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Client discovery questionnaire

Sixteen questions sent before the first call. The last one is the only one that matters.

Send this before the first conversation, not during it. You will spend the call on what the answers reveal rather than on collecting them.

Question nine finds the spreadsheet. There is always a spreadsheet, and it is usually where the real process lives.

DISCOVERY QUESTIONNAIRE
Send before the first call. Twenty minutes to fill in.

THE WORK
1. Describe the process we are here to talk about, in the order it happens.
2. Who touches it, and at which step?
3. How many times does it run in a typical week?
4. What happens when it goes wrong? How often is that?
5. How long does someone wait for the result?

THE SYSTEMS
6. Which systems hold the data this process needs?
7. Which of them disagree with each other, and about what?
8. Who fixes the disagreement today, and how?
9. What is exported to a spreadsheet at any point? (There is always one.)

THE PEOPLE
10. Who decided this needed fixing?
11. Who would have to change how they work?
12. Has this been attempted before? What happened?

THE CONSTRAINTS
13. What is the deadline, and what is driving it?
14. What is the budget range?
15. What is off the table entirely?

THE ANSWER I ACTUALLY NEED
16. If this works perfectly, what is different on a Tuesday afternoon?

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