Ask 'what problem are we trying to solve?'
Quote
So I have found that asking the question, what problem are we trying to solve is usually the thing that cuts you straight through to the answer in the fastest possible way.
Episode 253: Dirty Fix (episode page, opens in a new tab) 01:06:26 (play audio from this timestamp, opens in a new tab)
Voice-matched
Summary
From 27 years of IT help desk work, Dave has found that asking what problem you're actually trying to solve cuts straight to the answer fastest. People describe issues the way they think you want to hear them. What he wants is: what are you trying to do, and what happens when you do it?
Not in the audio. Guest episode (Brendan Mulligan; 0.35 voice threshold). Some of Brendan's speech is mislabeled as Dave elsewhere in this episode. This passage is confirmed as Dave by context: he cites his 27 years of IT help desk work.
Also said
Episode 253: Dirty Fix (episode page, opens in a new tab) 01:06:57 (play audio from this timestamp, opens in a new tab)
And, but really what I want to hear is what they're actually doing and the problem they're hitting. I'm like, what are you trying to do?
Voice-matched