“That’s Interesting” : A Software Engineer’s Secret Weapon
A phrase that’s equally applicable in practically every situation.
There are times when us progressive software engineers are, sadly, asked opinions on various subject — whether we agree that vim is vastly superior to every other code editor¹ for example or whether we can fix a laser printer for a family member or even decipher archaic misleading codes as to why Windows needs to install a system update and reboot every time the mouse is moved².
On the other hand, there are times when we’re never asked for our opinions. These are mostly during our day jobs, of course — backlog refinement meetings, requirements gathering, assigning resources or prorities to tasks, architectural decisions, or simply the purchasing of new software, hardware, or cloud services. Amongst quite a few others. Have I missed any?
This is all par for the course and, frankly, something we all learn to live with after a modicum of experience in the grand game.
Alas, in order to deal with those situations in which we’re either faced with a difficult question and don’t immediately know the answer or are looking for a suitable excuse to back away smiling toward a nearby exit to avoid the situation entirely we’ve developed the phrase… “Hmmm, that’s interesting.”
