questorming

Questorming Technique

**Origin**: Hal Gregersen's "Question Burst" methodology; also related to Osborn's principle of exploring the problem space before solving.

**Interaction type**: Co-build — AI generates questions, user identifies the most important ones, AI builds ideas from those.

How It Works

1. **State the topic** without any solutions in mind 2. **Generate questions only** — no answers allowed during this phase 3. **Aim for 15-20 questions** in rapid succession 4. **Categorize** — which questions challenge assumptions? Which reframe the problem? 5. **Select the most provocative questions** — these become the seed for new ideas 6. **Generate ideas** from the selected questions

Question Types

Assumption-Challenging

• Why do we assume [X] is necessary?
• What if [commonly accepted truth] were false?
• Who said this has to be done by [conventional actor]?

Scope-Shifting

• What if we zoom out 10x — what's the bigger problem?
• What if we zoom in 10x — what's the specific pain point?
• What would this look like from the customer's customer's perspective?

Stakeholder Questions

• Who benefits from the current broken state?
• Who would lose if we solved this perfectly?
• Who has already solved this in a different context?

Temporal Questions

• Why hasn't this been solved yet?
• What will make this irrelevant in 5 years?
• What had to change for this to become solvable now?

Provocative Questions

• What's the most expensive possible solution? The cheapest?
• What would a competitor do with this opportunity?
• What would a child suggest?

AI Application Notes

When using questorming internally:

1. Generate a burst of 8-10 questions about the topic 2. Present 3-5 of the most provocative ones to the user 3. Ask: "Which of these feels most important?" (the one elicit moment) 4. If user doesn't engage, pick the most provocative question yourself (ai_fallback) 5. Generate ideas seeded from the selected question(s) 6. Best used when the problem space feels unclear or when the user says "I'm not sure what I want"