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The Dangerous Art of the Right Question

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Re: The Dangerous Art of the Right Question

#2

Post by Ardit20 »

I do not think it is useless to ask what makes me happy. You know there are such things as forests and trees. You start with differentiating big themes, such as what makes me happy, or what do I want, or what will I be doing in ten years time, or am I really in love, you focus on one of the big themes and then you go into the specifics.

Its harder to start from the bottom up when the matter is so pervasive and complex.

Re: The Dangerous Art of the Right Question

#3

Post by frossie »

Slightly off-tangent, but:

What is the top reason people leave jobs? (Answer: they dislike their immediate manager)

I know this, everybody knows this, and still it amazes me how few places have bottom up (or so called 360) assessments of their managers.

Re: The Dangerous Art of the Right Question

#4

Post by mcantor »

frossie wrote: post #3

Slightly off-tangent, but: What is the top reason people leave jobs? (Answer: they dislike their immediate manager) I know this, everybody knows this, and still it amazes me how few places have bottom up (or so called 360) assessments of their managers.

Technically, if your comment is slightly off-topic, that would make it slightly on-tangent.

Re: The Dangerous Art of the Right Question

#7

Post by frossie »

mcantor wrote: post #4
frossie wrote: post #3

Slightly off-tangent, but: What is the top reason people leave jobs? (Answer: they dislike their immediate manager) I know this, everybody knows this, and still it amazes me how few places have bottom up (or so called 360) assessments of their managers.

Technically, if your comment is slightly off-topic, that would make it slightly on -tangent.

Oh dear, take it as sine that I haven't had my coffee yet.

Re: The Dangerous Art of the Right Question

#8

Post by psycocoffey »

Ardit20 wrote: post #2

I do not think it is useless to ask what makes me happy. You know there are such things as forests and trees. You start with differentiating big themes, such as what makes me happy, or what do I want, or what will I be doing in ten years time, or am I really in love, you focus on one of the big themes and then you go into the specifics. Its harder to start from the bottom up when the matter is so pervasive and comple…

I _think_ the article is trying to convey that asking those questions about an existing business is not helpful. I first read it as 'These are all bad questions that are never useful,' which is obviously false. But in the situation where there is an existing in depth knowledge base, they are better replaced with more topical questions.

I baulked at 'What is our goal?" since that is the first question I ask after someone requests help. But if I am expected to already be acquainted with the situation, I wouldn't ask.

Re: The Dangerous Art of the Right Question

#9

Post by quanticle »

Ardit20 wrote: post #2

I do not think it is useless to ask what makes me happy. You know there are such things as forests and trees. You start with differentiating big themes, such as what makes me happy, or what do I want, or what will I be doing in ten years time, or am I really in love, you focus on one of the big themes and then you go into the specifics. Its harder to start from the bottom up when the matter is so pervasive and comple…

Another thing I've noticed is that asking the "big questions" (e.g. "Who is our customer? What will make me happy?) sometimes becomes a way to avoid acknowledging the answer. The purpose of the question is to bury you in the process of finding an answer, while simultaneously obscuring the answer itself. If you're a business, you probably already know who your customers are. If you're an individual, you probably already know what makes you happy. Attaching momentous formalism to the question only serves to emphasize process over result.
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