---
title: Questions For.
stacks: 19
questions: 304
source: https://projects.patrickreinbold.com/questions-for/
---

# Questions For.

A library of questions instead of answers, in stacks. Every stack is sixteen
questions in four movements of four, and the order is the point: answer them
from the top.

## Questions for designing a game

*Making things* · For the point where it runs, it is playable, and you cannot tell whether it is any good. [Open it](https://projects.patrickreinbold.com/questions-for/#/game)

### Where you actually are

- How does your game feel right now, in one word, when you play it yourself?
- What was the last thing that made you close the editor?
- Which part do you replay for fun, and which part do you skip?
- If a stranger played for ninety seconds, what would they actually do?

### What you actually want

- How do you want it to feel — the same one word, but the target?
- What is the moment you want two people to tell each other about?
- What is the game about, in a sentence with no genre words in it?
- Who is this for, specifically enough that you could name one of them?

### What is in the way

- What is in there because it is fun, and what is in there because it was easy to build?
- Which system are you protecting from being cut?
- What do you keep polishing instead of building?
- How long does it take to reach the fun, and how long are you assuming people will wait?

### What happens next

- What is the smallest slice that still contains the feeling?
- What is a realistic date for that slice, given the hours you actually have this month?
- What are you cutting today to make that date?
- Who plays it next, and when?

## Questions for finding something to build

*Making things* · For when you want to make something and have twelve half-ideas and no conviction. [Open it](https://projects.patrickreinbold.com/questions-for/#/idea)

### Where you actually are

- What did you do today that you would automate if you could?
- What have you complained about more than once this month?
- What do people already come to you for?
- What is the last thing you built that you did not have to force yourself to finish?

### What you actually want

- What would you build if nobody would ever see it?
- What would you build if everybody would?
- Whose problem do you want to be near for the next two years?
- What would make today easier — yours, before lunch?

### What is in the way

- For which of your ideas do you already know exactly who to hand it to?
- Which one are you keeping because it is impressive rather than because it is good?
- What are you waiting to learn before you start, and is that actually true?
- What is the smallest version that is still interesting to you?

### What happens next

- What could you put in front of one person this week?
- What would have to be true in a month for you to keep going?
- What are you going to stop doing to make room for it?
- Who are you telling, so that quietly dropping it would be awkward?

## Questions for shipping it

*Making things* · For the thing that has been nearly ready for five weeks. [Open it](https://projects.patrickreinbold.com/questions-for/#/ship)

### Where you actually are

- What is the actual reason it is not out yet?
- What has been on the list for more than a month?
- How much of the remaining work is you not wanting to decide something?
- When did you last show it to someone who is not obliged to be nice about it?

### What you actually want

- What does done mean, in a sentence someone else could check?
- What are you willing to ship as embarrassing?
- Who is the first person you want to have it, and what do you want them to say?
- What would you regret shipping without?

### What is in the way

- Which of the remaining tasks would nobody ever notice you skipped?
- What are you fixing because it is fixable rather than because it matters?
- What are you afraid someone will say?
- If it had to go out on Friday, what would you cut?

### What happens next

- What is the date?
- What is the single thing between here and that date?
- Who have you just told the date to?
- What does the first hour after it is out look like?

## Questions for getting the first ten users

*Making things* · For when it is live and the only person who has used it is you. [Open it](https://projects.patrickreinbold.com/questions-for/#/first-users)

### Where you actually are

- How many people have used it who are not you?
- Where did the last one come from — exactly, not "the internet"?
- What did they do in the first thirty seconds?
- What have you said about it out loud, to an actual person?

### What you actually want

- Who is the one person you would most like to be using this?
- What sentence do you want them to repeat to somebody else?
- Ten people who use it every week, or a thousand who tried it once?
- What does it look like in a month if this works?

### What is in the way

- Where do the people you want already gather, and have you actually read that place?
- What is stopping you from posting it — the real reason?
- Which channel are you avoiding because it is uncomfortable rather than because it is wrong?
- What would have to be true about it for you to send it to someone you respect?

### What happens next

- Which five people get it directly, by name?
- What is the one place — not five — where you say something?
- What can you say there that would be worth reading with the link removed?
- How will you know in a week whether it worked?

