How to ask questions and find the right answers

Transcript

1. 1.

   H W TO ASK QUESTIONS AND FIND THE RIGHT ANSWERS

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   You will f*ck up.

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   You will f*ck up. Every day.

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   And that’s okay.

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   And that’s okay. It’s the best part, really.

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   “Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses

   your understanding.” Khalil Gibran
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   (A story of a button.)

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   Getting ahead in 5 easy steps

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   Admit that you have a problem. 1

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    Walk away. 2

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    Narrow it down. 3

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    A Is something broken? B Are you stuck?

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    - What does it take to trigger the problem? -

    What is it that you want to achieve? - What happens instead? A
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    - What is it that you want to achieve? -

    What is involved? - Where are you getting stuck? B
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    Research. 4

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    A “Do you have a name”? Check the documentation.

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    None
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    None
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    A + B Too fuzzy? — Use a search engine.

    Don’t bother with site searches.
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    None
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    ?

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    What does it take to trigger the problem? What is

    it that you want to achieve? What happens instead? A WHEN THEN BUT
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    What is it that you want to achieve? What is

    involved? Where are you getting stuck? B WHAT WITH HOW
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    - Leave your emotions at the door. - Formulate your

    question with the answer in mind. - Be speci c in your terms. - Consider variations of your problem. - e order of the search terms matters. - Let the results guide your next question.
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    A + B Evaluate the results.

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    - How old is an answer? Check the date. -

    How trustworthy is the source? - Explanation or just a code snippet? - Close, but no cigar? —Can you adapt an answer to your use case?
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    Ask for help. 5

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    None
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    (What is Stackover ow and how does it work?)

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    So, you think you’re ready to ask a question?

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    Have you exhausted all other means?

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    Did you search for similar questions?

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    Really?

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    Really? Alright then —

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    None
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    None
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    - Leave your emotions at the door. - Be speci

    c, be brief.
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    None
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    None
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    None
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    - Leave your emotions at the door! - Provide all

    necessary context. - Show that and what you’ve tried. - Be speci c, be brief. - Make it relevant to others. - Keep an open mind. - Be nice.
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    None
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    - Use as little tags a as possible. - Don’t

    use buzzwords. - is is not a honey pot!
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    None
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    None
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    Now wait. Go, do something else. Be patient.

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    …

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    Found what you needed?

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    Found what you needed? Take some time to understand.

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    Comment. Ask follow–up questions. Be grateful.

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    …

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    Repeat. ∞

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    Experts Beginners

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    Experts Beginners Highly specialized questions Universal questions

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    Someone somewhere had the same problem than you before.

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    Give up.

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    Give up for the moment

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    Give up for the moment, but never for good.

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    Don’t be afraid to ask for help.

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    Writing Ruby is a magical experience, but Ruby is not

    magic.
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    Here’s something to get you started:

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    None
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    None
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    @polarblau