I have spent a lot of my career solving problems.

 That is what people in technology do. We find problems, figure out what is causing them, and come up with solutions. Being good at that has served me pretty well over the years.

 I think that became a habit.  When someone brought me a problem, my natural reaction was to start solving it. I listened to what they told me and before long my noggin was working on what I thought they should do.

 The problem was that my answer wasn't necessarily the best answer.

 I frequently had software developers come to me with a problem, and I found that listening to them and asking some good questions often yielded better results than giving advice. These people didn't need my solution. They knew their problem better than I did. Given the opportunity to think it through, they often found their own way forward.

 Over time, I have become much more interested in helping people figure things out for themselves. That doesn't mean I never give advice or make a decision when one needs to be made. Sometimes people want advice, and sometimes the situation calls for a clear answer. But there are also times when the best thing I can do is resist the temptation to provide one. That's when I listen, ask questions, challenge some of their thinking, and help them look at the problem from different perspectives. It is fascinating to me what can happen when I give people the opportunity to think.

 They often come up with answers I wouldn't have come up with. They know things about their situation that I don't. They see possibilities I can't see. And because the answer belongs to them, they may be far more committed to it than they would be to a solution I handed them.  Every time I jump in too quickly and solve a problem for someone, I may be taking away a problem they could have solved themselves.

 I've spent a lot of my career learning how to solve problems. I've also learned that not every problem is mine to solve. Sometimes asking a good question accomplishes much more than giving good advice.

 When someone brings you a problem, how quickly do you start solving it?

 I’d be interested in hearing what you think.