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My manager is a middle-aged man who has done software development for more than ten years but his skills are kind of out of date. When I was working he asked me very basic questions now and then. For instance, what is a uniform distribution?, what does plausible mean?, what are the key points of this paper? And he made mistakes often due to the misunderstanding of some basic concepts.

I have suggested several times that he search the Internet or read some blogs but he just continued bothering, saying that it saved his time by just asking me. That was annoying and hindered my progress, Swiss cheesing my time. I don't know if a manager has the privilege to do that.

I don't think this question is the same as this one: My colleague always ask for help. Should I help him always?. If I don't want to explain the basic stuff to him it seems like I cannot or am incompetent.

How can I deal with that?

Lerner
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  • What does 'Leader' mean in your context? Manager? Boss? – Kilisi Feb 09 '21 at 09:28
  • @Kilisi I report to him. – Lerner Feb 09 '21 at 09:29
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    Is he just asking you for clarification on terms you used, or is he randomly asking you what these things mean throughout the day? – さりげない告白 Feb 09 '21 at 09:47
  • @さりげない告白 No. Not for clarification. He just didn't want to find the answers himself and want to get the answer quicklier. – Lerner Feb 09 '21 at 14:02
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    "My leader is a middle-aged man who did software development for more than ten years but his skills are kind of out of date." This seems to have no relevance to the question you asked, and makes you come across as obnoxious. – dan.m was user2321368 Feb 09 '21 at 16:35
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    It's usually considered poor form to accuse your manager of "Swiss cheesing" your time and hindering your progress, if his questions are pertinent to your work, and there is no suggestion of an improper motive. At the very least, your disinclination to communicate, or lack of clarity in your output (or targeting it above the normal expertise of the readership), may be hindering his work and Swiss cheesing his time. I'd certainly consider whether a proper part of your working time is to liaise with your colleagues and share expertise. – Steve Feb 09 '21 at 20:33

4 Answers4

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I find it hard to believe that your manager doesn't know what the word plausible means. I suspect that when he was asking you "what does plausible mean?" that what he was really asking is "what does plausible mean to you?". Like maybe he asked "can this be done?" and, instead of answering with a "yes or a "no" you answered with "it's plausible".

It's hard to evaluate "what are the key points of this paper?" without some context but if it's a paper you sent him to then maybe it'd take him 2h to read the paper vs 5m to get get the key points from you. ie. whilst you're complaining about being "swiss cheesed" maybe you're engaging in activity that would "swiss cheese" him.

And in any event, most software development, these days, is done in open spaces. The idea being that it helps foster collaboration. Like maybe you have another software developer - a new hire - who needs some help. Is helping them "swiss cheesing" you, as well?

If something takes you all of 1m to answer then may I submit that's not you being swiss cheesed - that that's you being intolerant to any interruption of any kind.

neubert
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    "If something takes you all of 1m to answer" is the definition of interruption hell and has been shown to kill up to 30 min of productive work. Book "Peopleware" covers more than 40 years of studies that investigated problems with open spaces and interruptions. Also: https://stackoverflow.blog/2018/09/10/developer-flow-state-and-its-impact-on-productivity/ There are way more productive ways to organize interactions than random interruptions – aaaaa says reinstate Monica Feb 09 '21 at 12:28
  • It is real. I should add the background: He and I are not native English speakers. But he can look up the word in any online dictionary. – Lerner Feb 09 '21 at 14:04
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    @AlexF - I'm a software engineer. Look at my profile. SO is, far and away, the SE network I have the most points on. And if you can't handle a periodic 1m interruption then what about restroom breaks? What about smoke breaks? Being a smoker isn't a protected class in the United States. Maybe all smokers should be banned from being devs! Also, I never said "being interrupted every 10 minutes". Any more words you want to put in my mouth? – neubert Feb 10 '21 at 00:24
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I think your safe exit from this situation is to make clear to your manager that, while you agree that asking to you saves time for him, the time that you put in coaching him is time you cannot dedicate to other tasks related to your job. Preferably in written form.

If he is fine with that, your back is covered: you are doing what he asks, and he cannot complain that you are falling behind with your other tasks.

If he realizes that it is a problem, he will likely stop using you as his personal knowledge base.

Another slightly more passive-aggressive approach is to answer to his help request with a "I will be back to you as soon as I am done with Task X on which I am working right now". This risks of turning into a further distraction if he argues that it is just 5 minutes. (mandatory Dilbert reference)

L.Dutch
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It looks like your leader is trying his best to understands things he doesn't, and he most likely trust you enough to show this "weak" side of himself. I would see this as a great opportunity to help him learn things, everyone needs help from time to time.

Now, I understands that this is time consuming.

I'm guessing the conversation resulting to your answer is the most time consuming part of his questions. I would recommend keeping your answer brief and simple :

I don't know, I don't remember.

or

I haven't had time to read this.

A little white lie, in this case, won't harm anyone.

If you can't lie for some reason, then you should be upfront with him and discuss the situation in a one on one. Explain how you can't stay focused, how this is interupting your work, and possibly making deadlines more difficult to reach. As your "Leader" he will be interested in your performance by numbers (Hours of work, postponed deadlines, etc...), hence making it easier to defend your point

Hugo
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    Lying - even a little white lie as you described wont' lead to a proper solution - being upfront and discussing the situation as you described is defininitly the better advise in the long run. – iLuvLogix Feb 09 '21 at 13:10
  • I was in a very similar situation recently and I adressed it with some time, and a bit of white lies here and there. Soon enough the person wasn't constantly asking me questions and found another way to seek answers.

    But you are right @iLuvLogix, it's not a proper solution, especially in the long run. I just wanted clarify a little more my thought process.

     – Hugo Feb 09 '21 at 13:22
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If I were your manager, tasked you with reading a paper, and then asked you to summarize the key points of the paper, and if you responded by telling me to "search the Internet or read some blogs" I would probably fire you on the spot.

Maybe there is some context lost in your question, but the fundamental nature of the relationship between a manager and his reports is that the manager accomplishes his tasks by utilizing the reports. To pick a very simple example, imagine a manager is responsible for knowing the key points of more papers than he has time to read - he accomplishes this task by assigning the papers to his staff, telling them to read the papers and then provide a summary. This relationship continues all the way up the hierarchy.

dan.m was user2321368
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  • Fire you on the spot is a bit harsh, but It would definitely hurt my opinion of the employee. – JohnFx Feb 14 '21 at 17:22