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From: "Lyn Worthen" <Lyn -dot- Worthen -at- caselle -dot- com>>
> The most drastic case of "not enough bandwidth" I ever encountered was
> resolved quite quickly when I showed up at the SME's desk (for the
> bazillionth time) with a clipboard & chair, and announced that I was his
new
> best friend, and I'd work there, at his desk, until he had a long enough
> break to talk with me. Oddly enough, the necessary 3-minute break in his
> work occurred within about fifteen minutes!
At one gig, my cubicle was directly across from the Men's room door (and all
the developers were men). I would ask them a question on their way in.
Naturally they were inclined to answer quickly and briefly. Some would take
the time to embellish their answers on the way out. Most were open to
follow-up questions on their way out. I found this more than made up for the
negative connotations of the location.
FYI: At that gig, most developers gave me all the interview time I needed
(except when the project manager was running interference). They enjoyed
talking about their portions of the project (most of it was not in the GUI)
and were great teachers. I walked into the gig knowing nothing about Linux
and very little about networking but was curious and willing to get dirty.
It wasn't all one sided, though. In my "innocence," I asked some interesting
questions, was able to offer useful suggestions, and found bugs that no one
else did. Unfortunately, they did not feel the same way about reviews. Most
delegated their way out of reviewing anything.
Cheers,
Debbie
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The Paper Trail
Technical Documentation http://www.ptrail.com
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