Better Discovery Questions

Suppose you ask:

Would you use an AI assistant that saves you time?

Most people will say yes.

That answer tells you almost nothing.

The question already sounds useful.

Better:

Tell me about the last time you had to find an answer in company documentation.

Now the person has to describe something that actually happened.

Real behavior is usually stronger evidence than hypothetical enthusiasm.

Ask about:

Frequency

How often does this happen?

Pain

What makes it difficult?

Workaround

What do you do today?

Impact

What happens when this goes badly?

These give you a much clearer picture of the problem.

Bad:

Would faster search help?

Better:

What is the hardest part of finding the right document?

Bad:

Do you want notifications?

Better:

How do you know when something needs your attention today?

Let the problem appear before suggesting the solution.

If someone says:

It is frustrating.

Ask:

What happened the last time?

If they say:

We lose a lot of time.

Ask:

Roughly how long did it take?

Specific examples are easier to learn from than general opinions.

You are not collecting compliments for your idea.

You are trying to understand:

Is this problem real, frequent, painful, and important enough to solve?

That is a very different mindset.

Ask about what people actually did, not what they imagine they might do.

Past behavior usually teaches you more than hypothetical approval.