Asking for Help

The following is a good guideline in asking and escalating your issue. Please consider all the steps before directly going to the last point.

When you find the answer, make sure to update the relevant threads and places you've asked. This promotes knowledge sharing and - no matter how silly it seems - will help somebody in the future. If it’s a recurring problem, others have faced the same struggle. Consider writing either a company or personal blog post and sharing it.

If you feel you aren’t getting the support you need from your team (or line manager), escalate accordingly.

1. Can you phrase the issue?
   • How do I ask a good question?
   • What types of questions should I avoid asking?
   • Creating Github Issues
2. Have you gone down a rabbit hole?
   • Five whys
3. Have you tried Google, Github, Reddit searching the issue?
   • Google: Search Techniques
   • GitHub: SearchTechniques
   • Github: Searching issues and pull requests
   • Reddit: Search Techniques
4. Have you searched the internal comms tool (ie Slack) and the Wiki (eg Slab) for help?
   • How to narrow search results in Slack
5. Have you asked your immediate team for help?
6. Have you tried pairing with a team member?
   • On Pair Programming
   • GDS: How to pair program effectively
7. Have you asked your team lead for help?
8. Have you tried asking in the relevant COP (both your internal company and potentially the client COP’s)?
9. Have you tried asking your line manager?

Comments?