Help!

Not everyone likes to ask for help but sometimes someone knows the answer to something you don't and trying to figure something out can take time.

I am of the school of thought that it doesn't hurt to ask and can often save a great amount of effort. Some people don't like that.

A colleague of mine, a nice chap too, when he joined the company was working on software with me and he was terrible for this. I always said "give it an hour and if you've not figured it out, give me a shout and we'll take a look" or something to that effect. I think an hour is good.

Of course, there is the manager point of view that if you're asking someone for advice then they aren't doing their job and neither are you.

A counter argument is that if you put someone in charge of a project then they must actually be fully intimate with the details of a project. It therefore stands to reason that they may know the answer to something that saves you time and therefore makes them look better.

"You're distracting them from their job"

I do like figuring things out but I'm impatient. I like to get things done but if I hit a brick wall then it's not getting done and I want to move things along.

The answer is to think about the questions and write them down and that way they are focused. Email them if you like (na, that's no fun) but if they are written down then you have thought exactly for what you need.

Which is right? I ask. Doesn't mean it is right.