Why bother about 'Questions?'

Life is full of questions. Our relationship with and use of questions are expressions of our culture and how we communicate with each other in software teams. Communication is an important skill in the software industry that can make or break teams, yet it's an underrated skill and a topic that's not discussed enough. Questions have the power to connect people together and the world they share. This talk is aimed to explore some real examples that made this possible towards building better understanding and more happiness among team members.

Transcript

1. Why bother about ‘Questions’?
3. Some answers from team members - Engineer 1: ..Read other people’s mind - Engineer 2: ..Give smart answers always
4. Other answers from team members - Engineering Manager: - ..Get people to understand each other automatically - Without my intervention - My life as a manager would be so much more easier
5. Other answers from team members - Engineer 3: - Work more collaboratively - Understand other people, the way they work -..Getting rid of poverty
6. Managers feedback about the meeting
7. A Question At a more fundamental level an Icebreaker is..
8. Albert Einstein about Questions
9. What lies beneath a Question? 🤔
10. Quotes from ‘Questions’ book “Our relationship with and use of questions are expressions of our culture”
11. “The technology of a question lies in the fact that it forces the issue at hand to reveal itself in a certain manner”
12. “The road from ignorance to knowledge travels through questions”
13. “..Questions have the power to connect people with each other and the world they share” 
 Pia Lauritzen’s TEDx talk
14. The person behind the original standup question - Ber Flynn(works at Equal Experts)
15. These Questions were made to be.. * Safe * Non-invasive * Fun Ice Breaker Questions as Cards
16. Questions help us work towards a shared purpose
17. Where could I get to ask such questions at work? 🤔 * Beginning of * Standup meetings * Answer a question + Share a work update * Can propose timeboxing responses would be nice * Other meetings * Retrospectives * Re fi nement meetings etc., 
 Universally * A person who doesn’t feel comfortable answering a question can simply say ‘pass’
18. A personal realisation about asking ‘Genuine’ Questions 💡 Questions —> Get to know your team members better —> Trust —> Psychological Safety
19. Looking at the Question and Answers Holistically Answers: - Engineer 1: ..Read other people’s mind - Engineer 2: ..Being able to give smart answers always - Manager: If I can get people to understand each other automatically without my having to explicitly do so, my life as a manager would be so much more easier/better.. - Engineer 3: Working more collaboratively, ..understanding other people, the way they work.., ..getting rid of poverty - Engineer 4(me): Connect people more with each other so that there’s more peace in the world - Question: If you were a new superhero, what special powers would you have?
20. Credits * Ber Flynn and the team at Equal Experts for the wonderful Ice Breaker Questions * Pia Lauritzen and her Book on Questions * https://www.strategy-business.com/blog/Six-reasons-successful-leaders-love-questions * Various people’s findings on Questions(Albert Einstein etc.,) Useful links * Equal Experts(EE) Ice Breaker cards can be found here * Getting to know the EE cards and the person behind them: https://www.equalexperts.com/blog/ee-life/icebreaker-cards/ * Random Ice Breaker Generator: https://icebreakers.equalexperts.com/ * Pia Lauritzen’s TEDx talk about Questions can be found here * Peanut Soba Noodles: https://cookpad.com/us/recipes/3680581-peanut-soba-noodles?ref=search&search_term=Soba%20noodles
21. Thank you for listening 🙂 Mohnish, Berlin 🇩🇪 based Freelance developer from Bengaluru 🇮🇳 Github boddhisattva More about me https://www.mohnishjadwani.com/about/ Current Blog https://www.mohnishjadwani.com/ Old Blog https://medium.com/@mohnishgj Email mail4mohnishj@gmail.com Personal User Manual http://bit.ly/personal_user_manual_mohnishgj LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohnish-jadwani-9a924619/