Finding out what is needed.
WHY IT MATTERS MOST
Building the wrong thing correctly is the most expensive failure available.
WHAT TO ESTABLISH FIRST
What problem exists, and for whom.
WHAT NOT TO START WITH
A proposed solution.
WHY
People describe solutions rather than problems, and the solution they describe is frequently not the best one.
WHAT TO ASK
What are you trying to achieve? How do you do this now? What goes wrong with the current way? What happens if nothing changes? How would you know this was successful?
WHAT THAT LAST QUESTION ESTABLISHES
The measure of success, which almost nobody states unprompted.
WHO TO ASK
The people who will actually use it, not only those commissioning it.
WHY
Those are frequently different people with different needs.
WHAT TO DO BEYOND ASKING
Watch people do the work.
WHY
What people describe and what they do differ, consistently.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
Workarounds, which reveal where the current system fails.
WHAT TO RECORD
What was said, by whom, and when.
