Question of the Day
“What did you expect adult life to involve much more of than it actually does?”
Why ask it
Childhood forecasts are reliably funny: quicksand, briefcases, dinner parties, dessert whenever you like. Nobody is embarrassed by a seven-year-old's predictions, and people tend to pile on with their own once the first one lands.
Some of what is in the deck
Prefer to read than to shuffle? These are the opening cards of each deck, each with its note and the set it came from.
Everyone
What did you expect adult life to involve much more of than it actually does?
Why ask it
Childhood forecasts are reliably funny: quicksand, briefcases, dinner parties, dessert whenever you like. Nobody is embarrassed by a seven-year-old's predictions, and people tend to pile on with their own once the first one lands.
What's a skill you use every day that nobody ever formally taught you?
Why ask it
Reading a room, parallel parking, calming a toddler, fixing the printer. The answer shows what someone had to work out alone, and they're usually proud of it.
Which part of your morning do you refuse to rush, however late you are?
Why ask it
A tiny confession with no downside. The coffee, the long shower, ten minutes with the crossword: whatever they protect shows how they like a day to begin, and nobody has to justify it.
What job did you think sounded glamorous as a kid that you now know is not?
Why ask it
Twists the old question about what they wanted to be when they grew up. The disillusionment is the fun part, and someone in the room may actually do that job and want to respond.
What's the best gift you've ever been given, and who gave it to you?
Why ask it
Great gifts are rarely the expensive ones, and the giver matters as much as the object. You'll learn who pays close attention to this person.
What's on your calendar in the next month that you're quietly counting down to?
Why ask it
Pointing at the future skips the job title and lands on what they care about. If the honest answer is nothing, ask what they would add if they could.
What's a simple thing you have never managed to learn, like whistling or winking?
Why ask it
Naming two examples sets the scale: snapping fingers, rolling an R, a cartwheel. Expect someone to insist on proving they really cannot do it, and the failed demonstration is funnier than any answer.
What's the first thing you remember being really good at, and who noticed?
Why ask it
Early talents are small and specific: spelling, skipping stones, drawing horses, making a baby brother laugh. The second half matters, because the person who noticed is often the reason they kept at it.
What's a small thing you bought that turned out to be worth far more than it cost?
Why ask it
People enjoy evangelizing about a cheap object that fixed their mornings. Expect a vegetable peeler or a phone stand, and expect to leave with a shopping list.
What's the best question anyone has ever asked you?
Why ask it
Hard to answer on the spot, so offer it and move on, then come back later. Whatever people remember tells you what they wish they were asked more often.
What piece of clothing have you worn until it practically fell apart?
Why ask it
A sweater kept past the point of decency says more about a person than anything new in their closet. Ask whether it's still in a drawer somewhere. It usually is.
What's something you're glad you did before you knew better?
Why ask it
Harder than it looks, because it asks for a risk and a verdict at once. The stories tend to be good: a move with no money, a car bought unseen, a job taken on a whim. Ask whether they'd do it again knowing what they know now.
For work
If you could delete one recurring task from your week, which would it be?
Why ask it
Light on the surface, with a serious use. If three people name the same report, you have found something worth fixing, and nobody had to file a complaint to tell you.
What's a question you've been meaning to ask but weren't sure who to ask?
Why ask it
New hires carry a backlog of small unknowns, like how to book a room or whether cameras are expected. Asking in the open answers it for the next newcomer as well.
What part of your job would you keep doing even if it stopped being required?
Why ask it
Finds the work a person does for its own sake. Managers should take notes, since it is the cheapest information about how to keep someone that they will ever get.
Who was the best manager, teacher or mentor you've had, and what did they do differently?
Why ask it
People describe the treatment they are hoping to get. Including teachers lets those early in a career answer fully. Ask what the person did, not what they were like.
What's a risk you'd like this team to take?
Why ask it
Best at an offsite or a planning day, when there is time to discuss the replies. People have often been sitting on an answer for months, waiting for the right opening.
For the team: where's the best lunch, coffee or quiet corner that a newcomer should know about?
