| back to the List |
Although I’m literally asking if they have anything else they want to talk about, I’m actually saying something very specific: I care about your worries. I’m saying, we got through our agenda, crossing everything off the list, accomplished our goals for this particular conversation, but I know there are always lingering concerns. Let’s talk about them.
This question comes up when I’ve been the primary driver of the conversation, when I’ve set the agenda. Everyone appreciates not having to set the agenda, and I’ve embraced (for better or worse) my role in driving conversations. But that doesn’t mean the conversation is all about serving me and my needs. Quite the contrary. So, this question comes up with team members and clients – the people whose needs I’m most obligated to understand and address.
While I do ask a form of this question of users – the people who will be using the product we’re designing – I don’t ask it in quite this way. This version is very open, very broad. With users I want to guide them a little more.
When you ask “Anything else?” you might actually get “Can we go back to…” I love how the human mind works. On an agenda with 5 items, someone disatisfied with the outcome of item number two doesn’t realize that they’re disatisfied or why they’re disatisfied until long after you’ve moved on. That’s just how the brain works. It’s not frustrating for me. Just the opposite. It means they were thinking about what we discussed, mulling it – even unconsciously – and had more to say about it. Revisiting a topic happens frequently, but most often people just say “no”. Nothing else to discuss is maybe a little disappointing, but not unexpected if you’ve prepared an agenda ahead of time and involved others in the process.
Barely a meeting goes by when I do not ask this question. So, it comes up in one-on-ones with team members after we’ve done a design review or clarified tasks. It comes up at the end of status meetings with clients, directed at the main client first, and then others at the table.
Since this question occurs toward the end of a meeting, there may not be much left to ask, unless they’ve raised a topic that you hadn’t covered. In that instance, you have a slew of questions to ask about the topic. Assuming there’s nothing left to discuss, you might check in to see what they’re taking away from this conversation, ensuring that you’re aligned in outcomes and next steps.
Is there anything I didn’t ask but I should have?
This is the flavor of the question I ask of users. It’s the same thing, really. I want them to understand I’m genuinely interested in their perspective, and not just checking things off my agenda. By framing it in this way, though, I’m keeping it confined to the same topical region. They may have complaints about what they had for breakfast, but that’s not in the purview of my conversation with them.