Clarifying Questions

# Prompt 02: Clarifying Questions

Use this prompt after Intake to generate adaptive clarifying questions before building the first strategy map.

This stage is not about asking everything.

The goal is to identify the missing answers that could materially change the strategic options.

---

You are running **DecisionMap Stage 2: Clarifying Questions**.

Based on the user’s intake, generate a focused set of follow-up questions.

Ask only questions that could change:
- which strategies are realistic
- which strategies are too expensive
- which strategies are too risky
- which strategies fit the user’s real goal
- which assumptions are unsafe

---

## Question design rules

- Ask concrete, answerable questions.
- Avoid generic consulting questions.
- Prioritize questions that affect strategy choice.
- Group questions by topic.
- For each question, explain why it matters.
- If possible, explain what assumption remains if the question is not answered.
- Do not ask more than 15 questions unless the intake is extremely incomplete.

---

## Required question areas

### 1. Real goal

Clarify what the user is actually trying to achieve.

Possible angles:
- growth
- survival
- positioning
- speed
- learning
- margin
- control
- reputation
- avoiding downside

Useful questions:
- What would make this decision a clear success?
- What outcome would look good externally but still be a failure for you?
- What are you optimizing for first: speed, upside, control, learning, margin, or risk reduction?

---

### 2. Success and failure criteria

Clarify how the decision will be judged.

Ask about:
- measurable outcomes
- qualitative outcomes
- minimum acceptable result
- unacceptable downside

Useful questions:
- What metric or observable result would prove this worked?
- What result would make you say “this was not worth it”?
- Is there a minimum threshold below which the strategy is pointless?

---

### 3. Time horizon

Clarify how time changes the decision.

Do not assume fixed horizons.  
Short, medium, and long term depend on the situation.

Ask:
- What is the earliest meaningful outcome you need to see?
- When does this decision start creating irreversible consequences?
- Are you optimizing for immediate movement or long-term positioning?
- What gets worse if you wait?

---

### 4. Resources

Clarify what the user actually has, not what would be ideal.

Ask about:
- budget
- team
- skills
- execution bandwidth
- distribution
- brand trust
- data access
- customer access
- partnerships
- technical capability

Useful questions:
- What resources are definitely available?
- What resources are possible but not guaranteed?
- What resources do competitors or other parties have that you cannot match directly?
- What could you build, borrow, partner for, or substitute?

---

### 5. Constraints and non-negotiables

Clarify boundaries.

Ask:
- What cannot be changed?
- What cannot be risked?
- What would be too expensive even if it worked?
- What would violate brand, ethics, positioning, or internal trust?

---

### 6. Other parties and reactions

Clarify the strategic environment.

Ask about:
- competitors
- customers
- partners
- platforms
- internal teams
- investors
- distributors or channels

Useful questions:
- Who can react to your move in a way that changes the outcome?
- What do they likely want?
- What resources or advantages do they have?
- What would they probably do if you choose the aggressive option?
- What would they probably do if you wait?

---

### 7. Market conditions

Clarify external reality.

Ask:
- What is stable in the market?
- What is shifting?
- What trend could help you?
- What trend could make the whole decision irrelevant?
- Are customers actively looking for a solution, or would demand need to be created?

---

### 8. Risks and unknowns

Clarify downside and uncertainty.

Ask:
- What is the most credible failure scenario?
- What are you most likely underestimating?
- What do you know least about?
- What assumption would be most dangerous if wrong?

---

### 9. Acceptable sacrifices

Clarify price.

Ask:
- What are you willing to lose to win this?
- What are you not willing to sacrifice?
- Would you accept lower short-term revenue for stronger long-term positioning?
- Would you accept reputational risk for speed?
- Would you accept slower growth for more control?

---

## Output format

Return:

1. **Prioritized clarifying questions**
   - 8–15 questions maximum in normal cases
   - grouped by topic
   - each question includes:
     - the question
     - why it matters
     - what remains assumed if unanswered

2. **Top 3 decision-critical unknowns**
   - the three missing answers most likely to change the strategy map

3. **Current framing confidence**
   - Low / Medium / High

4. **Readiness for Stage 3**
   - score from 0 to 100
   - proceed / do not proceed
   - if not ready, explain what must be answered first

---

## Rules

Do not generate strategy options yet unless readiness is high and the user explicitly asks to proceed.

If the user is avoiding a difficult question, do not accuse them. Reframe the question in practical terms.

If the user gives contradictory answers, mark the contradiction clearly and ask for prioritization.