“If you make listening and observation your occupation you will gain much more than you can by talk.”
Robert Baden-Powell.
I already know what I know, so I’m not learning anything new when I’m talking. I don’t get the chance to learn what you know when I’m talking.
I’ve recently started a new OSS project with a product that I haven’t used before, which is integrating into a broader solution that I have limited visibility of so far. The concepts are all familiar but the terminologies and specifics are still being learned, which means doing a lot more listening in meetings and less verbalising than I would normally.
Conversely, I sometimes get so excited chatting with fellow-OSS people that I don’t stop and listen like I should (I do try to curtail this more these days though). I bet you’ve met people who struggle with listening during your OSS career too right?
Where do you fit on the listener – talker scale?