Sometimes I wonder, Have I become the eternal pessimist? Everytime I come across some good news, while in my heart I feel happy, my mind is already at work about whats wrong about it!! Everytime I talk to my mom and she tells me about some decision she made, I ask so many What-if questions that she gets angry at me but later starts reconsidering her decision. People close to me sometimes tell me why do you always want to play the devil's advocate? Sometimes they don't like my challenging their decision. Sometimes a question asked at the right time can save millions, sometimes it can bruise egos.
Everyone asks questions. Kids ask "why?" about everything. Why do i have two eyes? Why does it rain? Why is the water blue? Why do i have to go to school? And most of the times they will either come up with the next question or ask the question again and again till they are satisfied. But as grownups a lot of people feel uneasy about asking questions because they fear looking stupid. I was like that too. But as a test engineer you cannot afford to have that fear. For a test engineer there is no alternate to asking questions. For me my questions define the quality of work I do. Questions separate testers from engineers (look at the first post for my version of the difference). The key here is to ask the right question, to the right people at the right time. Before asking questions, do your homework. Below is a rough checklist I generally use :
-Check if the answer is out there somewhere!! Just because you have been lazy to read do not ask questions starting with "Hi, Probably this is already out there somewhere or I am just being stupid, but......?"
-Always ask a meaningful and specific question. Remember that putting too much info in the question itself does not mean that you know your stuff. Also it makes it difficult for the other person to understand and reply, and hence there are less possibilities of your getting an answer!!!
-Describe the facts explicitly and do not contaminate it with your guesses.
-Do not expect someone to look at your stuff and tell you what you are doing wrong.
-The earlier you ask the question, the better. Do not wait for later.
-Understand that there is a difference between simple/basic/fundamental vs stupid question. If you feel that you have done good research and still you cannot figure out: Ask the question!!
-First Google, then Ask :)
Also, right questions help clear up unrealistic expectations. I lot of times it happens that you are working on some feature and your manager/ product owner comes and asks you to work on something else. Some people would jump at the new task immediately as someone with higher authority asked them to do it. But just by simply asking a few right questions you can get a much better picture of where it prioritizes in your list of things to do!!!
Why are we doing this?
How is this different then what we do now?
Why was this not important before?
Who all are affected by this?
When is the right time to do this?
Why When What Who How...........................
.. this list can be as long as you want.
Do not stop until you get all the answers you are looking for.
Everyone asks questions. Kids ask "why?" about everything. Why do i have two eyes? Why does it rain? Why is the water blue? Why do i have to go to school? And most of the times they will either come up with the next question or ask the question again and again till they are satisfied. But as grownups a lot of people feel uneasy about asking questions because they fear looking stupid. I was like that too. But as a test engineer you cannot afford to have that fear. For a test engineer there is no alternate to asking questions. For me my questions define the quality of work I do. Questions separate testers from engineers (look at the first post for my version of the difference). The key here is to ask the right question, to the right people at the right time. Before asking questions, do your homework. Below is a rough checklist I generally use :
-Check if the answer is out there somewhere!! Just because you have been lazy to read do not ask questions starting with "Hi, Probably this is already out there somewhere or I am just being stupid, but......?"
-Always ask a meaningful and specific question. Remember that putting too much info in the question itself does not mean that you know your stuff. Also it makes it difficult for the other person to understand and reply, and hence there are less possibilities of your getting an answer!!!
-Describe the facts explicitly and do not contaminate it with your guesses.
-Do not expect someone to look at your stuff and tell you what you are doing wrong.
-The earlier you ask the question, the better. Do not wait for later.
-Understand that there is a difference between simple/basic/fundamental vs stupid question. If you feel that you have done good research and still you cannot figure out: Ask the question!!
-First Google, then Ask :)
Also, right questions help clear up unrealistic expectations. I lot of times it happens that you are working on some feature and your manager/ product owner comes and asks you to work on something else. Some people would jump at the new task immediately as someone with higher authority asked them to do it. But just by simply asking a few right questions you can get a much better picture of where it prioritizes in your list of things to do!!!
Why are we doing this?
How is this different then what we do now?
Why was this not important before?
Who all are affected by this?
When is the right time to do this?
Why When What Who How...........................
.. this list can be as long as you want.
Do not stop until you get all the answers you are looking for.
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