If You Have to Ask the Question...
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Sometimes, when asking technical questions, the questions that we ask provide more information than we realize. In a previous article, Asking Better Questions, one of the key things that I mentioned is the need to "pull back one level." By the time that we have a technical question there is a very good chance that we have already gone too far, past the point where we have sufficient knowledge to support ourselves, and may have already made a bad decision.
Sometimes this is even more dramatic. That the question we are asking means that we should not be doing the thing we are attempting at all. A great example of this is when someone asks a really basic question about a very dangerous, and complicated topic (dangerous being the key warning indicator.)
Imagine you are about to jump out of an airplane and you say to the person next to you "so do I count to ten and pull a cord or something like that?" or worse "should I have some special backpack or something." DANGER WILL ROBINSON. You've gone too far. You should never, ever have gotten into an airplane with the intention to jump out of it without understanding parachutes, jump procedures, harness techniques, landing techniques, the terrain you are over and all kinds of specifics about the parachute that you are using that particular day. That you are asking the question is answer a bigger question - Should you be jumping out of an airplane? No.
In IT we see this same scenario. A question that, in its asking, exposes that the asker has gone too deep, is already on the airplane and didn't learn about skydiving first. The situation is dangerous and that they are not aware is the real problem.
Some places where we see this most often are with storage, an area where it seems most common to make decisions before learning about the technology and the questions asked are ones that would have needed to have been answered long before getting to the current point. But it can happen in any technical arena, storage just gets a high profile here because the dangers are so much more dramatic as they often lead to both data loss and loss of availability at the same time and often across many systems.
Don't take offense when people have this reaction. Stop and ask yourself if it is true. Do you really understand the technology that you are involved with, are you confident that you are familiar with its use and caveats and that you really are just missing some really basic understanding that is not crucial to have had before getting as far as you have? Or are you perhaps operating somewhat blindly and may not understand how you got to where you are and are working in the dark - taking on risks and not being able to understand or explain them clearly.
There is no shame in admitting what you don't know. But there is in putting a business at risk because you were hoping that no one would notice what you didn't know. None of us understands every aspect of what we do, we all have tons of questions and need help from lots of people. Get that help as early as possible, don't wait until you are about to jump and then decide that maybe you should know where the ripcord is.
Geronimo..........
[Edit: Originally published December 16, 2013]
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Good explanation of the risk of miscommunication.
The saying "it's better to be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and prove everyone right" isn't something to be taken lightly, especially with storage and infrastructure systems.
If you don't know, just ask, at least you're asking from a point of humility and interest in learning. From which many people will happily help you to learn.
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This came up a few weeks ago when talking about trying to explain technical details to executives. My boss brought up an old saying that really stuck with me. "If you have to ask the question, you wouldn't understand the answer."
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I wouldn't ask a parachuting question on Mango Lassi. By the time Scott and Dash are done arguing about some trivial point compleltey unconnected to my question I'd have hit the ground and died.
I wouldn't bother posting anything other than a very specific technical question on here, because so often you have to spend days justifying your entire career before some posters will even answer the question. If I have a Windows error, I don't want to have to write a 10,000 word dissertation justifying why I'm running Windows instead of Linux and why I'm not, actually, a complete idiot, I just want to fix my Windows error and move on with my life. I still enjoy reading other people's threads though
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@Carnival-Boy said in If You Have to Ask the Question...:
I wouldn't bother posting anything other than a very specific technical question on here, because so often you have to spend days justifying your entire career before some posters will even answer the question.
That's because we are trying to fix the problem, not the symptoms.
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I know why you're doing it, I'm just saying it's not my thing. I may be unique, or there may be other people who are put off from posting questions. I'm just making an observation.
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@Carnival-Boy cant upvote this enough!
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but i understand Scotts point
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Even in a small community / forum like this, the real conversations can quickly get lost in trying to get the background story... "Why are you doing it this way? Have you considered doing it another way, the other way, or my brother's way?"
I try to not just give somebody an answer straight up (at least here on ML)... but enough information to make them think for themselves or get them pointed in a direction that may lead to a solution. Some folks like the approach I take to the question, and others don't... and with all of us giving advice, etc, etc, it's easy for the original question to be lost in the noise.
There's no such thing as a stupid question... If you have a question to ask, then ask it... But make sure it provides us enough details to be able to provide thoughtful insight into our replies to your topic.
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@Carnival-Boy said in If You Have to Ask the Question...:
I know why you're doing it, I'm just saying it's not my thing. I may be unique, or there may be other people who are put off from posting questions. I'm just making an observation.
It's not like trying to find a root cause takes away from band-aiding a proximate issue. You get both, rather than someplace like StackOverflow that gets only the proximate.
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@Carnival-Boy said in If You Have to Ask the Question...:
I know why you're doing it, I'm just saying it's not my thing.
I'd be interested in specific examples. The reason that I say that, is that I think that there is a good way to ask a question when you want a discussion and a good way to ask it when you want to avoid one. So often when there is a big discussion it is either because someone really wanted one (or really needed it) or was prompting for it to happen.
For example, if you use RAID 5 on WD Red drives and post a question about it without prefacing that you understand the risks and such, you are either desperately in need of that data or you have incited the discussion but leaving it out. The same as if you said that you were driving without a seatbelt - if you don't make it absolutely clear that you truly understand the risks involved and have considered them, people are going to try to save you.
There is a good way to ask technical questions that would rarely prompt the broader discussions.
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@scottalanmiller said in If You Have to Ask the Question...:
@Carnival-Boy said in If You Have to Ask the Question...:
I know why you're doing it, I'm just saying it's not my thing.
I'd be interested in specific examples. The reason that I say that, is that I think that there is a good way to ask a question when you want a discussion and a good way to ask it when you want to avoid one. So often when there is a big discussion it is either because someone really wanted one (or really needed it) or was prompting for it to happen.
For example, if you use RAID 5 on WD Red drives and post a question about it without prefacing that you understand the risks and such, you are either desperately in need of that data or you have incited the discussion but leaving it out. The same as if you said that you were driving without a seatbelt - if you don't make it absolutely clear that you truly understand the risks involved and have considered them, people are going to try to save you.
There is a good way to ask technical questions that would rarely prompt the broader discussions.
TL;DR; answer: You word people to death Scott.
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I see where he is coming from. Asking a question on this forum can be intimidating. For me personally I love it, I like being proven wrong, I like going to head to head. I have never won a debate with @scottalanmiller, and I like that, I learn from it. From what I have gathered in life a vast majority of people don't like this feeling, and take it personally.
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@s.hackleman said
I see where he is coming from. Asking a question on this forum can be intimidating. For me personally I love it, I like being proven wrong, I like going to head to head. I have never won a debate with @scottalanmiller, and I like that, I learn from it. From what I have gathered in life a vast majority of people don't like this feeling, and take it personally.
Same here.
In fact, there was a little bit where I slowed in asking questions, because of the BS some people posted against me.
But that didn't last long. I said "F IT" and just posted what I wanted to. I'm here to learn and grow, and if people don't like it, they can ignore me.
Most people here are happy to help.
