Stage 2: design questions before collecting data

Outcome: 5 to 15 competency questions and user stories. Time: about 45 minutes.

Explain and inspect

A competency question tests what your knowledge product must answer. A user story states a need in context: “As a local-history learner, I need to see which source supports a date so that I separate evidence from a story.” Read the pack stories and notice that they describe needs and limits, not screens.

Do and check

Talk to at least one possible user or observe a real task. Include identity, relationship, time, evidence and out-of-scope questions. Keep two questions unseen until the final AI evaluation. For every question, write what a correct answer must contain and what would be a serious error. Remove trivia that does not serve the user need.

Retrieve and reflect

Explain the difference between a competency question and a search keyword. Record which user assumption changed after research.

Next: research sources.