#kiasking

Working in tech, it's likely that we fall into a couple broad categories when dealing with clients:

Tell them nothing

Tell them everything

The Problem with (A)

The advantage is that we have more autonomy and the client can focus on other things. The problem is that clients' expectations will naturally be different than what you (minimally) conveyed. Additionally, they are not able to participate in a meaningful way when your only communication with them is "we'll take care of it". For many clients, this might be all they want, but it is ultimately to the detriment of a better-informed solution. 

The Problem with (B) 

The advantage here is obvious. A better solution will come from all parties having enough information to make a good decision.

Of course, the easily identifiable problem here is that information overload only confuses and confounds clients. You're trying to give them the information they need to make an informed decision, but in the end, you only give them enough information to confuse (and possibly frighten) them. In the end, you just wind up making a business-level decision for them because it's just all too much to take in. 

So what do we do? Kiasking!

Metaphorically speaking, we don't know how each client takes their coffee. As a way to allow for a useful dialectic without thrusting it upon the client at a bad time, let's try "kiasking".

Kiasking is a portmanteau of "kiosk" and "asking", by which you give the bare minimum information to the client, but prompt for questions you think the client might want/need to know. No response from the client will implicitly mean "no more information needed". 

Example

I need to do some code cleanup in the application today. You should experience negligible (3-5 min) downtime. 

a) What are you refactoring?

b) Do we need this refactoring now?

c) What are the advantages/disadvantages?

In this example, we give the basic information but also give the client questions that we think will be useful. Of course the client is welcome to ask questions outside of the "kiosk", but this helps them to be willing participants in a conversation that might benefit them and make them better informed as to the cost of maintenance in the future. 

I'm trying this out now. I'll put an update as to how it's progressing in the next few months. I think this could be useful for any industry. 

UPDATE: No.