Why, Why Why: A Waste of Time?

Interesting thought. I would say in some instances this makes some sense. But it has a hint of burying your head in the sand. As an experienced business person, there have been times when something didn't "feel" right to me. So I asked questions, even though it wasn't in my direct control, and found an issue. Like when I worked for the FBI and found them violating Federal laws in their electronic surveillance program. May not have been worth my job, but I can sleep at night.

I tend to ask why at work because my current position is a lower level than I'd like to be in the corporate world. I ask why so that I can learn how things are done and the logic (or lack of it) behind decisions.

1.) I may be unable to control situations now, by perhaps I can learn to influence decision-makers when it comes time.

2.) In the end it may not be worth my time to ask why, but I don't know if it is until a later time.

3.) I'm hoping for logic, but I don't always expect.

4.) I ask over email because I like to have things documented. It's also why I buy books and highlight and make notes in the margins.

5.) I think I'm asking the right person, but I don't always know until I ask them. I then hope they point me to the right person if they don't know.

6.) I do believe there's always a reason for the event or circumstance. However, as the social media meme implies, "Sometimes that reason is because you're stupid and make poor decisions." Or in a more professional manner, it's because the company made a poor decision for one reason or another.

Ernie, I don't know how much time you spend asking "why" so that cutting this word out of your vocabulary will really be a game changer. I'm just going go ahead to take your word for that.

Personally, I would like to remove these words and phrases from my vocabulary; "embrace," "reach-out," "acknowledge," "on-point," "spot-on," "no problem" and "yes."

Articles (a, an, and, the) and adverbs are also kind of useless filler words. The sentence "he slowly walked through the open door" is pretty much the same as "he walked through open door." Right there, I saved two whole words.

I do agree with you that understanding things is really over-rated. Personally, I just try to do stuff without thinking too much. Any time I spend thinking usually doesn't appear to others to be doing something and that's a huge risk to my personal brand.

I tend to hire unquestioning automatons like myself to perform tasks. That's why (oops) robots are so appealing. However, robots may never be able to manage quality snark. And that's why (dang, that word again), I can't delegate everything to a robot.

I am glad my question/commentary is generating comments. Funny if those commenting knew me or read my blogs on Proformative ( I think there are well over 50 over the past six years) you would know that I do ask "why" often, and it got to the point where I was working way too many hours. I will not deliver any sarcasm here as this is not the right platform

Effective use of the word "why" could best serve in asking why do I need to ask this question. I believe the word "what" and the specifics is a much more powerful word.
As in Chris' 2/24comment above, perhaps a powerful internal question could be relating to what do I need to do to advance to my next position and create a project to attain the advancement. (Oop's, too many words). I love working in the what space as it keeps me in action.

Interesting conversation. My take on the post is, for those of us that get too detailed, try to save those 'why's' for the important stuff. As with anything, moderation is the key. A primary reason I pursued the accounting profession was because I wanted to know 'why'. Why do businesses work they way they do and what are the implications of choosing one approach over another. Why do we do it this way? Or, is it time to consider a different approach. If it's a thoughtful 'why', great. If it's a 'why' for the small stuff, then ask yourself 'why' are you asking 'why'.