Hearing Without Listening Leads to Bad Solutions in Tech
The tech world feels like it’s speeding up. Every second seems to matter as deadlines loom. The old solution of unpaid overtime is wearing thin, but there are other disadvantages to this busy, busy rush culture.
The cost of rushing
When the team speeds ahead ignoring warning signs The Secret Developer knows the ultimate destination.
Miles away from the intended destination.
We might dream of a world where solutions are crafted with a full understanding of the problem, but that probably won’t come true in our lifetimes.
The problem is that this rush-in at any cost is implemented in the most simple queries in my current team. The victim here is the lost art of listening.
The Scene
The following happened today and inspired this very article.
I took part in one of our many status meetings and started explaining an issue. We hold back features for a specific release version, often using feature flags. In this particular case, we have a limited release, and cannot put more functionality into the release due to our development rules. Some work (like removing feature flags and solving defects) can only be placed into their target version and not any preceding version. As I’m sure you’ll agree that is a bottleneck on any development work.
Before I even finished the situation I’d been cut off. “Why not meet with the release team?” someone interjected, and unfortunately, I couldn’t control myself — I had to say I’d arranged the meeting but perhaps my tongue was too sharp. I was simply asking if the team had experience of this problem before my later meeting with the release team (another suggestion was to push changes anyway, and to hell with the rules).
The Issue
This is not just an annoying interruption; it’s symptomatic of a deeper malaise affecting many tech teams today. It’s the assumption that every question is a request for a quick fix and that every problem presented is in the final stage of diagnosis, awaiting only the prescription of a ready-made solution.
But what if we’re still trying to understand the patient’s symptoms?
It’s even more tricky when trying to communicate a nuanced issue.
It’s not just about when the features get released; it’s about how this decision impacts the entire development lifecycle, from coding to testing, from user experience to market positioning. Quick answers may or may not be correct, but if you don’t understand the situation, you are more likely to encounter the second type of solution.
Implications
When words fall on deaf ears, it might be because they are conditioned to respond, not to comprehend. What worries me is this is the culture of my current employer. They hear the surface level — “release version” and “meeting” — and their minds race to the nearest conventional solution. In this case, a meeting that’s already happened and failed to address the heart of the issue.
This pattern of hearing without listening leads to misguided solutions — ones that might tick boxes but don’t move projects forward in any meaningful way. It’s like treating a symptom without diagnosing the disease; it provides temporary relief but leaves the underlying condition to fester and worsen.
The consequences? Frustration mounts, productivity dips, and morale take a nosedive.
Innovation doesn’t thrive in environments where the immediate response is to silence questions with ill-fitting answers.
Solutions
How do we combat this epidemic of miscommunication?
Environment and Culture
It starts with fostering an environment where every team member feels heard and understood. Encourage open, uninterrupted dialogue and ensure that everyone, from interns to executives, has a foundational understanding of the projects they’re working on. Cultivate a culture of curiosity, where questions are encouraged, and problems are dissected collaboratively until their roots are laid bare.
Active Listening
Active listening is the type of consideration that involves more than simply waiting for your turn to speak. It’s about engaging with the speaker’s ideas, asking clarifying questions, and paraphrasing their points to ensure accurate comprehension. It’s about understanding the ‘why’ before jumping to the ‘how.’
Morale
If you feel that you’re not being listened to (in a genuine way) you might just stop speaking. This limits the diverse voices within a team and potentially leads to less good quality outcomes for the whole team. That’s bad for everybody.
Miscommunication
Without clear communication, I don’t know how teams can move on to understanding and making strategic solutions to problems. It limits teams and restricts our progress as a software development team.
Conclusion
The path to innovative solutions and cohesive teams is paved with understanding and effective communication.
Let’s pledge not just to hear, but listen — to transform our workplaces from echo chambers of redundant solutions into forums of meaningful dialogue and collaborative problem-solving.
One where we listen and pay attention to each other. How about that?