Why ask it
Pointing the question at the team takes the spotlight off the new person while still serving them. Remote teams can swap in the best channel, document or person to ask.
For kids
If you designed a playground and cost did not matter, what would be in the middle of it?
Why ask it
Putting one thing in the middle makes them choose the star attraction. Partner kids up to combine their designs and you have a drawing activity for the next half hour.
If you could invent something that does not exist yet, what problem would it solve?
Why ask it
Framing it around a problem produces better inventions than asking for a gadget. The problems are personal ones: lost socks, early mornings, a sibling who will not knock.
If you planned lunch for everyone here and nobody could say no, what would be on the menu?
Why ask it
Power with no veto goes straight to a child's head, and the menus show it. Compare a few out loud: you will find the group's one defender of vegetables.
What song makes you want to get up and dance as soon as it starts?
Why ask it
Asking what a song does to their feet, not whether it is any good, spares kids from defending their taste in front of peers. Two children naming the same song have usually just made a friend, and a group that needs to move has just chosen its music.
What is your favorite thing to do outside when the weather is just right?
Why ask it
Splits the room into climbers, diggers, ball players and cloud watchers in under a minute. If you lead outdoor time later, you have just done your planning.
What is the best birthday cake or birthday treat you have ever had?
Why ask it
Children remember cakes with surprising precision, down to the frosting color. 'Or treat' leaves room for kids whose families mark birthdays differently.
Funny
What have you seen a hundred times that still makes you laugh every time?
Why ask it
A reliable laugh says more about a sense of humor than a recent one does. It might be a film scene, a family video or one photo of a dog. Phones will come out, so allow time for a screening, and laugh even if you had to be there.
How would you describe your dancing on an official form?
Why ask it
Bureaucratic framing makes people describe themselves with a straight face, which is where the comedy is. Offer an example to get them going, such as 'enthusiastic, structurally unsound'.
What were you sure you were good at until you saw or heard a recording of yourself?
Why ask it
Singing, dancing and public speaking lead the confessions. It needs a bit of trust, so save it for later in the conversation, and add that recordings are unkind to everyone.
If your sneeze had a catchphrase, what would it be?
Why ask it
Everyone knows what their own sneeze sounds like and nobody has ever been asked about it. Best with people who know each other, since half the fun is friends correcting the answer.
If you could make one harmless thing illegal purely out of spite, what would it be?
Why ask it
Pet peeves arrive in their purest form. 'Harmless' and 'spite' give people permission to be unreasonable, so nobody needs to justify banning whistling. Ask what the penalty is.
What have you broken at someone else's house, and did you own up to it?
Why ask it
Check that the owner is not at the table before asking. The object is rarely the story. What people tell is the cover-up: the quiet repair, the vase turned to face the wall, the years of silence. Now and then someone decides tonight is the night to confess.
How the question of the day works
The deck opens on one question, and it is the same question for everyone who opens this page that day. It changes at midnight UTC. Choose For work, For kids or Funny and you get that deck's question for the day instead.
Want more than one? Another question deals from the same deck for as long as you like.
Where to use it
- At the start of a meetingOne person reads it and everyone answers in a sentence. Because the question is the same for everybody, a remote team can open the page separately and still be answering the same thing.
- In a classroomPut it on the board for morning meeting or as the first thing students see. Choose For kids first.
- At dinnerAsk it once everyone is sitting down. One question is enough.
- In a group chatCopy it into the chat each morning and let the answers arrive through the day.
- In a journalAnswer it in writing, then answer the note under it.
Making it a habit
A daily question works because it is small. Keep it to one, ask it at the same point each day, and let people pass. If today's does not suit your group, deal another and use that: the ritual matters more than the particular card.
The daily decks
- EveryoneDrawn from the icebreaker, conversation starter and get to know you sets, keeping to the questions anyone can answer, alone or in company.
- For workIcebreakers written for the workplace, safe for any team.
- For kidsIcebreakers written for children from about five to twelve.
- FunnyFrom the funny questions set, for a group that would rather laugh than reflect.
The sets behind it
Nothing is written on the fly. Every card comes from one of these question sets, and each set has the whole list in an order that builds.