How to politely ask a coworker to “Google it”

Question

I'm working in a team of 8 consultants just like me. I'm the youngest member of the team and also the one with the least experience (on resume at least). But 4 of the 8 members of the team will often come and ask me questions like:

• Do you know if W3C allows the font tag in HTML5?
• Do we have this CSS class in our stylesheets?
• Do you know what version of IE is the most popular.

All of those questions can be answered by a simple Google (or find) search. Those developers have more than 10 years of experience and some do more than a 100k a year with that job.

How can I politely tell them to stop bothering me with simple questions where the answers can be found easily on Google or with a simple Find command?

I tried to ask "Did you search it?" and the answer is always: I didn't find anything.

Answer 1

When this happens to me I usually ask "what search terms did you try?". This way if they did try to search I might be able to help them search more effectively, and if they didn't they sometimes say "ummm..." and go away.

Keeping open the possibility of the first is important; even if I strongly suspect they didn't try I will act as if they did. That way if they did I don't look bad.

Answer 2

I may be interpreting too much here, but of your 3 examples, only one looks to me like it's findable by a simple search ...

• W3C allows HTML5 - yep, that's a fast search... and given the nature of your work, I'd propose stapling W3C to the top of any resource list, putting it out the team in email and a variety of other mass assimilation actions - if you're a web developer, W3C is probably one of your top ranked sites. :)

• Do we have this CSS class in our stylesheets - I don't know how you're going to find that in Google? It's surely easily searchable in your codebase -- but if your stylesheets are searchable on the internet, you're either working on open source or something pretty wild.

• Do you know what version of IE is most popular - only answerable on the Internet if you're talking about the wide population of "all internet users" or "internet users that hit hugely mainstream sites" - a question of statistics like this has a lot to do with whether the data supports the target user base you are trying to anticipate. Slant it even a little and you may find a different answer that what "everyone" does.

I point these out, because sometimes it's helpful to consider whether they have other reasons of asking beyond and inability to use Google. If you have an office where the response is "Google? never heard of it!" and you do web development... run, run away fast.

Other reasons for asking are:

• they want to know that YOU can think deeply about the problem and come up with more than just a 5-minutes-of-research answer.

• they have a situation where it really IS easier to ask the junior guy - with 12 years of experience myself, I'm so often called into architecture and business meetings that I'm more likely have Outlook and Visio open than any CM tool or SDE - so if you have it open and you have fast access to search our CSS repository, I'm going to ask you to take 5 minutes, when it'll take me 30 to get mine up and started.

• this actually takes some thought and judgement - there may be a correct answer on the Internet, but there may also be 15 "correct" answers, and it'll take some digging to figure out the right one for your team. They aren't asking for you to a 5 minute task, they want someone intelligent to actually vet the answer. Google isn't absolute truth, it's a big data index. If the data is bad, the answer is wrong.

• I don't know it, but I bet you do... - if I think someone knows it literally off the top of their head and can answer me without skipping a beat, I'll ask. Yep, I could Google it, but Googling takes 10 minutes, asking you on the way by takes 3... I'm asking you.

If you really ARE hitting an epidemic of Answers Best Found on Google - then you may be hitting a senior engineer who is drastically out of touch. If it's a single individual, ask your own manager what's going on here? Why is a senior guy asking you for simple answers? It's interrupting your progress and for no apparent reason.

But if you're getting this from several people, I recommend looking at the trends and seeing why it keeps coming up. Ask about it, but ask the wholistic question - you see a case where you're asked a lot of simple questions that are easily found on typical web development sites - is there a reason why others aren't finding sucess?

Answer 3

You will find that if you give people the answer they will always come back to you. Also telling them LMGTFY is insulting even if it is the obvious answer. It straight out says that they are not worth your time. It also undermines your credibility doing this, as they will think you don't know the answer.

The proper way to deal with this is the GROW model. It is used as a coaching method.

The GROW stands for.

