How to ask questions Tip 13 - Split a complex question into a series of simple questions

Chris Fenning shows how to break complex questions into simple ones. Ask one at a time, wait for the answer, then move to the next. This keeps people from forgetting parts or giving incomplete answers.
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How to ask a question tip number 13: split a complex question into a series of shorter, simpler questions. If you have a question to ask and it's complicated— there are multiple parts, there are lots of things to consider, or the topic is particularly complex— if it's complicated for you to ask the question, it's going to be complicated for the other person to answer it. And the more complex the question, the harder it is to remember, interpret, understand, and answer that question. So what to do about this is to take the complex question and break it down into smaller parts. If you don't do this, you might not get the answer that you need. You might only get part of the answer, or the person that you're asking may not even understand the question in the first place. So how do you do this? How do you break down a complex question into multiple parts? Well, the first thing is you need to think about what are the separate questions that make up your broader If you can break something into three small questions, so first of all I'd like to know about X, and then once they've answered that we say okay are the implications of X da da da, and then I'd like to know whether options one two or three are better. Break into those three questions and start by saying I have three questions. I've got three questions on this one topic, and so I'm going to ask this question first. Ask the question, get the answer, then ask the second question, get the answer, ask the third question, and get the answer. By breaking your complex question down into small pieces, you're going to help organize your own thoughts, but you're also going to help the other person understand the questions and answer them, thereby giving you the information that you need.
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