There are no wrong answers. Or are there?

Rhymes doing a Node.js workshop at Mayden Academy

So, I struggled with this topic for a while. Close-minded me was ADAMANT that there are clearly wrong answers. Right? We know that 2 + 2 = 4. Well yes, but did we always know that? No, of course not. There was a time we didn’t know everything. OH, WAIT, THAT TIME IS NOW!! IT WILL ALWAYS BE THAT TIME! We will never know EVERYTHING!

This was the breakthrough I had. Right now. This instant (well, about 70 words ago, but you get the idea).

There are some things we consider to be fact. For example, 2 + 2 = 4.

And before you think I’m all crazy, it’s ok. I’m not. I understand the World works because of these facts and considerations, but you need to keep an open mind.

“There are no wrong answers” generally goes hand in hand with “there is no such thing as a stupid question”.

We KNOW there is such thing as a stupid question - I’ve only been writing software for a couple of years - I’ve asked LOTS of stupid questions. But some “stupid” questions can be categorised:

1. Questions that have already been answered, but the asker wasn’t listening.
2. Questions that can be answered with a scant amount of research and less than a minute of time.
3. Questions of which the answer should be painfully obvious to any person with a pulse who has lived on this earth for more than a decade.

What can we learn from these three examples that just scratch the surface of “stupid” questions?

Firstly, the person asking the question might not have been paying attention. There could be several reasons for this - not because of stupidity. I do this a lot - one question will lead my mind to another path of questioning. It doesn’t mean I am not interested, but the question itself was the answer that was blocking a train of thought. By asking it, you could move it out of the way and carry on.

Secondly, this is not necessarily a stupid question, maybe it was just easier to ask somebody with previous insight - under time constraints, it may be quicker to ask someone than to go hunting. The internet is a dangerous, lawless land. A quick search for a simple answer can lead to a quest that brings forward days of misinformation…

Third - ok, that may be a stupid question, but you don’t have to be so rude about it! I really don’t think well when put on the spot. When I feel pressured, I can miss very obvious things, ask very obvious questions (that I do already know the obvious answer to). It happens. Be nice!

I think what we really mean when we say there are no wrong answers is:

“I want to hear what you think; don’t worry about whether you’re right or not.”

And this is very important - your thoughts, feelings, reactions (remember what I said about not thinking straight when pressured), actions are all exactly that - YOURS.

Someone else may think they are wrong, someone else may KNOW they are wrong.

But if you don’t know, the only way you will ever learn is by questioning, digging, investigating.

The only way we will move our knowledge as a species forward, is by questioning. Learning. Not fearing failure.

At Seccl, these are the things we embrace as part of our culture:

• Push yourself
• Improve yourself
• Learn more
• Fail first fast.

All of these things will make you better, stronger, smarter and make the things you work on and use your knowledge to build better, stronger, smarter (oh look did you see that??).

I’m going to leave this here. It’s everyone’s favourite Princess: Consuela Banana-Hammock on evolution, gravity, science and the progressions of knowledge:

Just remember: Dark Energy makes up 70% of the Universe. Only 20 years ago, we didn’t even know it existed!

There might…be…a…teeny…tiny…possibility…

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