At work, it’s common that people ask me to do things, saying they’re requirements. Instead of just start working right way, I usually start by questioning:

• What does the business want to achieve with this requirement?
• Who will benefit from this requirement?
• How will this requirement be implemented?
• And many more questions

Of course, some people get frustrated about this. Some may feel like I’m hard to work with. Some may feel like I’m lazy and trying to avoid work.

But with some explanations and some time, we usually come to a mutual understanding that I truly care about their requirements.

Why questioning is caring?

Let’s take a look at this hypothetical situation of how a mom can respond to her kid:

Let’s say the kid says he wants to go to a gym.

Scenario 1: The mom gives the kid what he wants

The quickest and easiest way for the mom is to pay for her kid’s gym membership and just take him there.

It is convenient. Both of them are happy. The kid now gets what he asked for.

Scenario 2: The mom asks the kid why

What if instead of giving money right away, the mom asks the kid why he wants to go to the gym? The kid says he wants to lose some weight.

Then, instead of just going to the gym, the mom also starts cooking healthy meals for the kid.

The mom may have to do more work cooking for her kid, but she knows that her kid will be more likely to lose some weight.

Scenario 3: The mom asks the kid why and more why

What if the mom asks why the kid wants to lose some weight? The kid says because he is not confident about how he looks.

The mom realizes that the boy has not had a haircut in 4 months and is wearing a dress too small for his body. The mom starts by taking him to a barber for a nice haircut and buying him some new clothes.

The kid’s confidence skyrockets.

The point is, even if the kid comes to his mom saying he wants to go to a gym, what he needs may not be entirely related to what he asks for.

By really understanding his needs, the mom can give him better care.

Questioning requirements, to come up with the best possible solutions

It’s easy to just blindly follow any requirements that come your way. The requirement owner will have his requirement fulfilled, and the job will seem to be done. But there is a chance that the requirement will not yield any value, or less value than it should.

Regardless of our positions in the team (BA, developer, designer, QA, etc.), we all should care about the real needs of the requirements. Through questioning, we can better understand the needs of the requirements, which will lead us to come up with better solutions for businesses.