# Question Quality Rubric

Complete evaluation rubric for customer discovery questions. Use this reference when auditing a question list or when you need the full reasoning behind why a question passes or fails.

## The 3 Rules (Customer Conversation Quality Rules / "The Mom Test")

| # | Rule | What it prevents |
|---|------|-----------------|
| 1 | Talk about their life instead of your idea | Prevents compliment-fishing and false validation |
| 2 | Ask about specifics in the past instead of generics or opinions about the future | Prevents optimism bias and hypothetical data |
| 3 | Talk less and listen more | Prevents leading, pitching, and confirmation bias |

## 14-Question Scored Rubric

### BAD Questions

**"Do you think it's a good idea?"**
- Verdict: FAIL (Rule 1, Rule 2)
- Why it fails: Asks for an opinion about your idea. Only the market can tell if an idea is good. Unless they are a deep industry expert, this is self-indulgent noise with a high risk of false positives.
- Fix: Ask them to show you how they currently do the thing your idea relates to. Ask which parts they love and hate. Ask what other tools and processes they tried before settling on this one. Are they actively searching for a replacement? Take all that information and decide for yourself whether it is a good idea.
- Rule of thumb: Opinions are worthless.

**"Would you buy a product which did X?"**
- Verdict: FAIL (Rule 1, Rule 2)
- Why it fails: Asks for a hypothetical future purchase from overly optimistic people who want to make you happy. The answer is almost always "yes," which makes it worthless.
- Fix: Ask how they currently solve X and how much it costs them in time and money. Ask them to talk you through what happened the last time X came up. If they have not tried to solve the problem, ask why not. If they have not even looked for solutions already, they are not going to buy yours.
- Rule of thumb: Anything involving the future is an over-optimistic lie.

**"How much would you pay for X?"**
- Verdict: FAIL (Rule 1, Rule 2)
- Why it fails: Same as above, but the number creates a false sense of rigor and precision. People are bad at predicting their future spending behavior.
- Fix: Ask about their life as it currently is. How much does the problem cost them? How much do they currently pay to solve it? How big is the budget they have allocated? If you are far enough along, literally ask for money — a deposit or pre-order tells the truth.
- Rule of thumb: People will lie to you if they think it is what you want to hear.

**"Would you pay X for a product which did Y?"**
- Verdict: FAIL (Rule 1, Rule 2)
- Why it fails: Adding a number does not help. Still hypothetical, still about your idea, still produces unreliable answers. People are overly optimistic about what they would do and want to make you happy.
- Fix: Ask about what they currently do, not what they believe they might do in the future. Price your product in terms of value to the customer rather than cost to you. You cannot quantify their perceived value without understanding their current financial reality.

### SORT-OF-OKAY Questions

**"What would your dream product do?"**
- Verdict: FIXABLE (Rule 2 — sort of)
- Why it is risky: On its own, this just collects feature requests — which is like building your product by committee. People know their problems but do not know how to solve them.
- When it works: Only if you ask good follow-ups. Treat it as the "set" before the spike in volleyball — use it to set up deeper questions about why they want each feature, what it would let them do, and how they are coping without it.
- Fix: Follow every feature request with: "Why do you want that?" and "What would that let you do?" and "How are you coping without it?"
- Rule of thumb: People know what their problems are, but they do not know how to solve those problems.

### GOOD Questions

**"Why do you bother?"**
- Verdict: PASS (all 3 rules)
- Why it works: Gets from the perceived problem to the real motivation. Great for uncovering the actual goal behind a stated need.
- Example: Finance people were asking for better messaging tools. "Why do you bother?" led to "so we can be certain that we're all working off the latest version." The solution ended up being less like a messaging tool and more like Dropbox.
- Rule of thumb: You are shooting blind until you understand their goals.

**"What are the implications of that?"**
- Verdict: PASS (all 3 rules)
- Why it works: Distinguishes between I-will-pay-to-solve-that problems and kind-of-annoying-but-I-can-deal-with-it problems. Some problems have big, costly implications. Others exist but do not actually matter. Also gives you a pricing signal.
- Example: Someone described a workflow with emotionally loaded terms ("DISASTER") but when asked about implications, said "Oh, we just ended up throwing a bunch of interns at the problem — it's actually working pretty well."
- Rule of thumb: Some problems don't actually matter.

