Teaching the solution.
Teaching how to solve it.
The former works quickly.
The questioner can continue with what he’s doing.
The task gets completed.
The project moves forward.
The latter works slowly.
The questioner still has to figure out the answer.
The task is on hold while the questioner researches.
The project is brought to a halt.
Look at the productivity in a day and the former is superior.
Look at the productivity in a year and the latter is superior.
The difference is simple: valuing today’s productivity over tomorrow’s.
Playing the short-term game.
Ignoring the power of compounding.
Want to reduce the overall time of a project?
Want to improve the capabilities of a person?
Want to increase the productivity of a team?
Point the questioner in the right direction.
Let him figure out the rest.
Give feedback if he strays off course.
But let him think, try, do and be resourceful.
Unless you want someone to depend on you.
Continue to take up each other’s time.
You remaining the bottleneck.
In that case: go with the former.
Otherwise, try the latter.
Have a little patience.
We grow at different rates.
But we all grow nonetheless.