The Speaker-Listener Technique

Day 57 of Flatiron School

Seth

2 minute read

minions talking

I can happily say that I got zero, yes 0 coding done today. Well I guess I got a little in during my 45 minutes Sinatra Project review this morning. Which was a great review btw.

Hi Seth,

Awesome job on your Sinatra Project!! You did a great job, and I really appreciate your work on the Active Record relationships and your clean and concise code. As you move forward these practices will help you a lot.

Please reach out if you have any questions or concerns as you move through Rails.

Regards,

A couple things that I shored up/added this morning were Active Record validations for uniqueness on username and email when someone signs up as well as displaying error messages on the sign up page.

Why am I happy about this? Well on Sunday night my wife and I attended a brief marriage seminar. Just something to provide us with tools to communicate better (something most marriages probably need). Tonight we utilized the take home (a fridge magnet) and had a good conversation. So what does this fridge magnet say? It’s the “Speaker-Listener Technique”.

The Floor
Speaker-Listener Technique

Rules for the Speaker: 1. Speak for yourself. Don’t mind read! 2. Keep statements brief. Don’t go on and on. 3. Stop to let the Listener paraphrase.

Rules for the Listener: 1. Paraphrase what you hear. 2. Focus on the Speaker’s message. Don’t rebut.

Rules for Both: 1. The Speaker has the floor. 2. Speaker keeps the floor while Listener paraphrases. 3. Share the floor.

Needless to say this concept worked very well tonight for my wife and I. It’s designed for times of conflict but we just used it for a normal conversation. Because of this, I’m happy I missed out on coding. While I miss it I know what’s truly important during this short life and a few hours of Rails is not #1.

Time spent today: 3:52
Time spent total: 213:43
Lessons completed today: 12
Lessons completed total: 443

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