Effective communication is one of the most essential skills a software engineer can possess—especially when seeking help. In his essay How to Ask Questions the Smart Way, Eric Raymond emphasizes that carefully crafted, well-thought-out questions are vital for encouraging collaboration and receiving useful answers. To better understand the significance of asking “smart” questions, I examined two Stack Overflow posts: one that exemplifies a clear and effective inquiry, and another that illustrates how vague questions can fall short.
A strong example of a well-formulated question is How do I sort a dictionary by value? (Stack Overflow). This post is effective because of its clarity and directness. The user clearly states their objective—to sort a dictionary based on its values—provides a code snippet, and explains the desired output. This makes it easy for others to understand the issue and provide targeted assistance.
The replies to the question mirror its quality:
The top response gives a concise explanation using Python’s sorted() function with a lambda for the key parameter, accompanied by example code.
Additional responses offer alternative techniques, such as the operator module, and discuss performance differences between methods.
This post follows several best practices from Raymond’s essay:
It clearly defines the problem and includes all relevant context.
The title is specific and informative, making it easier for others to find and understand.
Because of this, the question attracted accurate, diverse, and high-quality answers that not only solved the issue but also added value through different perspectives.
On the other hand, vague or poorly structured questions often result in confusion and limited assistance. While Stack Overflow typically removes low-quality posts through moderation, we can consider a hypothetical example to illustrate this point. For instance, imagine someone asks: “Why can’t I get this to do what I want” This type of question is problematic because it lacks any meaningful context. There’s no code sample, no description of what the person is trying to accomplish, and no information about what errors they’re encountering.
Unsurprisingly, such a vague question usually gets unhelpful responses. Users will often ask for more information, like “What do you want?” or “Can you post your code?” Some responses might express annoyance or impatience, discouraging the original poster and others from engaging further.
This type of question violates several key principles from Raymond’s guide:
It doesn’t give any detailed information about the issue.
It shows no indication that the user attempted to troubleshoot the problem themselves.
The outcome is typically wasted time, miscommunication, and a lack of productive feedback.
These examples emphasize the importance of effort and clarity when seeking help in technical communities:
Be Specific: Providing code, context, and a clear explanation makes it easier for others to understand your situation and offer helpful suggestions.
Show Respect: Thoughtful questions demonstrate that you value the community’s time and expertise, encouraging others to help.
Do the Work First: Attempting to solve the problem on your own before asking for help builds credibility and sets the stage for more meaningful collaboration.
In short, asking smart questions not only helps software engineers get better answers but also fosters stronger relationships within the tech community. Being intentional in how we ask for help is a vital part of growing as developers and contributing meaningfully to the field.