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James Shaw

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Talking to myself

Why is it that you can walk into another developers office to ask a question - one that you've spent 15 minutes on google trying to find an answer - and you'll know the answer before you've even uttered 5 words.

My old partner Luke and I used to joke that we couldn't figure out anything unless we regularly walked into each others offices and picked up a whiteboard marker. We didn't have to write anything most of the time.

Well, it still happens when working remotely. I've been constantly on IM with Scott Sargent about some code this week and I've begun to notice that half the time I know the answer before I even hit "send".

Which is good, of course, because unlike the guy I've interrupted by walking into his office, Scott has no idea how many dumb questions I was going to ask.

Of course, the other half of the time, I do hit Send and then I do look like a dumbass. Embarrassed


Posted: Tuesday, March 13, 2007 3:41 PM by James
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Comments

Lance said:

This happens to me all the time. There must be a different part of the brain that turns on when you go to explain a problem to someone.
# March 13, 2007 2:46 PM

Aaron Seet said:

This happens to all of us. I guess in the unfounded pressure to find a solution quick, we tend to warp our minds in a fashion that "blinds us from the truth". In the attempt to explain the situation _clearly_ to somebody else, we unroll the blockages that prevented us from reaching that logical conclusion.
# March 19, 2007 8:10 AM

Dan Hounshell said:

I tried this today and it worked. I IM'd Scott Sargent and before he could reply I had already figured out the answer!! He should offer that as a service. It could be like one of those old scary looking "Fortune Teller" machines at the arcade. He could just set up auto-replies like "You already know the answer.", "Think about it for a minute then ask me again.", etc. Thanks for the tip, James.
# March 19, 2007 3:30 PM

Greg said:

Around here we have a thing called "Thinking out loud sessions". We don't actually solve anyone else's problems we just explain what the problem is and figure it out ourselves. I am not joking either, they used to be team meetings, they have since evolved.
# April 11, 2007 11:19 AM
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