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    Discovery Questionnaire

    The questions that surface how a business actually runs — asked in the order that gets honest answers.

    Most discovery calls produce a description of the business. This one produces a map of where it leaks.

    The difference is sequence. Ask about problems first and you get the rehearsed version. Ask someone to narrate a real sequence and the problems surface on their own.

    Read the process mapping guide · Request Your Free Systems Audit

    How to run it

    Sixty to ninety minutes. Longer and the answers get shorter.

    Talk to the person who does the work. If that's not the person on the call, arrange a second one. A manager describing a process they supervise gives you the version they believe.

    Don't send it in advance. Written answers are the stated process. You want the one that comes out while someone is thinking.

    Take notes in four columns: what they say happens · where they hesitate · where they say "it depends" · what they mention and move past quickly.

    Part 1 — The shape of the business

    1. What do you sell, and to whom?
    2. How long have you been running?
    3. Who works here, and what does each person actually do day to day?
    4. What changed in the last year that mattered?
    5. What are you hoping is different six months from now?

    Listen for: roles that don't match job titles, and anything described as "temporary" that has lasted a year.

    Part 2 — The main sequence

    "Walk me through what happens from the moment someone first contacts you, to the moment they've paid and you've delivered."

    Let them run. Interrupt only to keep them concrete.

    Follow-ups: 6. Where exactly does that first contact arrive? List every channel. 7. Who sees it first? What if they're not working that day? 8. How long before someone responds, typically? 9. What happens between "they're interested" and "they've agreed"? 10. Who does the work once they've agreed? 11. How do you know it's finished? 12. What happens after it's finished?

    Listen for: every place the answer is a person's name rather than a system.

    Part 3 — Frequency and volume

    1. How many enquiries in a typical week?
    2. How many become customers?
    3. How long does the whole thing take, start to finish?
    4. Which part takes the longest?
    5. Which part do you personally spend the most time on?

    Estimates are fine. Mark them as estimates. You need a baseline.

    Part 4 — Where it breaks

    1. What's the most recent thing that went wrong?
    2. How did you find out?
    3. What did it cost — money, time, or a relationship?
    4. What do you do that you've thought "there must be a better way" about?
    5. What gets forgotten?
    6. What question do customers ask that you answer over and over?

    Question 19 matters more than 18. If the answer is "the customer told us," there's no detection anywhere in the process.

    Part 5 — Decisions

    1. Are there points where you choose between two options? What makes you choose?
    2. What's the thing only you know how to do?
    3. If you were away for two weeks, what would stop?

    Every answer to 24 is an undocumented rule. Question 26 gives you the dependency list in one sentence.

    Part 6 — Tools and data

    1. What software are you paying for?
    2. Which of it do you actually use?
    3. Where does customer information live? List every place.
    4. Do any of those talk to each other?
    5. What do you type into two systems?
    6. Is there anything you've bought and never set up?

    Question 32 is asked gently and answered honestly more often than you'd expect.

    Part 7 — Documentation

    1. Is anything written down?
    2. How does a new person learn the job?
    3. How long until they're useful?

    "They shadow me for a few weeks" is the most common answer and the clearest measure of the gap.

    Part 8 — Closing

    1. What have I not asked that I should have?
    2. If one thing got fixed in the next month, which one?
    3. Who would need to be involved in changing it?

    Question 36 is consistently the most productive question on this list.

    Immediately after

    Write up within the hour, while you still remember the hesitations.

    Separate your notes into four groups:

    ConfirmedAssumedProposedUnknown
    they stated or showed ityou inferred ityour recommendationyou didn't get to it

    Keeping these separate is what stops a discovery call from becoming a set of confident claims about a business you spent ninety minutes with.

    Signals worth noting

    Good fit: a repetitive process with real volume · someone other than the owner who could run it · willingness to document before automating · access to the tools and data.

    Poor fit: wants a specific tool built without a diagnosis · can't name anyone to own the change · won't allow documentation · volume too low for any build to pay back.

    Want this run for you?

    A free systems audit includes the discovery session and a map of where your process leaks.

    Request Your Free Systems Audit