Comment by f1shy | Hacker News Reader

Comment by f1shy | Hacker News Reader

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To be clear about the yes/no, let me tell you an example from yesterday:

- We are building an embedded system, which has a data interface, which is not working properly (nothing is being received). We have to take care of the emitter, other team the receiver.

- My question: after lunch you are going to see with the oscilloscope of there is activity in the interfaces lines?

- Answer: No need, the registers in the ASIC indicate transmission is ok.

- 2nd question: but maybe there is a malfunction in the ASIC, and still there is no transmission, so we should test.

- Reply: The other team will check if there is reception or no.

- 3rd question: but the other team confirmed there is no reception, even with oscilloscope... could you test?

- Reply: what test do you want me to do?

- Me: measure with oscilloscope

- Reply: what for?

- Me: To confirm the transmission

- Reply: I dont follow...

- Me: here I start to ask, step by step:

    - We have a problem of transmission, right?

    - Yes!

    - Registers in ASIC indicate no problem, right?

    - Yes.

    - The other team reported still there is nothing in the receiver, right?

    - Yes.

    - So it would be useful to physically test with oscilloscope if that is being send, don't you think?

    - Yes, sure!

    - So you are going to do it, later, after lunch?

    - Yes, no problem.

Yes, that guy has a PhD. Is my problem that I'm asking yes/no questions?

It's hard to say without having been there. I've definitely been in your shoes before, where I have to pull teeth to get someone to sit down and actually do what they clearly need to do. But I've also been the PhD guy, saying "yes sure" and agreeing to spend 30 minutes on a task that doesn't make much sense rather than spend 30 minutes arguing about it. I don't have the technical knowledge to speculate on how obvious it should have been that the test you proposed was right.

You imply that the other PhD is being difficult but I think you're being difficult. In my opinion you should start with an open-ended question "How do we determine if there is a malfunction in the ASIC?".

Unless this is your subordinate and you are convinced of a plan of action. In that case don't ask, just be direct and tell them what you want to test.

In this case is my subordinate. The idea of doing the measurement was discussed with other people, I have 20+ years doing such debugging. I already had asked him to do the measurement. My question started more to be sure he actually is going to do it, because I have experience with not doing what he is supposed to. Not a bad guy, but sometimes seems to just don’t understand.

Btw: at the end the test confirmed the suspicion.

I agree with the parent. When there is confusion like this, switch to open ended:

"OK, we both agree there appears to be a problem with the transmission. How do you propose we investigate?"

From the dialog it appears you were two steps ahead of the person and what he really needed was time to think it through. Asking the open ended question gives him space to think.

Interesting example...

You propose I use an open ended question, where the discussion could easily go sideways, when I clearly stated:

"In this case is my subordinate."

"I already had asked him to do the measurement. My question started more to be sure he actually is going to do it."

I do not see how an open question would help here.

Nice example of communication going wrong here...

Yeah, it really depends on context.

It makes sense to give a subordinate a directive. That he is a subordinate, however, doesn't mean a direct question will lead to effective communication.

I've worked with both types of managers - the ones that ask direct, pointed questions and the ones that ask open ended ones. I think the latter are more effective, but it really depends on the role (you don't want open ended discussions in emergencies).

For me, though, "We have problem X. What are the options for resolving it?" has a better chance at success than "We have a problem X. Can you look into Y?"

Ah, this feels like it came out of my mind. It's a perfect example that illustrates some of my own experiences lately. So frustrating...

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