## Questions for pricing it

*Making things* · For the number you have been avoiding putting on the page. [Open it](https://projects.patrickreinbold.com/questions-for/#/price)

### Where you actually are

- What does it cost you to serve one more person?
- What do people do instead today, and what does that cost them?
- What have you actually been paid for before?
- What number makes you flinch to say out loud?

### What you actually want

- Do you want many small or few large?
- What should the price say about the thing?
- Who do you want to be able to afford it?
- What would you charge a friend, and why is that different?

### What is in the way

- What are you more afraid of — that nobody pays, or that somebody does?
- What are you undercharging for because it happened to be easy to build?
- What are you discounting that nobody asked you to discount?
- If you doubled it, who exactly would leave?

### What happens next

- What is the number going on the page this week?
- What is the smallest thing you could charge for tomorrow?
- Who are you going to ask to pay first?
- When do you look at this again, and what would make you change it?

## Questions for writing something

*Making things* · For the draft that is technically finished and not good. [Open it](https://projects.patrickreinbold.com/questions-for/#/writing)

### Where you actually are

- What is it about, in one sentence, without using the word "about"?
- What do you keep rewriting?
- Which paragraph are you proudest of, and does it belong?
- Who have you been imagining reading it?

### What you actually want

- What should the reader do or feel differently at the end?
- What is the one line you want them to remember?
- Would you read this if someone else had written it?
- Where does it earn the reader's next minute?

### What is in the way

- What are you saying because it is true, and what because it sounds good?
- What are you not saying?
- Which part are you keeping because it was hard to write?
- Where do you lose your nerve?

### What happens next

- What comes out today?
- What is the first sentence now?
- Who reads the draft, and by when?
- What happens to it once it is finished?

## Questions for hiring someone

*Work* · For before you write the job ad, not after. [Open it](https://projects.patrickreinbold.com/questions-for/#/hiring)

### Where you actually are

- What is the job, in one sentence, without the title?
- What has gone undone for the last three months?
- Who does this work now, and what stops when they do it?
- What did the last person in this seat find hardest?

### What you actually want

- What does great look like after ninety days?
- What are you willing to train, and what has to arrive already there?
- Which of your own weaknesses do you want covered?
- What would make you say in a year that this was the best hire you made?

### What is in the way

- What are you screening for that does not predict anything?
- What would this person hate about working here — and would you tell them?
- Are you hiring for the work in front of you or the org chart in your head?
- Who have you rejected without being able to explain why?

### What happens next

- What is the one task you will ask them to actually do?
- What is the question you ask everyone, so you can compare answers?
- Who else meets them, and what are those people deciding?
- What is the date by which you decide?

## Questions for being interviewed

*Work* · For the night before, instead of rehearsing your weaknesses answer. [Open it](https://projects.patrickreinbold.com/questions-for/#/interviewed)

### Where you actually are

- Why did you say yes to this conversation?
- What have you actually done that you can describe in specifics?
- What would your last manager say about you, in their words?
- What do you want out of the next two years?

### What you actually want

- What would make this a good job on an ordinary Tuesday, not on the offer letter?
- Who do you want to learn from?
- What are you not willing to give up for it?
- What would make you leave within a year?

### What is in the way

- Which weakness are you planning to dress up as a strength?
- What are you hoping they will not ask?
- What do you still not understand about what they do?
- What are you assuming about the money?

### What happens next

- What are the three things you want to have said before you leave the room?
- What will you ask that they cannot answer from the careers page?
- What do you want to know that only someone in that seat can tell you?
- What is your number, and at what point do you say it?

## Questions for a pitch

*Work* · For the meeting where somebody decides whether to give you money. [Open it](https://projects.patrickreinbold.com/questions-for/#/pitch)

### Where you actually are

- What is the thing, in one sentence, said to someone outside your industry?
- What do you have that is real — users, revenue, a working thing?
- Why you?
- Why now?

### What you actually want

- What are you actually asking for, and what for?
- What does this money buy that time alone would not?
- What do you want them to do at the end of the meeting?
- Who else do you want in the room over the next year?

### What is in the way

- What is the weakest number on the slide, and what do you say when they find it?
- What would have to be true for this to be a bad investment?
- Which question are you hoping they will not ask?
- What are you overclaiming?

### What happens next

- What is the one number they will still remember tomorrow?
- What can you show instead of describing?
- What are the next two milestones, with dates?
- What happens if they say no?

