There’s no such thing as a stupid question. Except sometimes there is.

In tech, asking questions is key. Whether you’re kicking off development for a new feature, trying to understand the insights being shared at a conference, or learning more about a job opportunity during an interview, a well asked question can have a significant positive impact. It can highlight edge cases your team didn’t consider, inspire healthy debate, or show you’ve clearly done your research. I just recently attended the ConveyUX conference in Boston that made me think about the types of questions that can be asked and how some people have taken the popular phrase; “there’s no such thing as a stupid question”, to an extreme.

And let me clearly caveat this post by saying that I’m 100% supportive of people who are genuinely curious and want to learn more and whatever my opinions may be, everyone has the right to ask whatever question they want, BUT I do believe there should be a level of introspection before asking questions.

The main point I want to get across is definitely not that you shouldn’t ask any questions, but that you should think about the below parameters before asking a question.

Time & Place

A popular phrase that I do agree with is that there is a time and place for everything. For example, the phrase of “there being no such thing as a stupid question” works really well in education environments, especially with children. Children, who are still growing and learning, should never feel…