Ask Clarifying Questions #

All human work comes with a certain degree of uncertainty. When work is crystal clear it needs to be automated and performed by machines and it should never be our expectation to not have unknowns. The more unknowns we have, the bigger the opportunity for a more creative solution.

There is a set of questions that helps us bring clarity to problems and shade a light on unknowns and future possible problems in order to raise awareness and keep in mind those scenarios when we make plans; and the questions are “Why?”, “What?”, “Where?”, “Which?”, “When?” and “How?”. Asking that set of questions again and again is the best shot anyone has at reducing uncertainty.

To keep drilling for more answers for possible future scenarios add “And then … ?” to all the previous questions. Keep doing this to the proposed solutions in order to create a map and see which steps taken in what order are going to be the best overall solution to the problem at hand.

At times this process can be discouraging, even more so for the person that is proposing the idea, but we have to get past the attachment to our own ideas to seek and welcome valuable feedback. One must be aware of only encouraging or discouraging questions, neither overly optimistic nor overly pessimistic should have a major influence on your decision.