Drafting More Questions Than You Need
Launch library · evergreen read
Writing far more questions than an interview could possibly use is not wasted effort. The process of generating a long list forces an interviewer to think through a topic from several angles before sitting down, and that thinking pays off even for the questions that never get asked aloud. Thinking a topic through from several angles pays off even for the questions never actually asked aloud.
In the room, only a handful of the prepared questions may actually get used in their original form, since a good conversation departs from any script fairly quickly. The rest serve as a safety net: something to fall back on if a thread runs dry or a subject grows quiet. A genuinely good conversation tends to depart from any script within the first few exchanges.
The discipline is knowing which prepared questions to abandon once the conversation finds its own direction. A long list is a resource to draw from selectively, not a checklist that must be worked through in full regardless of where the subject wants to go. Knowing which prepared questions to set aside is its own skill, learned mostly through practice.