Bring out the child in you and ask questions

On last Sunday morning I was telling a story to Dhruv (my son). He was listening to it very attentively and asking questions. Below is the story - Two Friends.

While listening and enjoying the story, below are few of the questions that Dhruv asked me.

There is a line in the story that says, “Once, when Lucky was out of station, his house caught on the fire”.

Dhruv's Question - How the Lucky's house caught in the fire?

There is a picture given in the story.

Dhruv's Question - In this picture, which one is Lucky, Curse, and Villagers?

There is a line in the story that says, “It was Curse who bravely fought the fire and quenched it”.

Dhruv's Question - How Curse quenched the fire? What has he used to quench it?

I really liked his presence of mind and the quick questions that he has asked.

Now linking it back to Software Projects -

# Do we really know the Lucky, Curse, and Villagers of our Project? In other words, do we really know our Clients, End-Users?

# Do we really understand the problem(s) that our Clients, End-Users are trying to solve?

# Do we really understand the context?

# How many times and at what extent we take efforts to get this information?

# Most importantly; do we really ask enough questions in order to collect the information?

Certainly; asking questions is the easiest and the best way to gain deeper insight and understanding of any project and its context. Asking Questions is an art and kids are good source to learn from. Bring out the child in you and ask questions.

Your thoughts in comments, please.