← all lessonsLESSON 1 OF 8 · §2 OF THE METHOD; THE QUESTION READER
The question
Everything the room produces answers one sentence. A question that asks for a fix gets fixes; a question that names a culprit gets a trial. The method wants a situation people can observe, and asks what is driving it.
A hospital manager writes: “How can we cut waiting times in A&E?” Which is the better triggering question?
✗ Not that one. The method’s answer is marked below; read why yours is not it.
Keep it — it is clear and everyone cares about it.✗ not this · your pick
It asks for a plan. The room will answer with proposals, and proposals cannot be structured into causes.
“What is driving waiting times in A&E?”✓ what the method does
One sentence, an observable situation, asks for causes. The room answers with what is going on; the links come later.
“Why do doctors let patients wait so long in A&E?”✗ not this
Loaded: it names a culprit before anyone has written a card. Half the room will defend and half will attack, and the cards will be about doctors.
ON THIS PLATFORM
When you type a question, a reader checks it for the same four faults — asking for a solution, loaded, compound, vague — and offers a reframing you can take or ignore.