• Goal. Establish the goal that they want to achieve.
• Reality. Determine the current reality of the situation.
• Options. What options can they take to achieve their goals?
• Way. What is the way forward from the questions asked?

More details of it here.

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_89.htm

In short, do not give them the answer, instead ask questions that will lead to the answer they want and help them to direct themselves to that answer.

Examples.

• A1: "What did it say in the W3C specification? If its not in that, what other documentation did you look at?"
• A2: "what style sheets have you examined so far? What pages used those style sheets? Were they overriding the style?"
• A3: "What metric do you want to base it on? Where do you think you could get that metric from?"

You will find that after a while people will only come to you once they have anticipated all your possible questions. Also the GROW model can help find a solution for someone, even if you don't know the answer.

Answer 4

Tell them the Search Keywords to go Google instead of giving them the actual answer, and eventually they'll start going to Google first because they know you'll just send them there anyways.

It's works out quite well for me when people ask for extra help in comments on Stack Overflow, or email me for tech support from my blog. Rather then give them the answer, I tell them something like If you Google "W3C HTML5 font tag", you should find your answer in one of the top search results.

It's surprising the number of people that can't Google effectively, and they just need a bit of guidance in how to pick good keywords.

It's kind of like that old proverb:

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

Answer 5

Show them how you find the answer.

I make them watch me type their question into Google, or search the codebase (I ask them to come to my desk, or I walk to theirs). I show them how easy it is and it usually embarrasses them. If it is hard to find, then at least you haven't just told them to go away and try again.

If they lose interest or walk away, don't do anything about it, just ignore it. It's important that they learn how easy it is.

Sometimes they'll just ask you out of convenience, in which case telling them that you're not sure is fine.

Answer 6

I don't mind answering most quick questions, if I am not actively focused on a project.

I think the root problem here is that many people forget or are not aware that a 2-3 minute interruption can take 10-30 minutes to recover from depending on how complex the project you are working on is. Education and communicating this to your peers may help a lot, and you may be able to develop strategies where the understand that an interruption may be far more expensive in time then they saved by using Google/search/grep themselves.

I think many of the suggestions in the article - The hidden cost of interrupting knowledge workers apply here.

• Have non-urgent questions handled in a non-interruptive way
  • Questions that could have easily be solved by Google or grep fit in this category 95% of the time in my experience.
  • If a person has to wait for you get around to reading/replying to an email, they might just do the search on their own.
• Plan a good time where you can be interrupted.
  • So you can easily deflect these simple questions by saying if it isn't an emergency talk to me a 4:00
• Use Do Not Disturb signals
  • Clearly communicate when you are focused on something to reinforce that you shouldn't be interrupted to save someone 2-3 minutes.

Answer 7

The source of the problem is the negative externality.

They save 10m, but you lose 20–30m when they interrupt your flow—a loss they don’t experience, and therefore don’t think about.

The economist’s solution is to internalize the externality. Say “Let me finish what I’m working on and come over in 20–30m” or “Can you give me 20m to finish what I’m working on and come back?”

This way, they bear as much of the time cost as you. And if it’s still worth it for them to wait 20–30m, maybe it’s not so much lack of effort, but they’re genuinely not sure how to start. As MilkyWay90 said in the comments,

I'm currently helping a friend use multiprocessing in Python 3 and he spent 2 days looking it up while it took me 30 seconds.

This way, you can filter out the low-effort people and (assuming you’re inclined) coach the genuine folk in how to answer their own questions.

Answer 8

I am a software engineer and there is no long, drawn out, overly complex answer required here.

Set the expectation - in the next team meeting, reiterate the complexity of our field and how much of it involves R&D on our own. There is a balance between bothering peers with simple questions and spending 2 days researching something that a team member could have assisted with and saved time. In your case your heavy on the "not spending enough time researching", so make sure to make it clear that everyone should research their own questions 1st prior to seeking out the help of others.

