Thinking Techniques

Question

When you are in a meeting or while you are talking to you boss, project manager, technical leader etc. or doing something similar to these actions what strategies do you have in terms of thinking? (Question can be expanded and strategies of -answering- or -asking- or saying -OK- can be asked but since all these actions are based on thinking, it is good to talk on thinking strategies, I believe)

So here is my example;

http://howto.lifehack.org/wiki/Critical_Thinking

Critical Thinking provides you:

• Improved planning.
• Less gullibility.
• Creativity.
• Intellectual Freedom.

Answer 1

First question that goes into my mind is "what is the first question my boss is going to ask me about what I've done on my current project".

Then after that its: "How much longer will it take to finish the project".

Usually these two questions are good enough to cover a good chunk of the meetings.

Answer 2

Critical thinking is not done in a meeting; it is done in the hours, days, or weeks prior to the meeting with management. As an entry level programmer, I try to take Joel's approach to handle my grunt programming job, 7 hours of programming, 1 hour of critical thinking every day.

Getting things Done When You're Only A Grunt

Answer 3

Step 1: figure out who the most important person is at the meeting.

Step 2: figure out what the point of the meeting is to THAT person.

Step 3: discuss every issue brought up within the content of that point.

Bottom line is - meetings tend to fragment. Stay with a single point and you'll get to a resolution faster. And since it's a single point, make it the point that the meeting head WANTS it to be.

Answer 4

When speaking to devs who work under me, they often have different opinions from mine on how to design or implement certain things. My natural urge is to defend my opinion, instead I try to consciously find faults with my proposal and find ways why their idea might work better.

Undermining yourself not only helps you find the best solution (they have ideas you didn't think of), but it builds up the team's cooperative spirit. If you simply "hash it out" with them, I find that too often they defer to you simply because you're more senior, rather than because of the technical merits of the ideas being discussed, which does nobody any good.

Answer 5

• Be concise and get to the point of what you need to say
• Avoid techspeak unless technical details are explicitly requested
• Ensure that you understand the purpose of the meeting or discussion, including any underlying subtext, and consider these as you formulate your part of the talk
• Engage in the meeting - pay attention, be alert, demonstrate your alertness physically (don't slouch)
• Facilitate conversation with open-ended questions (those that can't be answered with 'yes'/'no')