Have you looked under the chickens?
2009-05-26
One of the problems with being an expert at something, is you forget what it's like to not know the basics.
Because I like being very easy to contact, I get all kinds of questions about the music business and entrepreneurship.
Some of them are so basic, I'm almost stumped!
It's like someone asks you, “I've got this henhouse full of chickens, but I don't see any eggs. What should I do?”
(Hmmm... Maybe it's a strange disease we should look into? Maybe the chickens are over 3 years old? Maybe it's temperature?)
Before getting complicated, you dare to ask the obvious, “Uh... have you looked under the chickens?”
“[pause] ... Hey! There they are! Wow! I never thought of that! Thanks so much!”
Computer technicians, plumbers and doctors must have this more than anyone.
I like getting these questions, though. They're a good reminder of beginner's mind. I try to remember all the questions I must have asked when I was just getting started.
I used to work as a handyman for a juice chain. Used to get calls like "the juicer won't work!" from panicked store managers.
"Is it plugged in?" solved 80% of the issues.
I have the same thing with piano teaching. I have to constantly remind myself that things that I think are really basic are incredibly difficult for beginning piano students. I was actually thinking about that last night. For a while I thought that switching to rock music made me a better musician, because you have to think about what key you're in, and build your own chords, but then I realized, I learned a hell of a lot to be the classical pianist that I was. Learning to read key signatures is pretty darn hard, and learning to read notes. I was a good musician before, I just forgot how many times I had to look under the chicken.
I've been working on http://DubFiler.com for a few months based on what I needed as a musician when I started it. During those months I got further and further away from thinking about my original needs as I fiddled with servers and code. Now I'm walking thru Bob Walsh's eBook, MicroISV Sites that Sell!, and revisiting my "customer" (me!) to making sure the site does everything I needed it to - meaning the basics. I'm pleased to find that it still does, but it's enlightening to me to see just how far away from "this is what I need the site to do" I got!
Over the years, I've done a lot of tech support, including some classics like the phone call from an insurance office -
"Computer don't work!"
"Which one?"
"All of 'em!"
There follows half-an-hour of tedious questions with less-than-helpful & rather thick junior. Eventually I got the office manageress on, and she told me all the computers were working, but didn't connect to the server.
Turned out the network hub had been unplugged by the cleaner. I told them to plug it back in, and print out a notice and stick it above the plug:
DO NOT REMOVE THIS PLUG
UPON PAIN OF DEATH
I couldn't agree more, particularly with your "open door" philosophy. I spent a year and a half interviewing successful CEOs and VCs and I found accessibility to a unifying characteristic. In addition to the reason you gave (being reminded how everyone else is thinking), i listed a couple more reasons to be open to conversation.
http://bit.ly/CBVVK
I'm glad to see that this is a widespread phenomenon! I am a music instructor and I come across this on a regular basis, whether I'm teaching an instrument or a general music course. It definitely keeps you on your toes!
I think the key thing here is to always strive to be an expert but never really think you are one. Otherwise, it can lead to complacency and in turn... missing the bleeding obvious!
To me, very few things are more irritating than someone who thinks they are an expert.
Everyone must remember that what we each know is limited to a small universe of fact; what we do not know is limitless and fathomless -- and completely unknowable to us until we come across it through own experience or are exposed to it by someone else. Unfortunately, we all know a slightly different piece of life's puzzle. You may know to check the plug first; but, if I've never encountered that particular problem, why would I think of that as a solution? Had I never raised chickens, what would lead me to consider looking beneath the birds as a possibility? We make assumptions about others at our peril. I have taught much in my life, and I have always assumed that the other person most likely has never HEARD of this item -- so let me show/explain/teach it to them, as needed. I may bore the few very quick among us, but reach far more of the group by leading them into the most basic of thought processes. That way, I now KNOW more people will know to check the plug first -- and fewer IT folks and music teachers will need to bang their heads on their desks. See? Easy.
Thanks for indulging our simple questions. I'm a teacher, and I forget sometimes that even though I've been teaching something for 13 years, it's only my students' first time learning it. (On the other hand, I wish they'd remember my experience when they're trying to pull one over on me.) ;-)
Simplicity is the mark of an intelligent man!
I just started to learn flute playing. It is a great experience to start as an absolute beginner.
All the things I know about music, the guitar, production and recording don't help when the issue is to produce basic beautiful notes on the flute.
And some of these new experiences help me to see my work as a professional musician in a new light.