STUPID QUESTIONS 101: "How?"

Since starting my career as a project manager in the mid-1980's, I have led numerous engineering teams developing complex commercial and military systems and products. With degrees in Accounting and Systems Management, I'm usually the only non-engineer in the technical meetings and, understandably, the degreed engineers tend to assume I'm a bit of a technological idiot.

Knowing this, I have learned to use stupid questions to great effect...and “How?” is one of the most effective questions to use when working with professionals in technical fields. I've found that, for me, not having a technical degree actually helps in these situations. Rather than risk criticizing their work by pointing out the errors, I simply play dumb ask them to “explain how it works.”

A good example of this was on one very complex project I managed, the initial system design was missing a rather critical communication link between two major subsystems. After working on the design for almost 2 months, neither the design team nor the QA team had noticed the missing link.

Knowing that finding fault with the design would put my engineering team on the defensive, I played the know-nothing, non-technical manager. I told the Project Engineer I was having trouble understanding the data paths and asked him to explain them to me.

He brought the system diagrams into my office, cleared a space on my work table, unrolled the diagrams (13 or 14 sheets) and proceeded to trace data pathways through the system. Six times he traced them without noticing the “missing link” and six times I looked confused and said “I know you probably think I'm an idiot, but I just don't get it. Can you show me one more time how the data gets from Subsystem A to Subsystem B? Thanks for your patience.”

After the sixth time he was not only ready to kill me, but he definitely thought I was the dumbest Project Manager in the company. And yet, knowing this, I still asked the seventh time (who says “third time's the charm?!”). He was halfway through the seventh explanation when the light bulb went on. He stopped his explanation mid-sentence, rolled up the system diagram, and walked out of my office without saying another word.

Three days later, he walked back in the office, unrolled the (updated) system diagrams, stabbed his finger onto the new data pathway and started explaining the design as if three days had not gone by. When he was done, I apologized for my obtuseness, thanked him for the explanation, and signed the system approval sheets.

Nothing was ever said about it again, Neither and I nor my Project Engineer (PE) ever acknowledged the issue had even existed. But the error was corrected, my PE saved face and, most importantly, the customer got a solid, more robust system.

Persistent Stupid questioning saved the day.

So don't be afraid to ask the stupid question...or to sound stupid asking an embarrassing question. It is often the least best way to get the job done.

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If you need help asking stupid questions, contact an expert. Either leave a comment here or e-mail me at: TomFawls@Council4SmallBiz.com.