I have personally dealt with this and sometimes you need to be direct about the response. Don't dance around and find this super crafty way to be overly polite and blow sunshine where it isn't needed. We as engineers are paid to research and solve solutions. This is part of our job, period. Junior engineers might need to be told 1 to 2 times and led by example, but on down the road a more direct approach should be used. After all if a software engineer can't Google at least to research a question, do you really want them writing code for a solution you are responsible for? I say no, so help guide these individuals and then add in being very direct about the issue if you have already explained that doing R&D on questions prior to seeking out help is a requirement of the job.

Answer 9

I'm going to answer this on the assumption that something which is true for me, is also true for you; namely, that mentoring is part of your job, regardless of your age in relation to your colleagues.

Whenever this happens I look at it as an opportunity to have a conversation about the topic. (In my experience, that's why they came to ask me instead of looking it up.) As long as I can timebox that conversation to only a minute or two, it's a good way for me to spend some time talking with a colleague about something that interests me.

If they ask something that I don't know, I myself will use Google, while they're at my desk, and we'll have a brief conversation about the results.

Either way, we both win-- my colleague leaves my desk feeling more informed (on my opinions, if nothing else), and I've learned more about my colleague's opinions and experience level, which will come in handy when I need to distribute some of my workload to my colleagues.

Answer 10

If they are simply trying to test you or just checking what you are up to, then as the others mentioned, you can google the problem in front of them and show them the way. However, if they still approach you after even when you deliver your work in time and there is no reason for anyone to check you, then you might have bigger problems in your team.

If senior developers continue to ask you such questions for no logical reason, then they have to be fake. Go to the HR and have their resume and background checked if you haven't done so already.

Its okay if kids in programming 101 class ask such questions because they are probably not aware of the word internet forum. Anyone with 1+ years of experience should know that google helps a lot.

You should see the movie "I love you phillip morris" which is comedy movie based on a true story. It shows how some folks are good at covering up big lies.

Steven cannot bear to be separated from Phillip. After being released, he helps get Phillip freed from prison by posing as a lawyer, then attains wealth by fraudulently acquiring a position as chief financial officer of a large medical management company called USAMM.

Steven Jay Russell

Answer 11

I tried to ask "Did you search it?" and the answer is always: I didn't find anything

so, perform the search while they stand there watching.

Or, say you will get back to them and email a link form I Googled That For You.

After a few of either of those, almost anyone will stop asking. If someone still persists, either say that you don't know, or say that you will get back to them ... and don't.

Answer 12

I've had several answers to this over the years:

A sign on the wall with my "consulting rates" for common questions.

A list of standard answers applicable to many problems. (Accompanied the consulting rate chart as special discounts for standard answers

A list of standard answers to questions in my area of expertise (a FAQ document).

A list of standard places to look for answers to the sorts of questions I was being asked (pointers to other FAQ's and the docs or tools i'd use to answer if I didn't know offhand)

A list of company-internal discussion groups and wiki's and such supported by a community -- better for them because they'll get a wider range of answers sooner, better for me because someone else may answer it before I have to, better for the company since the answers are likely to educate more than one person at a time.

If those don't solve the problem, they can get in the problem queue and wait until I can get to them... or go back to the consulting fee chart.

Answer 13

There's an opportunity here

I only ask for info from team members whose opinions I value. Coworkers routinely looking to you for answers indicates that they consider you knowledgeable and respect your advice. This is a good position to be in. There's an opportunity here for you to build a reputation as a highly knowledgeable member of the team. That can get you noticed in a good way.

How to avoid doing their work for them

But there are times when your coworkers are just wasting your time or taking advantage of you. In this case, you have options:

1. Send a link to Google search results. This gives the hint that they could have spent 10 seconds searching for this info themselves. The link to Google search results sends the message that they could have looked it up themselves AND that you're not willing to sort through the results for them, but you don't actually have to say all that. The link says it for you. I doubt they'll keep asking you if you do this a few times.

