Are There Any Questions?
“Are there any questions?”
All too often that simple and reasonable question goes unanswered. Answer it! Read on…
A regular topic in my discussions with our various team leads and subject matter experts is the lack of feedback or questions of any sort when they’re presenting a concept. It goes like this:
The team is gathered on Zoom to discuss a feature request. The product owner and business analysts put together a well thought out series of user stories and are now presenting it to the developers and quality team. There is no interaction, the PO is wondering if the stories are really that clear or if they are losing everyone.
The PO keeps moving forward. With no feedback along the way, when they get to the end, they ask the question:
“Are there any questions?”
A wall of silence.
Three days later, a developer starts working on a story. They immediately have a bunch of questions.
The PO and BAs are now working on the next sprint’s stories. They change gears, answer the questions, and get back to their other work. The developer finishes and hands it off to QA for testing.
QA goes back to the PO again and asks a bunch of questions. Meanwhile
This happens over and over again.
The PO and BAs eventually conclude no one is paying attention when they present the stories and give the opportunity for questions. “Engagement is low” I hear.
Pick a topic, it’s not just user story discussions, and this same pattern repeats. Someone presents a concept, they are met with a wall of silence, and only later do they hear anything in the way of feedback.
The overwhelming frustration at awkward silence being the routine eventually leads to the question “Is anyone even paying attention?”
Now, I get it… sometimes you truly didn’t have a question in the meeting. You needed to think a little more about it and it’s not uncommon to realize there is a question only after the next step begins. If it happens only some of the time, then it’s ok. When it becomes the routine, then the doubt creeps in and the continues to grow and the fury follows.
“Why am I bothering?”
“These meetings are useless.”
“I don’t have time to do my job because I’m always answering questions later.”
When they reach questions like the last one, no one wins.
There are at least 4 ways to respond in Zoom and Teams(verbal, chat, reaction, and body language via camera come to mind) when someone asks if there are any questions. Use the tools to clearly indicate “I heard you, I don’t have anything right now.”
If you are the person leading the meeting who is feeling unheard, then be bold! Ask a couple of people directly and make them answer: “[name] do you have any questions?” or even “[other name] what do you think about [some point made]?”
Whether presenter or audience, don’t let “Are there any questions?” go unanswered.
Otherwise, your leaders will be asking “Is anyone even paying attention?” and concluding the answer is no.