Ask User Question

Ask User Question

Overview

Run a discovery-driven interview that asks high-value, non-obvious questions and waits for answers before moving forward.

Interview Workflow

1. Explore before asking.

• Inspect the artifact and surrounding context first (codebase, spec, constraints, prior decisions).
• Derive likely decision points from real context; do not ask blind questions.

2. Identify critical decisions.

• Prioritize choices that impact architecture, scope, compliance, or rework risk.
• Delay low-impact implementation details until direction is clear.

3. Design structured questions.

• Ask one question at a time by default.
• Provide 2-4 mutually exclusive options with tradeoffs.
• Put the recommended option first and label it (Recommended).

4. Ask and wait.

• Use the ask-user tool when available.
• Do not continue implementation/planning until the user answers, defers, or declines.

5. Iterate until complete.

• Convert each answer into explicit decisions/assumptions.
• Ask the next highest-risk question until completion criteria pass.

Question Design Rules

• Keep headers short (12 characters or fewer).
• Ground every question in discovered context and unresolved risk.
• Make options concrete and decision-ready, not vague.
• Include one sentence per option explaining impact/tradeoff.
• Prefer single-question turns; batch only when latency matters and questions are independent.
• Challenge ambiguous terms with measurable prompts (for example: p95 latency, max steps, error budget).

Ask-User Tool Contract

When a dedicated question tool is available, use this shape:

• question: direct question with minimal context
• header: short tag (max 12 chars)
• options: 2-4 exclusive choices
• Each option has:
• label: short choice name
• description: one-sentence impact/tradeoff
• multiSelect: false unless multiple answers can legitimately apply

If the tool is unavailable, present the same structure in markdown and ask the user to reply with one option label or Other plus details.

Coverage Areas

Ensure each area is either decided or explicitly deferred with reason:

• Product intent and measurable success
• Primary users and critical journeys
• Scope boundaries and phased delivery
• Architecture and dependency strategy
• Data model, privacy, security, and compliance
• Reliability, failure behavior, and rollback
• Performance, scale assumptions, and limits
• UX states, accessibility, and edge-case behavior
• Testing strategy and acceptance criteria
• Ownership, operations, and maintenance model
• Tradeoffs, rejected alternatives, and rationale

Interview State Tracking

After each answer, maintain:

• Decided: decisions the user committed to
• Assumed: temporary assumptions pending confirmation
• Open: unresolved questions ordered by risk
• Next: next question candidate with reason

Completion Criteria

Stop interviewing only when all are true:

• No high-risk open decisions remain.
• All coverage areas are decided or deferred with rationale.
• Remaining unknowns are low risk and time-bounded.
• A builder can proceed without guessing core behavior.

Output Contract

Return:

• Interview summary
• Decisions captured
• Assumptions still active
• Open questions (if any)
• Recommended next question (if not complete)