Bullseye Q&A for client spec

If you are a developer, there must be times that you have to complain that 'client spec is absurd'. Then, the struggle is that how to make the best of Q&A for better spec understanding? How to phrase the questions so that BrSE or Comtor don't have to have headaches with understanding the goal of the questions? Hence, good questioning skills will definitely help you with a clearer and better understanding of project spec. 

When spec is unclear, developers won't be able to understand, and their questions will be irrelevant, leading to incorrect answers. Sometimes BrSE or Comtor even fail to understand client spec and dev's idea, resulting in misunderstandings for both sides. 

For example: The client gives spec to build a swing system. The requirement sounds simple, but the possible results could be endless.

Hence, to have a better understanding in terms of spec and client requirements, we must have a Q&A to understand what client really wants, and to verify if what we know is true or not. 

For many projects, in this situation, dev usually ask questions like: "What is the swing like?", "How does it work?" etc... 

These are the questions that we often have when we don't understand something. However, it is a challenge for the BrSE or Comtor to convey all the ideas of developers. After intermediaries and translation, the result is not quite as expected. 

How to have an effective Q&A?

Step 1: Try GUESSING and clarifying spec to your understanding.

For example: What is this feature for? Who is the targeted user? Why is it required? You can use the 5W questions to clarify the spec? 

1. Who is it made for? Adults or children?

2. Where will they be? In the park, in the house, or in the street?

3. What is it made of? Iron, steel, or wood?

4. Why do we need it?

5. What color can it be? 

If you give your own answers, they might or might not be correct, but at least you can have your own viewpoint. Then, some hypothesis regarding the swing could be:

It is made for adults. Hence, it must be big in size, strong withstanding, using firm materials like steel or iron, and placed in the park to attract more users. 

It is made for 3-13 years old, it can be made from woods, and hangs low enough so kids can easily sit on it, and the colors must be eye-catching. 

Step 2: After guessing, you need to confirm this with your client. One of the things that you need to do is to find out about the project background: Who is the client, are they experienced in tech? Are the Comtors experienced in tech? Do BrSEs have a good understanding of the client's business? 

If both the client and comtor are not experienced in tech, it is not recommended to have specialized questions like "Does this swing validate 50cm away from the ground?" or "Can you tell me the needed validations of the swing?".

The rule is to have simple questions that even fifth graders can understand. 

Also, make Yes/No questions to pinpoint the correct answer. 

Small systematic questions will help you get more information, for example, the answer of question 1 will be the base of question 2, further clarifying the issue. 

During working, I also see that the clients can get very excited if the developer team gives them suggestions to further improve the products. It is simply because clients can sometimes be quite lost in their spec, and suggestions will help them understand what they need. 

Step 3: Practice asking!

In the spec for swing, I will ask clients the following questions: 

Is this swing for adults? (> 15 years old) 

=> If the answer is yes, we will know that it is for adults. If not, it is for children.

With this result, we can now continue. 

How many people can sit on the swing at the same time? 

=> This question will bring information like: width, average capacity, then size. 

Is this made from iron or wood?

=> Always make multiple choice questions, instead of random ones like "What is it made from?".

If it is neither iron nor wood, we can continue with other questions to clarify the issue. Sometimes multiple choice question is a way for us to give suggestions. If not, the customer might even ask for a glass swing. 

Simple but pinpoint questions will help dev clarify client's requirements and bring them to a viewpoint. This also helps BrSE when figuring out how to precisely convey the questions.

Dear developers, we are logical in coding, the only thing left is how to make clear questions to bring the best products to the client. 

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