As someone who has worked in technology for a long time, I’ve encountered my fair share of difficult technical problems. While I may not be the best at any one aspect of technology, I’ve found that I excel at problem-solving and leading the technical triage of production issues. However, in my experience, one of the biggest roadblocks to effective problem-solving is the inability to accept criticism of ideas.
When troubleshooting with others, I often find myself quickly dismissing ideas that aren’t going to help us solve the problem. While I appreciate the value of brainstorming, I’ve learned to trust my instincts and can usually see right away whether an idea is worth pursuing or not. Unfortunately, this can sometimes lead to hurt feelings, particularly when a vendor is involved.
For example, I’ve had exchanges with vendors where they suggest a solution that I know won’t work based on the data we have. When I explain why their idea won’t work, they sometimes take it personally, as if I’m criticizing them as a person rather than just their idea. This can lead to wasted time, delayed problem-solving, and even vendor support withdrawal.
However, I recently had a positive experience with a vendor representative named Alex that demonstrated how effective problem-solving can be when ideas are evaluated objectively. While troubleshooting a particularly difficult problem, I was having trouble with their front-line support and needed to bring in someone more knowledgeable. When Alex joined the call, he suggested raising the heap size of a JVM, which I knew wouldn’t work based on our analysis of the heap.
Instead of dismissing Alex’s idea outright, I explained our analysis and why I thought it wouldn’t solve the problem. Alex was receptive to my feedback and we spent the next two hours bouncing ideas off each other and critiquing each other’s suggestions without taking it personally. Ultimately, we were able to solve the problem more quickly and with less frustration because we were able to focus on the technical issues rather than getting caught up in whose idea was best.
In conclusion, it’s important to remember that accepting criticism of your ideas is not the same as accepting criticism of yourself. When collaborating with others, it’s important to evaluate ideas objectively and be willing to adjust or abandon them based on feedback. By doing so, you can be more effective at problem-solving and create a more positive and productive work environment.
