Knowing when to try finding answers to questions yourself versus when to ask your team for help can be hard. While it's important to be resourceful, self-reliance isn't always the best strategy. Here's how I think about the appropriate level of effort to put into answering questions:
- Not specific to your company - Search online for an answer on your own.
- Likely to be searchable in shared documents, email, or chat - Search through company resources available to you on your own. If you're stuck after looking in the obvious places, ask a colleague for other potentially relevant search terms.
- Specific to your company but unlikely to be searchable - Avoid replicating work that has already been done. Focus on finding the right person to ask; the information you're looking for will likely be helpful for others in the future.