The Rude Q&A

One handy technique I learned years ago at Microsoft was the Rude Q&A (RQA). Whenever we had a major launch, we’d start preparing by writing a document that listed all of the difficult, unfair and perhaps rude, questions we’d rather not be asked, but might come up.

We’d work with PR to draft it and distribute it to anyone who was talking to the public or with journalists. It forced us to think through our message, improve our thinking and at times even realize ways to make the product better.

Scott Berkun (2007)

I just learned about this today but I already love it because you can create a rude Q&A about literally anything. For example, a rude Q&A about this blog may have questions like these?

• Q: Why are the posts so embarrassingly short?
• Q: How can you call something a blog post if it’s just a quote from someone else?
• Q: Why are there so many links? It’s distracting when I’m trying to read.
• Q: Do you seriously want people to call you Critter? Really?
• Q: Why publish junk posts every day instead of one high quality post every week?

See what I mean? It’s a forcing function for accusation audits, and it works for everything.