# No dumb questions, only inadequate assumptions

> A remote team runs on questions: no body language, no hallway, several countries apart. Not asking is the expensive shortcut.

URL: https://onetotem.com/blog/no-dumb-questions/
Lang: en

In 2010 the Museum of Modern Art called the designer James Victore to acquire his work. He asked if there would be a gala. No. A prize, then? No. An official letter? They didn't do that either. So he asked for one anyway, addressed to his mother, because she would really appreciate it. A week and a half later, MoMA mailed a letter that began "Dear James Victore's mom." Miguel Ferreria tells the story in an article about how assumptions block creativity, and the assumption that concerns us here is a specific one: "this is a naive question, I will look like a fool if I ask it."

We need to kill that assumption more than most companies do. A remote team lacks the cues an office gives away for free: no body language, no hallway correction, often no camera, several countries and cultures between us. Not asking, out of fear or embarrassment, is a shortcut to misunderstanding and rework.

So, some working rules. Nobody asks out of caprice; we ask because something escapes us, or we fear it might, or we want to confirm before building on sand. The dumb question does not exist, and the fear of it has to go.

The rule matters just as much on the answering side. A question you receive is a free diagnosis: it tells you where your message failed, and that applies to design, marketing, copy and team communication alike. Sometimes the person did not understand because they were not paying attention. Even then, the useful move is to refine the message rather than assume, because the next reader will trip on the same stone.

Questions also help the person answering. Rehearsing an explanation firms up the idea, and a good question finds blind spots: the aspect you had not considered, the thing you never actually explained.

And asking is measuring twice to cut once. A minute of question against days of returned work: it increases efficiency, lowers conflict, shortens execution. The only debt it leaves is on the answerer: if the reply deserves paragraphs, write it once, somewhere permanent, so it teaches the next person without repeating anyone.

Our trade does not exist without questioning anyway. Who are we selling to? Who does the client compete against? What is the tone of voice? How will we know the project worked? Every brief is a hundred questions, and the projects that go wrong are usually the ones where too few were asked.

_First published in our internal knowledgebase in September 2023. Adapted for the blog._