## Questions for a one-on-one

*Work* · For the thirty minutes you keep spending on status updates. [Open it](https://projects.patrickreinbold.com/questions-for/#/one-on-one)

### Where you actually are

- What has this person actually been doing since we last spoke?
- What did they say last time that I did nothing about?
- When did I last see their work rather than hear about it?
- What is the mood, honestly?

### What you actually want

- What do they want that they have not said?
- What would make the next month better for them, specifically?
- What do I want them to be able to do in six months?
- What have they done that I have not acknowledged?

### What is in the way

- What am I avoiding telling them?
- What am I doing that makes their job harder?
- Where am I in their way?
- What would they say about me if I were not in the room?

### What happens next

- What is the one piece of feedback for today?
- What am I committing to, and by when?
- What did they ask for that I said yes to?
- What do we check next time?

## Questions for leaving or staying

*Work* · For the Sunday evening feeling you have been having since March. [Open it](https://projects.patrickreinbold.com/questions-for/#/leaving)

### Where you actually are

- When was the last good day, and what happened on it?
- What do you complain about most, and to whom?
- What have you actually tried to change?
- On a Sunday evening, what is the feeling?

### What you actually want

- What would you be quitting toward?
- What would have to change here for you to stay another year happily?
- What do you want more of — money, time, people, meaning, learning?
- Where do you want to be in two years, in specifics?

### What is in the way

- What are you afraid of losing that is not the salary?
- Is it the job, or is it the year you have been having?
- What would you tell a friend in exactly this position?
- What are you hoping someone else will decide for you?

### What happens next

- What is the conversation you have not had, and with whom?
- What is the date by which you decide either way?
- What is the smallest thing you could test before deciding?
- What needs to be in place first?

## Questions for when it went wrong

*Work* · For the meeting after the bad week, before everyone agrees to be more careful. [Open it](https://projects.patrickreinbold.com/questions-for/#/postmortem)

### Where you actually are

- What actually happened, in order, with times?
- When did we first know something was off?
- What did we believe at that moment that turned out not to be true?
- Who noticed and did not say?

### What you actually want

- What should have happened instead?
- How would we have wanted to find out?
- What do we want to be able to say the next time something this shape occurs?
- What would "we handled that well" have looked like?

### What is in the way

- Which decision looked reasonable at the time and is still the one we would change?
- What made it hard to raise the alarm?
- What have we now written down that until today lived in one person's head?
- Are we blaming a person for what is a process, or a process for what is a person?

### What happens next

- What changes this week, not this quarter?
- Who owns it, and by when?
- What would we see if it were actually fixed?
- What are we deliberately not changing?

## Questions for a first date

*People* · For getting past what do you do and where are you from within the first ten minutes. [Open it](https://projects.patrickreinbold.com/questions-for/#/first-date)

### Where you actually are

- How do you spend your time — a real Tuesday, not the highlights?
- What have you been enjoying lately that has nothing to do with work?
- What was the last thing you got properly obsessed with?
- Where did you grow up, and what does that still do to you?

### What you actually want

- What are you looking for, actually?
- What does a good weekend look like for you?
- What do you want more of in your life right now?
- Who do you want to be in a few years?

### What is in the way

- What do people usually get wrong about you at first?
- What are you bad at that you have made peace with?
- What ends things for you?
- What did the last one teach you?

### What happens next

- What do you want to know about me that you would not ask yet?
- What has been the best part of this?
- Would you do this again, and what would you change?
- What are you looking forward to this week?

## Questions for someone you love

*People* · For the conversation you keep meaning to have and keep not having. [Open it](https://projects.patrickreinbold.com/questions-for/#/love)

### Where you actually are

- What has this week actually been like for you?
- When did you last feel far away from me?
- What have I been getting wrong lately?
- What do we do together that you would miss most?

### What you actually want

- What do you need more of from me?
- What does being loved look like for you — the specific thing, not the word?
- What do you want an ordinary Wednesday to look like in five years?
- What do you want that you have not asked me for?

### What is in the way

- What is the argument we keep having actually about?
- What do you not tell me because you think I will react badly?
- Where am I not listening?
- What are you carrying on your own?

### What happens next

- What is one thing I can do this week?
- What do we need to decide, and by when?
- What are we not talking about?
- When are we doing this again?

