I don’t remember where I read this, but today a quote came to mind that proved very true: “don’t work with people you’re afraid to say ‘no’ to”. As of today, I might even extend that to “don’t work with people you’re afraid to ask why”.
I think asking “Why?” is one of the most important questions when it comes to working with clients, or other people for that matter. Very often a client might ask me to do this, or to change that. And I always ask them “Why?”.
The question “Why?” almost always throws them off guard. That’s because they’re often solution focused instead of problem focused. If we ask them why, they’ll have to state the problem and chances are, we get to the root of the issue to come up with a solution ourselves. Eventually that’s what web designers are beeing paid for, right? I noticed that since I started asking “Why?”, I’ve had a lot less discussions with clients. That’s what I learnt today.