Module 3, Example 3.

CONTEXT-FREE QUESTIONS

Context-free questions are an excellent technique for eliciting a customer’s

requirements.1 Context-free questions are:
 High-level questions about the customer’s needs
 Appropriate for any product to be designed
 Independent of the specific design task

CWIS business analysts and systems designers can expect these benefits from using
context-free questions:
1. Understand the project’s “big picture” without getting involved too early in details
2. Potential to greatly increase project knowledge with a small time investment
3. Can help discover hidden assumptions
4. Questions can be prepared in advance before much is known about the project
5. Questions can be refined and reused for other projects
.
Process Questions
1. Who are the customer(s)?
2. What will a highly successful solution look like to the customer(s)?
3. What is the real reason for wanting to solve this problem?
4. How much time do we have for this project?
5. What’s the priority for this project?
6. Can the solution to this problem be obtained anywhere else?

Product Questions
1. What problems does this product solve?
2. What problems does this product create?
3. What environment is this product likely to encounter?
4. What kind of precision is required or desired?

Meta-questions (questions about questions)

1. Are you the right person to answer these questions? [If not, please refer me to
the right person.]
2. Do my questions seem relevant to you? [If not, what questions should I be
asking?]
3. Am I asking you too many questions?
4. Who else do you think I should be talking to about this project?

Before you end the session:

1. Is there anything else I should be asking you?
2. Is there anything you would like to ask me?
3. May I come back or call/email you with more questions later, if needed?

1
Exploring Requirements. Quality before Design. Donald C. Gause and Gerald M. Weinberg.
New York: Dorset House Publishing. 1989.