## Questions for your family

*People* · For the questions you will wish you had asked, asked while you still can. [Open it](https://projects.patrickreinbold.com/questions-for/#/family)

### Where you actually are

- What was the house like on a normal evening?
- What did money mean when you were growing up?
- Which of your parents are you more like, and in what specific way?
- What did we do together that was only ours?

### What you actually want

- What do you want from me now that you did not want when I was twenty?
- What do you want your grandchildren to know about you?
- What do you wish we did more of?
- What do you want said about you?

### What is in the way

- What do we never talk about?
- What have you forgiven me for without ever telling me?
- What did you need that you did not get?
- What do you regret?

### What happens next

- What do you want to do while you still can?
- Who should I ask about the parts you do not remember?
- What is worth writing down before it is gone?
- When shall we do this again, properly, and not at Christmas?

## Questions for a friend going through it

*People* · For when you want to help and every sentence you think of is advice. [Open it](https://projects.patrickreinbold.com/questions-for/#/friend)

### Where you actually are

- What actually happened?
- How are you sleeping?
- Who else knows?
- What has today been like?

### What you actually want

- What do you need right now — company, quiet, distraction, or someone to be angry with you?
- Do you want me to help, or to listen?
- What would make this week survivable?
- What does better look like, even slightly?

### What is in the way

- What are you telling people that is not quite true?
- What are you most afraid of?
- What are you doing that is not helping?
- What are you not letting anyone do for you?

### What happens next

- What is the next thing that has to happen, practically?
- What can I take off you?
- When shall I check in — or would you rather I just showed up?
- What do you want me to remember about this in a month?

## Questions for deciding something

*Yourself* · For the thing you have been turning over for weeks without moving. [Open it](https://projects.patrickreinbold.com/questions-for/#/deciding)

### Where you actually are

- What are the options, in your own words, said out loud?
- Which one were you hoping I would say?
- How long have you been circling this?
- What changed that makes it urgent now?

### What you actually want

- What are you optimising for — money, time, risk, people, or the story?
- What does the good version of each option look like in a year?
- What would you choose if nobody would be disappointed?
- Which one do you want to have chosen?

### What is in the way

- What are you afraid of in the option you are avoiding?
- What information are you waiting for, and would it actually change anything?
- What does not deciding cost you per week?
- Which of these is reversible?

### What happens next

- What is the smallest test that would tell you something real?
- What is the date by which you decide regardless?
- Who do you tell, so it becomes real?
- What is the first thing you do the morning after deciding?

## Questions for when you are stuck

*Yourself* · For the project you open and close without writing a line. [Open it](https://projects.patrickreinbold.com/questions-for/#/stuck)

### Where you actually are

- What is the last thing you did that felt like progress?
- What happens in the moment just before you stop?
- What have you been doing instead?
- How long has it been like this?

### What you actually want

- What would unstuck feel like — what would you be doing on Thursday?
- What did you want from this when you started?
- Is the thing still worth doing?
- What would you do with the time if you dropped it?

### What is in the way

- What are you avoiding deciding?
- What are you afraid you will find out if you keep going?
- Are you stuck, or tired, or bored — which one?
- Who could tell you in ten minutes what you have not worked out in a month?

### What happens next

- What is the smallest thing you could finish today?
- What would you do if you had two hours and no way to look anything up?
- Who are you going to ask?
- What are you going to abandon?

## Questions for money

*Yourself* · For the thing you look at once a year and feel bad about. [Open it](https://projects.patrickreinbold.com/questions-for/#/money)

### Where you actually are

- What did you actually spend last month, by the big categories?
- What do you spend on that you would be embarrassed to say out loud?
- How long could you go with no income at all?
- What do you not know about your own finances?

### What you actually want

- What is the number at which you would stop pushing?
- What is money for, for you — safety, freedom, status, options?
- What would you buy if nobody were judging?
- What do you want to be able to say yes to?

### What is in the way

- What are you spending on out of habit rather than choice?
- What are you not spending on that you should be?
- What did money mean in the house you grew up in, and how does that still show?
- What are you avoiding looking at?

### What happens next

- What is the one number you will look at this week?
- What is the one thing you will cancel?
- What would you have to earn or save for the thing you actually want?
- When do you look at this again?