We’ve all heard this phrase before: “There are no stupid questions.”. However, this hasn’t stopped people from second guessing what they’re about to ask, especially in a work environment. Many people fear they will become “That guy” at work if they ask a seemingly foolish question. “That guy” being the person who’s opinion nobody really respects because they don’t seem to know what they’re talking about. The problem with this mentality is that in reality, the largest problems or most ingenious solutions are often found through “stupid” questions.

This is supported by one simple truth: People get lost in the details. This means that sometimes you can get so close to the details of a problem, or so familiar with a subject matter, that you carry certain assumptions with you all the time. This can lead to you not even exploring ideas because you’ve ruled them out based on these assumptions. However, the solution you’re looking for in a particular instance could be in one of these ideas. Maybe it would take a “stupid” question to get people thinking about it, but you’ll never know unless somebody asks it.

A good example of this is a new person joining a team that has been together for awhile, and who really are all SME’s (Subject Matter Experts) by this point. Since the person is new, they don’t usually feel very comfortable asking questions right off the bat, simply because they think asking too many “easy” questions will leave a bad impression. However, it is exactly this kind of person that can bring fresh perspective to a problem that the team is investigating. Because they are so unfamiliar with the project, they bring no assumptions to the table. Even if their question is considered “stupid” by the team, maybe it gets someone thinking in a new direction. Without those questions, the problem may never get resolved properly.

In summary, the point here is two fold:

1. You shouldn’t hesitate to ask a question as long as you genuinely have thought it out and don’t know the answer.

2. You should encourage people around you to ask questions, as this only fuels the team problem solving process.