For some reason in instant messages, phone calls, or emails, when someone wants to ask a question they usually preface it with “quick question” even if it’s not a quick question. Why is that? I guess they feel that the phrase will somehow lead to more of a willingness to answer the question?

Why don’t they say, “Hey, I have a long, drawn-out, thought-provoking question for you?” If I heard that, I think I would be more inclined to pause and listen to the question. It certainly sounds more interesting than the run-of-the-mill “quick questions” I get all the time.

There is an art form of crafting good questions. A lot of my work involves interpreting business requirements, and in many cases, our ability to successfully configure the system depends on the answers we get to our questions. And the quality of the answers is directly related to the quality of the questions.

I don’t recall where I learned how to ask the right questions. I’m sure a lot of it has come through trial and error and experience. I’m not even sure how I would go about teaching someone how to ask the right questions.