Ask More: The Power of Questions to Open Doors, Uncover Solutions, and Spark Change pdfdrive com

Observation: What do you see? What do you know? What are you trying to
explain? Observe and define the problem you want to solve. Look around.
Wonder aloud. Then craft the question.
Hypothesis: You know that more widgets sell in the afternoon, but why? Your
hypothesis: More widgets sell in the afternoon because people get paid in the
morning. Keep your hypothesis crisp and logical. Write it down. Come back to
it. It forms the basis of what you are trying to prove or disprove.
The Data: How much, how fast, how big, how far? Ask what you need to
measure and how you can do it over time. Try it. Do an experiment. Collect
numbers—the data. Ask if you can replicate the data. Then do it again to see if
your findings hold up. Are they supporting or contradicting your hypothesis?
The Contrarian: What disproves or contradicts your hypothesis? What
evidence argues against it? Why? You went into this exercise knowing that the
only way your hypothesis holds up is if you cannot prove it wrong. So ask the
toughest questions. Question the data. Where did it come from? What’s weak,
what’s inconsistent, what doesn’t hold up? If you can’t disprove your
hypothesis, you might actually be onto something.
Conclusion: What does the data prove? How does it answer the question you

---

started with? What’s next? Review your question, your hypothesis, your
evidence, and your areas of uncertainty, and then you can draw a conclusion.
Share it with other smart people and ask them what they think. Where do they
see problems? What have you missed? Does your conclusion hold up?
Onward: Now what? What’s the next thing I want to figure out? Like all good
science, one piece of knowledge builds on another and invites the next. Having
answered the question you started with, what is the next question to ask?
Listen: Pay attention to the data. Listen to what is real and can be measured,
seen, heard, felt. Listen for hints that your hypothesis is off target, misguided, or
flat-out wrong. If it is, start again.
Try: Ask a what’s-going-on-here question and then come up with a hypothesis
about what causes or complicates the situation. Now figure out how to test your
hypothesis over a finite period of time. Think of three ways you will try to prove
yourself wrong. Write those reasons down and put them someplace you’ll see
them every day.

---

?
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Interview questions look into the future. They try to predict whether skills and
personalities will be a fit. They examine past performance as an indicator of
future results. Interview questions are compatibility questions. People who are
good at asking them make better interviewers and applicants alike.
Calling Card: What do you like about what you do? This is an open-ended
question that may sound like small talk but illuminates big pieces of someone’s
interests and personality. “Tell me about yourself” can prompt answers about
how someone thinks and how she expresses herself.