Sifting & asking the right questions

If you need to gather information, from users, one of the skills that you must have is 'sifting' - 'tapis'. One more skill u should have is asking the right question (macam detective).

In a meeting to understand the requirements, you get loads of information, mostly irrelevant. Half an hour, diorang boleh explain apa diorang buat, but actually what you need, is actually in 1-2 minutes out of the whole thing. Tapi, tak boleh cut diorang sangat, biarkan diorang cerita. Cause they love telling us about their work. So kita dengar aje, dengan muka yang menunjukkan interest. Sometimes ada jugak other useful information that may help you in your solution design.

Mesti ada kesabaran, cause the way they tell their long story is, like without a breather in between sentences. So you cannot stop them. Or sometimes they also use the tajwid method, dengan menggunakan 'saktah' (berhenti tanpa mengambil nafas), between sentences. Actually I tak notice pulak when they take their breath. Paling tricky lagi when there are 2-3 users to explain. Satu baru nak abis cakap.. belum abis lagi.. tapi dah disambung or disampuk, by the other one. So itulah, the story can go on for quite sometime.

Sometimes, boleh ter-imagine, like I'm playing soccer. They are passing the ball here and there.. I nak cuba tackle, nak dapatkan bola, tak dapat-dapat. Sampai gol.

So kadang tu bila dah gol.. I mean bila diorang berhenti kejap, kena cepat2 grab the opportunity to ask or say what I need to say. Itu pun suara kena jelas, kalau suara lebih pelan dari diorang pun, diorang boleh sandang bola tu dari kita dan teruskan dribble sampai gol lagi.

And the very few times you have the opportunity to ask your questions, you must ask intelligent, close ended questions where you get the answers, hopefully within the next few questions. Pasal kadang kita tanya specific questions pun diorang masih jawab vaguely.

E.g. Simply nak tahu lauk apa diorang makan dengan nasi (This is just an example. Nak gambarkan aje.. takde sistem order nasi in my office.)

Me : You all makan nasi dengan apa?
They all : Lauk ah.. lauk tu kita mintak, dengan pakcik, kita mintak satu lauk, dia charge kita mahal, kadang-kadang pakcik kasi lauk satu, tapi charge untuk dua. (saktah) Tapi kadang2 kalau ada yang muda sikit tu, ah dia charge betul sikit.. blah blah blah blah blah blah blah...."
Me (10 minutes later..) : ooooh.. Ok lauk apa?
They all : Kari. (saktah) Kari dia ok lah, ada oomph macam real indian style. (saktah) Tapi kadang2 pucat warna dia.. blah blah blah blah.blah blah..
Me ( another 5 minutes later..) : Kari daging ke ayam ke telur?
They all : Ayam. (saktah) Kadang ayam besar sangat, kadang kecik sangat. (saktah) Bagian peha slalu abis dulu, kalau nak yang itu kena turun siang2.. blah blah blah blah blah..

Itulah dia. Meeting2 macam ni boleh mengambil masa yang amaaaat panjang. But that's part and parcel of being in this line. And I don't deny it's interesting. And I enjoy my work most of the time. Alhamdulillah.