Ways To Dismiss

There are a number of really good ways to dismiss things you don't want to think about: you just have to label them as the kind of thing you don't have to think about. Several are documented right here on the wiki. Please list other ways not to listen that you may recall.

Some of the topics above sound like it's good to dismiss ideas without really considering them. Other topics, like ConsiderTheIdea, suggest otherwise.

One way to be ignored (whether you want to or not) may be to trigger the listener into these behaviors.

One way to learn a lot, if you have the time, is not to let yourself be triggered into these behaviors. But it's also a good way to hear a lot of crap. "There has to be a pony in here somewhere."

YMMV.

Would whoever added AlarmBellPhrase to this list please explain how it contributes to dismissing things you don't want to think about. -- AnonymousDonor One

AlarmBellPhrase set off one's, um, lie detector. As such, one is predisposed not to believe, i.e. to dismiss claims containing those phrases. Am I missing even more than usual? -- AnonymousDonor Two

Maybe the author meant that one could use the presence of one of the AlarmBellPhrases as an excuse to dismiss the rest of what was said: "We could use ExtremeProgramming to work smarter not harder!" "Yeah, yeah, yeah, work smarter not harder -- I've heard that before!" -- AnonymousDonor Three

While I was doing a telephone interview to join a project, the project manager said "I know we have a pretty ambitious schedule, but I think we can make it." This rang alarm bells in my mind, making me think "now here's a project that is clearly doomed from the start." But I joined the project anyway and was rewarded, after a month of heroic effort, with the recognition from several primary managers involved in the project that without my effort, the project would certainly have died. The "ambitious schedule" quote above is one of those AlarmBellPhrases: when you hear it, you should recognize that there is (most likely) a problem. Armed with this knowledge, you know to be careful and cautious. -- JeffGrigg

And armed with the knowledge that they can set ambitious schedules and get you to work overtime to achieve them, they will set even more ambitious schedules for future projects. LatherRinseRepeat. WhyDoYouPermitThisToBeDoneToYou?

One of the best ways not to listen that I have come across occurred the other day in a conversation with my ex-wife. I was disagreeing with her about something and she refused to listen to any of my arguments because I was "in denial"!

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