mind get lost in finding solutions as soon as you hear a problem statement?
When I excitedly jump into problem solving, I find myself going in the wrong direction and ending up redoing the whole thing.
This approach isn’t the most efficient way to reach a solution. It leads to missed deadlines, wasted efforts and affects team morale.
Getting clarity on the problem first is the most efficient way to arrive at a solution.
Let me explain..
The wrong approach: Focusing on the How first
For example:
Let's say you are starting to work on a new task or project.
What would be your approach to tackle this? Think about the last task you completed at work. Pause for a bit and recall the steps you took.
Before: I used go back and forth between how and what/why
This is how I used to do it before:
Read the requirements
Immediately start thinking about solution.
I ask a few questions to clarify how the requirements would fit in the solution.
When requirements don't fit, I tweak my solution. I repeat this process.
I deliver a solution with the best quality code.
People start testing the feature, issues come up. Some cases fail.
Now I go back and tweak my solution even further to accommodate those.
After a few rounds of this, now the best quality code starts looking ugly.
I ask for more time to refactor the code to make it cleaner.
After a few rounds of this, I deliver the solution.
When I use the above approach, I encounter many roadblocks and experience frustration when I discover new things that I haven’t thought of before. There is back-and-forth in understanding the problem better and tweaking the solution as I gain more clarity.
A lot of effort is unnecessary, even though I feel productive and am doing a lot of things; however, I move forward slowly.
This approach results in:
Wasted efforts
Delays in shipping features
A significant number of bugs
Multiple rounds of testing and QA resources
Overall decreased team efficiency
Let's see if we can solve the above issues by hyper-focusing on the problem first.
After: I now focus on "why" and "what” first
I now restrain the urge to immediately think about solutions (the "how" part).
To achieve this, I wear a product manager's cap, temporarily distancing myself from my engineering role.
Questions I ask to understand the problem/task:
What is the business value?
What is the problem it is solving?
Why now?
Have we considered other alternatives? If yes, why did we choose this? If not, can we brainstorm on this?
What is the priority of the task?
What is the success criteria for this?
Should we be doing this in multiple parts? Starting with MVP and building on it?
I am surprised how many times the requirements got changed, and the scope of the project got altered because somebody has the right questions.
then I move on to the “how” part
Once I have satisfactory answers to my queries, I transition to the "how" part and put on my engineer's cap. I won't bore you with another list of questions you should be asking, but you get the drill.
When I do this, the number of times I needed to make drastic changes to my solution was negligible.
I still need to go back and forth wearing these caps during the project. Sometimes I discover some limitations/opportunities once I dig into the how part. I discuss that with product managers and decide the path forward.
But, the number of times I go back and forth is significantly less compared to the previous approach.
So, the difference between the first approach and the second is that I was hyper-focused on the problem in the second approach. All my questions were targeted to get more clarity on the problem itself first and then move on to questions about how do I solve it.
I have found this to be the most efficient way to deliver any task I work on. And in my experience, this has reduced the number of bugs drastically as well.
Now, let's talk about practical steps to achieve this..
A Structured Approach:
1. Write down a list of questions
I highly recommend writing down these questions as you work through both what/why and how parts.
Writing down gives order to chaos in your head. This is not a new technique, therapists suggest this in the form of a journal to get more clarity. I am extending the same idea here but focus on questions and only questions.
2. Organize your questions
Organize your questions. Figure out which questions you want to tackle first.
The key is to progress from basic queries to more refined ones.
3. Take a break
Take a break and let your mind rest. Engage in other activities without consciously thinking about the problem. Your subconscious will continue working on the questions. Insights will emerge like pieces of a puzzle, and your mind will naturally connect them. Soon, you'll discover the answers.
Having clarity on the questions beforehand allows your subconscious to work while your conscious mind focuses on the task at hand.
4. Answer the first question on your list.
That is, solve the first problem. Strike it down! This action sets the stage for building momentum.
5. Proceed to the next item on your list.
Add more questions as you come up with them. If required, go back to step 2, reorganize your questions, and move to step 3 and so forth.
Parting thoughts:
Right questions steer you in the right direction and enable you to get back on track fast. They guide conversations, much like a good tennis match, facilitating a back-and-forth flow. These questions develop capacity and potential in others, creating those "aha moments" in your team and with your team members.
Developing this one skill to focus on getting clarity on the problem first will help you grow faster in your career and all aspects of life.
I'll leave you with some of my favorite quotes on this topic":
Oprah Winfrey: “Ask the right questions, and the answers will always reveal themselves.”
Albert Einstein: “If I had an hour to solve a problem…I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper questions to ask, for once I know the proper question, I can solve the problem in less than five minutes.”
I hope you found these tips useful!
Did I overlook anything important? Feel free to drop a comment 🙋♀️🙋♂️
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Thanks for being here,
Omsai Jadhav
Insightful article. Asking a question is indeed an invaluable skill.