Why the Question Comes Before the Solution

There are moments on site when you want to say "just do it like this" quickly. Experience brings the answer up fast. But if you offer an answer before listening to the problem accurately, you will end up fixing something other than what the other person is actually experiencing.

So before I give a solution, I write down five questions.

Five checks

• What happened? — I listen for the observed scene, not the judgment.
• Who was affected? — Separate the person directly in the problem from the person who heard about it.
• What state would make this fine? — Make vague words like "quickly" concrete.
• What material can we check? — Separate memory from fact.
• What is the smallest action I can try now? — Start with an experiment that can be undone.

For example, "the work is late" alone is not enough to decide anything. Depending on whether the materials are late, the approval order is tangled, or communication between the people in charge was missed, the next action is completely different.

Asking questions is not dodging responsibility

Asking a lot of questions can make you look like someone who puts work off. But the purpose of questions is not to delay the answer; it is to shorten the time it takes to come back with the wrong one. After the questions, always add a next time: "Once we have checked, I will settle on one option by so-and-so time this evening."

Also avoid questions that blame. "Why didn't you do it?" is less useful for finding the next action than "At which stage did it stop?" The same facts turn a conversation defensive or cooperative depending on the shape of the question.

Being able to define a problem properly comes before being able to answer. On site, questions are not a slow procedure; they are the cheapest tool for preventing problems.