Culture · 6 minute read
The shape of a good question.
On curiosity, attention, and leaving room for an unexpected answer.
By Rowan Ellis · Sample editorial
A good question leaves the door open. It makes room for something we could not have planned, and gives another person the space to change our mind.
In a design review, the most useful thing we can ask is often the simplest: what are we trying to help someone do? That question moves the conversation away from personal taste and toward the work itself.
Curiosity is a practice. It means noticing when an assumption has become invisible, and being willing to examine it again. The shape of the answer depends on how much room the question makes.