Ask HN: What are some frequent questions your non-technical team members ask?

6 pointsYadi11y ago3 comments

My question is more towards engineers here.

Sometimes the simplest inquiry while being in the zone can be distracting. I'm wondering what are some of those questions you get asked as an engineer during work?

For example, some usual questions are:

1- Is the website down, why it's not loading?

2- Can you do this change to the text on the site right now?

Looking for more similar questions.

3 comments

3 comments · 1 top-level

Jemaclus11y ago· 2 in thread

I think the most frustrating one is "Is there something wrong with X?" without any accompanying details. That's not a helpful question at all. What part of X isn't working? Is the server not responding? Are you pressing a button and it's not doing anything? Are you pressing a button and getting an error message? Are you loading the page and seeing something unexpected?

Followed closely by the aggravating design critique/question, "Can't you just make the page pop or something?"

chatmasta11y ago

I understand the purpose behind this question. They are hoping the answer is something like "yes, sorry, I was just working on that... let me fix it." Hence their dismay when you stare at them bewildered. They hope to avoid the need to give you further details (most likely because they understand they are not qualified to describe them).

YadiOP11y ago

Haha, I get those as well! Thanks!

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