As a facilitator of Requirements Discovery Sessions, one of your primary skills is questioning. Here are the fifteen types of questions you should be using when you are facilitating a requirements discovery session on your projects.
| Type | Explanation | Example |
| Analyze | to express a personal understanding of concepts, facts, cause & effect. | “Would you please break that down for me, so I can understand further?” |
| Checking | to ensure there is no misunderstanding. | “Will you share with me your understanding of what we just discussed?” |
| Classify | to attempt to organize facts related to a given subject. | “It would certainly help me organize my thinking if you would please classify those points.” |
| Compare | to reveal knowledge & understanding of similarities & difference in facts. | “Can we compare that statement to the one we reviewed earlier please?” |
| Define | to understanding the interpretation of the term. | “To help me to understand, can you define that term for us?” |
| Describe | to select & define features which characterize a condition, situation or process. | “Can you describe a typical situation to which this might apply?” |
| Discuss | to examine a subject by extending its application | “Let’s explore the implications & ramifications of this.” |
| Explain | to clarify by demonstrating a degree of understanding. | “Can you tell us how you arrived at that conclusion?.” |
| Illustrate | to provide examples which will clarify the subject. | “Can anyone give me an example or two of how this would work?” |
| Prompt | to get more quantity | “ What else?” |
| Probe | to get more quality | “How do you mean?” |
| Redirect | to change the subject back to the point of discussion | “Good point, can we put that on the issues list?” |
| Restating | to demonstrate that you have understood. | “In other words….” |
| Review | Recap or Survey | “Can we please review the points that we have covered so far?” |
| Verify | Supply information to support a statement. | “How can we verify that this is indeed the case?” |
These are the types of questions that our consultants use on our requirements definition engagements – and the types of questions we discuss and teach how to use in our training courses. To learn more, visit https://www.iag.biz.