Helping Team Members : Rules & Etiquettes
When you are working in a team, memebrs of your team might come to you for help. Might be because he/she is new to the team or might be because only you have the knowledge of a part of the solution or many more. So it is a regular team activity you need to be involved with. Following are few etiquettes and rules you can follow while assiting your team members.
Step 0: Check Your Availability
You might be busy with your tasks, so if someone come to youfor help, check if you can be available. If you are busy
then politely ask him to come later with an exact time to come to you for the issue.
You might send him a meeting request as
well. Sending meeting request will help you as well to record the
time you are spending to assit your team.
Step 1: Listen To Him Carefully
This the first step, you must listen to his problem
carefully. Don't interrupt while he is explaining your problem, don’t
make him feel junior/inferior since he has come to you for help.
After listening to the problem, you might find that you are
not the right person, in that case refer him to the best person
in your team to get help.
Step 2: Draw The
Problem
Once he explained his problem, you might not have understood
it properly. So draw a diagram on a board to understand the
problem properly. Even if you understand the problem drawing the
problem definition is necessary to ensure both are on the same page.
Do not try to visualize/understand the problem on the source
code/configs/system. It will create confusion and will take time to understand/visualise. You can refer the codebase/configs/system while drawing the
problem on the board.
After understanding to the problem, you might find that you
are not the right person, in that case refer him to the best person
inyour team to get help.
Step 4: Help Him To Solve
Although you know the solution, never explain it. Ask him
small tactical questions over the problem diagram and listen to
his answer. If his answer is wrong, correct it logically and if the
answer is correct appreciate it.
Doing this exercise will help him to
find the solution by himself. During this exercise note the steps to
solve the problem on the board, so that he can refer it while
implementing. You don’t need to get into detail, you just need to find the way to solve.
Like after going through the problem on the board, ask him what do you think what would be the solution.
Step 5: Record The
Assistance
After solution is found and agreed, give it a name to this
problem which is easy to remember /understand and take the picture of
problem and steps to solve. You can mail it to him/the team or keep
it on the wiki and mail the link, so that team can refer it in
future. Also ask him to give you feedback once he solved the issue.
If someone is coming to you for help regularly/repeatedly for similar/small problems, then it is an issue for the team. Try to advise him and keep monitoring his pattern. If still it will continue, raise it as an issue with the team lead.
Give a Man a Fish, and You Feed Him for a Day.
Teach a Man To Fish, and You Feed Him for a Lifetime
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