Precision questioning and answering

Of course architects don't have answers to all questions, but it's critical that they know how to ask precise questions. Sure, you know that, and you've heard it said many times before but I do want to focus on it for this post. I've worked on many projects over the years where people simply asked unclear questions and as a result, got unlear answers.

I certainly don't mean to imply that the person you're questioning doesn't also play a part in the process. If person A asks an unclear question, person B is equally obligated to ask clarifying follow-up questions, but oftentimes, users don't know which questions to ask so ultimately, asking the precise question falls back on the architect, program/project manager, etc. The impact of unclear questions and answers is unlimited however. Having spent many years as a consultant, I've seen multi-thousand person divisions of companies head down the wrong path for a year because their leader didn't ask clarifying questions of their leadership at the start of the year, likely for fear of looking incompetent. At the end of that year though those leaders incompetence became abundantly clear as they "decided" to leave the company and go "spend more time with their families." If you're not clear of what you're being asked for, ask clarifying questions, your success and everyone else's depends on it.

"Judge others by their questions rather than by their answers" --Voltaire

Of course there are many styles of questions (open-ended, close-ended, etc.) and effective architects must know which situations warrant the appropriate questionning style, but in any case...be precise in your questionning...and, equally important, in your answers. Avoid using vague terms in questions such as "When will you be finished?" if you and the person you're asking don't agree on what the word "finished" means. If you're asked a yes/no question...answer it with "yes" or "no"...not an explanation that requires the person asking the question to infer whether the explanation actually equates to "yes" or "no." This requires you to be very deliberate in what you ask and answer...and it's not a skill many are proficient at. You certainly can get better at it though, and must if you want to increase your effectiveness.

A wealth of resources to help you improve your questioning and answering skills are available at Vervago's PQ & PA Skill Sharpener site. Additionally, a good 3 part series on questioning principles can be found at the Creative Streak blog.

Be accountable for your actions & hold others accountable for theirs

The highest performing teams that I've worked with have the best mix of:

• Each individual on the team knowing their responsibilities (and the ability and ambition to execute them), as well as the responsibilities of their teammates.
• A commitment by everyone on the team to execute their responsibilities to the best of their ability...all the time, as well as a commitment to provide respectful, direct, and honest feedback to their teammates when they're not executing on their responsibilities.

Does this mean you don't help teammates when they're not at their best? Absolutely not...but there's a big difference between helping people and trying to do their jobs for them because you believe yourself to be better than them at it. Trust me, you're not.

Over the years I've worked with many people that either aren't completely clear of their own responsibilities and/or their teammates' responsibilities, their teammates aren't completely clear of their own and/or their teammates', or most often, some combination of all of these. There's a word for this...it's called anarchy.

Imagine a football team where nobody really knows what their responsibilities are exactly. Do you think they'd ever complete a play successfully? Do you think they'd ever win? Sure, maybe sometimes, but their ability to do so would largely be by chance. If you don't fully understand your responsibilities, get clarity from who you need to so that you do. If you don't fully understand your teammates' responsibilities, then get that clarity too. Once you have that clarity, be the first to admit it when you don't execute well on your's. Additionally, be the first to respectfully and directly speak to your teammate when they don't execute well on their's (though of course, the "pick your battles" rule always applies).

The book Crucial Confrontations is in the Recommended Reading list for this blog, and is a great tool to help you with these conversations. The worst thing you can do is go around people you believe aren't doing their jobs, at least not based on what you believe their job to be. This doesn't fix problems, and unfortunately, often creates more. The next worst thing you can do is to try to do people's jobs for them. This is just irritating, patronizing, and insulting...not to mention it takes you away from what you're being paid to do. Don't do it...you don't want people trying to do your job either. Instead of doing these things, provide respectful, actionable, and direct feedback to people. It will help them improve, and most people are thankful to those who help them improve.

Effective architects give effective feedback, are accountable for their actions, and hold others accountable for their actions because they know that's the only way problems really get solved. A resource that effectively illustrates this and other attributes of dysfunctional teams is the book titled The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable. It takes an interesting approach in that the "lesson" is told through a fable played out by characters. Though the "team" is an executive team in the fable, the underlying problems they face will resonate with you in different teams you've been on I'm sure.