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Let's say that I have work to do and my manager gave me some information to help me out.

Some of this information is more than needed but it helps accelerate the process of solving the problem..

Is there a word that fits in this situation?

It's not redundant, it's additive - but in generous way that he doesn't have to offer.

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    Did you try a bilingual dictionary. Does it give any suggestions?
    – James K
    Commented Aug 12, 2022 at 8:55
  • I don’t know such word In my language.
    – mshwf
    Commented Aug 12, 2022 at 9:06
  • It makes it very unlikely that the word exists in English.
    – James K
    Commented Aug 12, 2022 at 9:29
  • @mshwf I'm confused why you insist on generous, it suggests that you want this information to be some kind of gift, rather than simply more than is strictly necessary. Could you expand on your example?
    – djs
    Commented Aug 12, 2022 at 12:54
  • @djs I possibly mistaken choosing this word, that's why I asked for a word, you can look at the comments on James's answer, I explained my thought
    – mshwf
    Commented Aug 12, 2022 at 16:16

2 Answers 2

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A word that describes a generous additional bit of information

We could say:

  • supplementary information
  • complementary information
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An additional piece of information that makes it easier to solve a problem is a hint, but this is typically used when the person asking the question knows the answer.

My boss asked me to fix a bug 4307, affecting the uploading component. He hinted that it was probably in the code that confirms the client's address.

I don't fully understand the context. It would seem odd, even sociopathic, for a boss to withhold information that could help solve a real business problem. What would be the purpose of making a co-worker's life harder?

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  • From my perspective, I see it more than needed to know. For example the boss asked me to fix a bug.. He gave me the information I, as a software engineer, needs: What the bug is affecting, what component needs to be fixed, etc.. But what exact code needs to be modified in order to fix the bug, is the additional information. I could figure it out by spending time researching. Off course he being knows it in advance is not the case with every problem we face. I hope I could bring it clearer.
    – mshwf
    Commented Aug 12, 2022 at 9:39
  • Exactly my point. If the boss knows which code will need to be changed, and doesn't let you know he is being obstructive (and if they are doing so in order to play games with you, they are sociopathic).
    – James K
    Commented Aug 12, 2022 at 10:12
  • But if he doesn’t know it, it would be ok for me, I will search and find it. Unlike other pieces of information that he should give to be able to start working on the problem.
    – mshwf
    Commented Aug 12, 2022 at 10:30
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    As a manager, I can tell you that sometimes you don't give people too much hand-holding because you want to see if they can find the information themselves, or because you want them to learn to do it themselves, or how to do it themselves!
    – stangdon
    Commented Aug 12, 2022 at 11:36
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    Imho it's potentially extremely risky / ill-advised for a "boss" to "pre-analyse" a problem like this, before handing the task over to an actual software engineer. Assuming the boss isn't a specialist, his analysis might well be mistaken / misleading, and although in principle the actual specialist might realise this very early on, he might be suckered into wasting an awful lot of time following a blind alley. Bosses shouldn't usually try to micromanage the tasks they assign to their staff.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Aug 12, 2022 at 12:24

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