Week 12: The 10-Minute Rule
Had an interesting situation this week. A junior engineer was stuck on a problem for 30 minutes. Should I jump in and help, or let them struggle?
The rule
If someone’s been stuck for 10 minutes and they’re:
- Making no progress
- Going in circles
- Clearly frustrated
Jump in. Don’t wait.
Why 10 minutes?
- Short enough to prevent wasted time
- Long enough for them to try solutions
- About when frustration turns to learned helplessness
What “jumping in” means
NOT: “Here’s the answer”
INSTEAD: “What have you tried? Let’s rubber duck this.”
Often they solve it themselves just by explaining. If not, I give them the next step, not the full solution.
The trap
Many managers err on the side of “let them figure it out.” This is cargo-culted from the idea that struggle builds character.
But there’s a difference between:
- Productive struggle (trying approaches, learning)
- Unproductive struggle (stuck, no progress, frustration)
Productive struggle builds skills. Unproductive struggle builds resentment.
The result
Team velocity went up. Junior engineers still learn, but they don’t waste hours on Google-able problems.
Time to first PR dropped from 3 days to 1 day for new hires.