**"Talk me through the last time that happened."**
- Verdict: PASS (all 3 rules)
- Why it works: Requests a concrete, specific story from the past. People cannot be wishy-washy when recounting a real event. You learn about their actual actions instead of their stated opinions. Being walked through their full workflow answers many questions simultaneously: how they spend their days, what tools they use, who they talk to, what the constraints are.
- Rule of thumb: Watching someone do a task will show you where the problems and inefficiencies really are, not where the customer thinks they are.

**"Talk me through your workflow."**
- Verdict: PASS (all 3 rules)
- Why it works: Same principle as above. Being walked through a real workflow reveals how your product fits into their day, which other tools you need to integrate with, and what constraints exist that they would never think to mention.

**"What else have you tried?"**
- Verdict: PASS (all 3 rules)
- Why it works: Reveals what they are currently using, how much it costs, what they love and hate about it, and how big of a pain it would be to switch. If they have not tried anything, that is a strong signal that the problem is not painful enough to drive action.
- Important: A future-promise statement ("I would definitely pay for something that solves this") without any past commitment to back it up is a red flag. If they say it happens all the time but have never looked for a solution, they will not buy yours.
- Rule of thumb: If they have not looked for ways of solving it already, they are not going to look for (or buy) yours.

**"How are you dealing with it now?"**
- Verdict: PASS (all 3 rules)
- Why it works: Gives you a price anchor and reveals current workflow. If they are paying 100/month for a duct-tape workaround, you know what ballpark you are playing in. If they spent 120,000 this year on agency fees to maintain a site you are replacing, you should not be positioning yourself as the cheap option.
- Rule of thumb: While it is rare for someone to tell you precisely what they will pay you, they will often show you what it is worth to them.

**"Where does the money come from?"**
- Verdict: PASS (all 3 rules)
- Why it works: In a business context, this is a must-ask. It leads to a conversation about whose budget the purchase will come from and who else within their company holds the power to torpedo the deal. Without this, your future pitches will hit unseen snags.

**"Who else should I talk to?"**
- Verdict: PASS (all 3 rules)
- Why it works: End every conversation with this. If you are onto something interesting and treating people well, your leads will quickly multiply via warm introductions. If someone does not want to make introductions, you have learned something: either you screwed up the meeting (too formal, too pitchy, too clingy) or they do not actually care about the problem you are solving.
- Rule of thumb: People want to help you, but will rarely do so unless you give them an excuse to do so.

**"Is there anything else I should have asked?"**
- Verdict: PASS (all 3 rules)
- Why it works: By the end of the meeting, they understand what you are trying to do. Since you are new to the industry, they will often be sitting there thinking about the most important point while you are asking about something else entirely. This question gives them permission to fix your line of questioning. Use it as a crutch early — discard it as you become more skilled.

## Rules of Thumb (Quick Reference)

1. Opinions are worthless
2. Anything involving the future is an over-optimistic lie
3. People will lie to you if they think it is what you want to hear
4. People know what their problems are, but they do not know how to solve them
5. If they have not looked for ways of solving it already, they are not going to look for (or buy) yours
6. You are shooting blind until you understand their goals
7. Some problems do not actually matter
8. Watching someone do a task will show you where the real problems are
9. While it is rare for someone to tell you precisely what they will pay, they will often show you what it is worth to them
10. People want to help you, but will rarely do so unless you give them an excuse

## Fluff-Inducing Questions to Avoid

These question patterns almost always produce vague, non-specific feedback (fluff) rather than concrete facts:

- "Do you ever...?"
- "Would you ever...?"
- "What do you usually...?"
- "Do you think you...?"
- "Might you...?"
- "Could you see yourself...?"

Replace with past-tense, specific alternatives:
- "Do you ever..." → "When was the last time you...?"
- "Would you ever..." → "Have you ever tried to...?"
- "What do you usually..." → "What did you do last time...?"