Comment by zmmmmm
6 years ago
I don't mind the phrasing "why didn't you just" too much, but the phrase "why don't we just ... X" drives me crazy. The passive assumption that "just X" is obviously better and simpler than the current idea under discussion is insulting. Part of the problem is it lazily puts the onus on everybody else to explain why the proposal is a bad idea at zero intellectual cost to the proposer. eg:
Why don't we just use a jsonb column and put all the attributes in there instead of inventing a complicated table structure?
My take on this is always: if you so lack understanding of the problem space that you can't understand why everyone is discussing something complicated, stop proposing solutions until you do. When you do understand that, come back with your reasoning:
Although a relational structure is a better way to do this in general, I think in this situation it isn't necessary because the format of the data is intentionally client specific and opaque to our code. We might be able to simplify things a lot by storing it as a jsonb field
> Part of the problem is it lazily puts the onus on everybody else to explain why the proposal is a bad idea at zero intellectual cost to the proposer.
This sounds like "ask vs guess culture" is at play.
As with the OP, I think context matters a lot. I can imagine environments where it should be okay to ask questions without thought, or environments where some understanding or consideration is expected before asking a question.
What you describe does sound annoying: guessing a simple solution without putting effort into understanding the problem (which everyone else understands). And the opposite extreme would be only 'asking' questions only for confirmation/verification of an answer.
This reads like anyone asking a question with an obvious (to you) answer is automatically branded as "intellectually lazy", instead of simply ignorant or genuinely curious. Is it better for outsiders/juniors to study "the problem space" in their own silos before questioning the experts, lest they cause offense? Sounds toxic to me.