The Definitive Guide to Covering Your Ass

Doing the kind of work I do, I’m often asked questions like “Do you know if the changes to suchandsuch.com were pushed to the live site?” or “Did Timmy get those edits done?”. Hell, even in my own house: “Did [mother-in-law] give [son] a bath?”. Questions to which, most of the time, I don’t have concrete answers. So, I answer in a non-concrete fashion.

It always slays me when people answer categorically “No” or “Yes” to a question when they don’t even know, for a fact, that their answer is correct. Not to get too geeky, but a former coworker of mine once asked another former coworker “Does C# support multiple inheritance?”. The latter coworker, without batting an eye, said “Yes”. He was wrong. (The meaning of the question is unimportant - so don’t spend too much time trying to figure it out - just an example). His problem? He didn’t cover his freakin’ ass.




Granted, his answer didn’t cause $1 million worth of product to be shipped to Singapore when the intended destination is Beijing, but the same principle applies.

It’s pretty amazing, when you think about it, how few things we actually *know* to be true at a given moment. If you were to ask me if my wife was at work right now, I’d probably tell you “I believe so” or “As far as I know”. You know why? Because I’m not at the place where she works where I can attest to the fact that she’s there. For all I know, she could be at a bar with her friends - I really don’t know.

That’s the key. Unless you know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that something is true or false - don’t speak as if you do. Adding the slightest big of ambiguity to how you phrase things can go a long way in covering your ass.

Here are a few tidbits you can use (with their generally-inappropriate counterparts):

When you’re about to say “Yes”, instead say:

  • “As far as I know”
  • “To the best of my knowledge”
  • “I believe so”

The inverse of these statements would also be appropriate when saying “No”.

Some folks might think these types of things would be underhanded or even dishonest. I don’t believe that to be true because, as I said earlier, you shouldn’t state something as fact unless you *know* it to be true. And, chances are, you don’t.

How many of you have ever had DNA tests to confirm that your parents are actually your biological parents? I’m guessing most of you haven’t, but you trust that these people are who they say they are. Heaven knows you were in no shape to remember from whose womb you emerged when you did - these folks just brought you up to believe that they’re your parents.

I realize it’s a hyperbolic example, but it does speak to the relatively minute about of “facts” we possess in our brains. And the last thing you want is to tell your boss “Yes, absolutely” when there’s even the thinnest shred of doubt. Which position would you rather be in - having to explain why you gave a positively wrong answer? Or referring the person asking to another party to corroborate your not-definitive (but wholly truthful) response? Seems like a no-brainer, to me.

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October 30, 2007 | Filed Under Hacking Life, Practical, Work 

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5 Responses to “The Definitive Guide to Covering Your Ass”

  1. Jared on October 31st, 2007

    To touch on a similar point, there’s nothing wrong with admitting you don’t know. If you don’t know, say you don’t know. The key then is to go find out, and bring an answer back. It happens to me often at work. There are far too many details to just remember. If I don’t know something, I just tell the person that I don’t know, and I will find out. No one ever has a problem with that as long as I find out and give them an answer. In fact, they prefer that over just guessing and being wrong.

  2. Marina @ Sufficient Thrust on October 31st, 2007

    This is so true. One of things I hate most about working with other people is when they say they know how to do something, or worse, are done/almost done doing something, only to learn later that they actually didn’t know how to do it and the task is incomplete (and likely late).

    As for questions like “Did [client] receive [product]?” I think a strong organizational system should provide those answers, so you don’t have to trust your brain to log all those details. Even better is an organizational system that allows other people to check on the status of a project without bothering you with the question in the first place!

    All that said, I have enjoyed greater success and opportunities by saying “I can find out!” instead of “No” when asked something I’m not positive I can answer/do that that very second.

  3. Ravi Vora on October 31st, 2007

    Sometimes asking for some time to figure it out can be beneficial too. Such as, “Did you send all of the files in the e-mail?” your response could be “I believe I did, but I will check to make sure.” That way you can either amend the situation or at least diffuse the argument for the time being.

  4. Wayne on October 31st, 2007

    You didn’t mention my favorite CYA keyword: should.

    “Does the new feature work?”
    “It should. It passed all of the testing”

    “Did your change mess up the build?”
    “it shouldn’t have, I didn’t check anything in that is compiled..”

  5. Dark Sociologist on November 4th, 2007

    In response to Jared, you can develop two strategies here: First, if you actually don’t mind doing the additional research necessary, then you can tell others that you don’t know and then come back with an answer. This is important when someone is coming to you as an expert, where you are responsible for the answer.

    On the other hand, there are times when you don’t really care about the answer, so you try to be as helpful as you can, but don’t exert any more energy and time than necessary. By stating “to the best of my knowledge” you inform the other person that you are trying to be helpful, but the ultimate responsibility for the answer is on him and not you.

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