Prioritize your questions like features

Just say NO to questions.

Well, not exactly.

If you’re managing a work queue for ops, product, engineering, then you’re used to the idea of work (or feature) prioritization.

Unless it’s a high-pri issue, the work is queued.

You rank the features based on the value so you get the most value at the least cost.

Questions are the same.

Manage them, don’t jump to answer them — immediately.

It was a big thing for me to realize that you need to say NO to questions just as much as you say NO to features.

Focus first on the questions that make or break decisions that create leverage for the team.

It’s possible to consider the different possible answers, up front.

Consider how the answers would change decision making and what real impact they would have.