↗ Reply to: Why Am I Doing the Thinking for You?
• 190 words • 1 min • updated
I got a Slack message the other week, just “What do you think?” with a link to a Notion document.
No context or indication of what this person actually believed. Just a link and a question mark.
I stared at it for a minute, trying to decide if I was annoyed or just tired (both, probably).
What’s this message is actually saying is: “I haven’t figured this out yet and I’d like you to do the thinking for me.”
That sounds harsh, but it’s true. When you ask someone “what do you think?” without sharing what you think, you’re not collaborating, but more like outsourcing? You’re taking all the work you should have done (reading and understanding the doc, weighing the trade-offs, forming an opinion) and dumping it on someone else’s lap.
It looks like a question, but it’s more like a task assignment.
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I must concur with this.
Throughout my university years I’ve been slowly shaped to adopt this ethos, via The Arch Way.
It’s good character to upfront your interlocutor with just enough context to get them unblocked for whatever purpose or outcome you’re striving to achieve.