2. Reply that you're really busy and give them a clue for where to look on their own (e.g. "I'm sorry I don't have time to look myself, but I'm really swamped. I recommend taking a quick look at the style sheet). They may come back to you asking what to search for, which is another tactic to get you to do their work for them. If I suggested that my team member look at the style sheet themselves and they replied and asked me what to search for, I'd probably make a joke and say, "I don't envy you having to search through that mess. Sorry I can't help you out."

3. Ignore the request. Obviously don't ignore a request from a manager, but if you have a lazy team member who is wasting your time, just don't respond. You don't owe them work that you cannot directly bill to a project and you have a responsibility to the client and the project to use your time efficiently. If the team member follows up, send a quick reply that you're too swamped to look right now. I recommend using a joking tone if possible and if appropriate (e.g. "I'm close to solving an error and I'm afraid if I take my eyes off the code I'll never find my way out of this never-ending IF Condition.")

Answer 14

How can I politely tell them to stop bothering me with simple questions where the answers can be found easily on Google or with a simple Find command?

They're asking you because they think you might already know the answer, not because they've never used a search engine. So all you need to do is to give a direct, honest answer:

“I don't know.”

Stop being offended that someone might bother you with a question that they could probably figure out on their own, and start feeling flattered that they consider you to be knowledgeable and reliable enough that they'd accept the answer you give them as correct.

I know how frustrating it can be when people are constantly interrupting you with questions that they could answer themselves, but often the problem with such interruptions is that you feel compelled to stop what you're doing and go track down the answer yourself. Let the 3-word phrase above set you free -- you don't need to provide the answer if you don't know it, and I don't know minimizes the impact on whatever you were doing. If by chance you do know the answer without having to look it up, then you have a chance to be helpful and probably save your coworker several minutes of digging through search results.

The thing that your more experienced colleagues know that you don't is that it's okay not to know things, and that the team's collective knowledge is always greater than that of any individual member. If you pay attention to how they interact with each other, you might notice them asking each other the same kinds of questions that they ask you. That's just the nature of teamwork. You might find that asking them questions instead of finding every answer yourself speeds up your own work.

Answer 15

Do you know the answer off the top of your head?

• Yes? Good. Answer them.

• No? Say you're not sure, ask what they've tried, offer to help.

People ask others for help if they think the other person can help them. If they're asking you for knowledge all the time, it means they think you're knowledgeable. This is good.

If you know off the top of your head, then they made the right move asking you. It's quicker than looking, and they can be more confident in your answer than whatever some random guy on the internet says. Verifying the information you get from a Google search can take a while. Asking someone you trust is much more efficient.

Throughout my career, I've often been asked questions I don't know the answer to, simply because of how often I do know the answer to other questions. When I don't know it immediately, the person usually just says "oh, okay", and then tries to figure it out themselves. If they've already tried to figure it out, and need help, then I give it to them. If possible, this will consist of advice on how to find it on their own.

As a manager, this is the advice I would give my employees. Refusing to answer a question to which you know the answer is not only uncooperative, but also rude. If you're spending too much of your time answering simple questions, that's something to mention to your supervisor. It's their job to manage talent.

Answer 16

Be annoying and condescending

Instead explain to him that knowing how to find information is more important than the information itself and then advise him on tips to do this and encouraging him to try these on his own so that he can become more self-reliant in our age of technological enlightenment.

Make sure to smirk mockingly while doing this.

Continuing to answer his questions while being compliant will only further encourage more questions, enabling the undesired behavior. Being instructive to how to find information will discourage the same behavior.

Your tone of being "grander than thou" will go far to prevent further interaction and interruption.

Being patient and nice is a huge waste of time and my down votes here actually reenforce the effectiveness of going against the grain when appropriate.

Update Clearly I'm wining in this one as the answer is the most negative which would mean it would be the most off-putting. :)