Asking Smarter Questions: Part 1 - Deliverables, Root Causes, and Value

The Importance of Asking Questions

• 💡 It's always better to ask a question than not, especially when unsure about the right course of action or drawing conclusions.
• ✅ Asking questions reduces uncertainty, helps solidify truth, and prevents making assumptions that could lead to errors.
• ⚠️ Avoid asking questions that publicly call out colleagues' mistakes or shortcomings, unless you are their superior; instead, offer help privately.

Framework for Smart Questions: The Six Serving Men

• 🔑 Inspired by Rudyard Kipling's poem, the six core question words are: what, why, when, how, where, and who.
• 🎯 These six words form the foundation for learning and understanding, guiding inquiries to uncover information.

'What' Questions: Defining Deliverables and Meaning

• 📌 The question 'What is the deliverable?' is crucial for clarity, ensuring actions, assigned persons, deadlines, and reporting are defined.
• 🚀 A deliverable should specify the action, the responsible person, a clear deadline, and a method of reporting completion.
• 📈 Breaking down large tasks into smaller deliverables with short deadlines increases urgency and likelihood of completion.
• 📊 The question 'What does that number represent?' is vital when interpreting data, especially in finance, to understand its basis (e.g., cost, market value, gross, net).

'Why' Questions: Uncovering Root Causes and Rationale

• 🔍 The 'Five Whys' technique involves repeatedly asking 'why' to an answer to uncover the root cause of a problem, rather than addressing superficial symptoms.
• 🎯 This method can reveal that the true cause lies in a different area of the organization than initially apparent.
• 💰 In business, the fundamental 'why' for any action is to either increase revenue or reduce cost.
• 🤔 The question 'Do we need to do that at all?' challenges assumptions and can lead to significant cost reductions by eliminating unnecessary actions or processes.