12 Feb 2026
Three years into my BA career, I sat in a requirements workshop for a new reporting system.
The stakeholder talked for 45 minutes about what they wanted: dashboards, filters, export to Excel, scheduled reports.
I documented everything.
At the end, I asked: "Why do you need this?"
Long pause.
"We've always had reports like this."
"But what decisions will you make with these reports?"
Another pause.
"I'm not sure. We just need better visibility."
The project got cancelled 6 months later. No one used the reports. Because no one knew why they needed them.
That's when I learned: If you're just documenting what stakeholders say, you're not doing BA work. You're being a scribe.
Here are the 3 questions that turn you from a scribe into a strategist.
Question #1: "Why are we doing this?"
This is the most important question you'll ever ask.
And most BAs never ask it.
They hear: "We need a new CRM system."
And they think: "Great, let me gather requirements for a CRM."
But "why?" is where the real work begins.
Example: The CRM That No One Wanted
I was once assigned to a CRM project. The sponsor said: "We need a new CRM to improve customer relationships."
Most BAs would have moved straight to: "What features do you need?"
Instead, I asked: "Why do you think customer relationships need improving?"
Turns out, the real problem wasn't the CRM. It was that the sales team wasn't following up on leads because they were spending all their time on admin work.
A new CRM wouldn't fix that. It would make it worse (more system to learn, more data to enter).
What they actually needed was process automation to reduce admin work.
The "why" question saved us from building the wrong solution.
How to Ask "Why?"
Don't just ask once. Ask 5 times. (This is the "5 Whys" technique, but no one actually does it.)
Example:
Stakeholder: "We need better reporting."
You: "Why do you need better reporting?"
Stakeholder: "Because we don't have visibility into sales performance."
You: "Why don't you have visibility?"
Stakeholder: "Because the current reports don't show pipeline by region."
You: "Why do you need pipeline by region?"
Stakeholder: "Because the CEO asked for it."
You: "Why did the CEO ask for it?"
Stakeholder: "Because we're missing our sales targets in the North region and no one knows why."
Now you understand the real problem: Sales targets are being missed in the North. Reporting is just one possible solution.
Maybe the real solution is:
Better sales training
More sales reps in the North
A different pricing structure
You won't know until you ask "why?"
Question #2: "What does success look like?"
Stakeholders say things like:
"We need a better system."
"We want to improve efficiency."
"We need better visibility."
Great. What does "better" mean?
If you don't define success, you'll build the wrong thing.
Example: The "Efficient" Process
I worked on a process improvement project. The stakeholder said: "We need to make the approval process more efficient."
Most BAs would have jumped straight to: "Let's map the As-Is process and identify bottlenecks."
Instead, I asked: "What would success look like? How will you know the process is efficient?"
Silence.
Then: "I guess... if approvals take less time?"
"How much less time?"
"Uhh... half the time?"
"So if approvals currently take 2 weeks, success is 1 week?"
"Actually, no. We need approvals in 2 days. Anything longer and we miss our supplier payment deadlines."
That's a different project.
Reducing from 2 weeks to 1 week wouldn't have been success. Only 2 days would.
How to Define Success
Turn vague goals into measurable outcomes.
Vague: "We want better reporting."
Measurable: "We want to reduce time spent on monthly reporting from 3 days to 4 hours."
Vague: "We want to improve customer satisfaction."
Measurable: "We want to increase NPS from 6 to 8 within 6 months."
Vague: "We need a better system."
Measurable: "We want to reduce manual data entry from 10 hours/week to 2 hours/week."
Use this framework:
"Success means [specific outcome] by [specific date] as measured by [specific metric]."
Example:
"Success means reducing invoice approval time from 2 weeks to 2 days by Q3, as measured by average approval time in the finance system."
Question #3: "What happens if we don't do this?"
This question establishes priority and urgency.
Some projects are critical. Some are nice-to-have.
If you can't articulate the cost of inaction, the project isn't a priority.
Example: The Dashboard No One Needed
I was asked to build a dashboard for operational metrics.
I asked: "What happens if we don't build this dashboard?"
The stakeholder said: "Well... we'll keep using the Excel reports we have now."
"And what's wrong with the Excel reports?"
"They're a bit clunky. But they work."
That's a nice-to-have, not a priority.
Compare that to another project:
"What happens if we don't automate this process?"
"We'll continue processing 500 transactions manually, which takes 80 hours/week. We're about to lose 2 team members, so we won't have capacity. We'll miss our regulatory deadlines and face fines."
That's a priority.
How to Quantify the Cost of Inaction
Ask:
"What's the current cost?" (time, money, risk)
"What happens if we don't change anything?"
"What's the opportunity cost?" (what else could we be doing?)
Example:
Current state: Invoice approval takes 2 weeks. We process 200 invoices/month.
Cost of inaction:
200 invoices × 2 weeks wait time = 400 invoice-weeks of delay/month
Late payment fees: £500/month
Supplier relationships damaged (hard to quantify, but real)
Finance team spends 10 hours/month chasing approvals
Opportunity cost:
If we fix this, Finance can spend those 10 hours on strategic work (financial planning, not chasing invoices)
This justifies the project.
How These 3 Questions Work Together
Stakeholder: "We need a new CRM."
You: "Why do we need a new CRM?" (Question #1)
Stakeholder: "To improve customer relationships."
You: "What would success look like? How will you measure improved relationships?" (Question #2)
Stakeholder: "I guess... higher customer retention?"
You: "Great. What's our current retention rate, and what's the target?"
Stakeholder: "Current is 70%. Target is 85%."
You: "And what happens if we don't hit 85% retention?" (Question #3)
Stakeholder: "We lose £2M in revenue annually."
Now you understand:
Why: Customer retention is too low
Success: Increase retention from 70% to 85%
Cost of inaction: £2M revenue at risk
You can now evaluate: Will a new CRM actually achieve this? Or do we need something else (better onboarding, customer support, account management)?
The Difference Between a Scribe and a Strategist
A scribe asks: "What do you want?"
A strategist asks:
"Why do you want it?" (Question #1)
"What does success look like?" (Question #2)
"What happens if we don't do this?" (Question #3)
Scribe approach:
"The stakeholder wants a CRM with dashboards, reporting, and integration with Salesforce. I've documented the requirements."
Strategist approach:
"The stakeholder wants higher customer retention (currently 70%, target 85%). They think a CRM will help. I've challenged that assumption. Based on our analysis, the real problem is that account managers don't have visibility into customer health scores. A CRM might help, but a simpler solution is to automate health score tracking in our existing system. This would cost £10k vs. £100k for a new CRM."
That's the difference.
When to Ask These Questions
Every. Single. Meeting.
Requirements workshops
Stakeholder interviews
Project kickoffs
Steering meetings
Even stand-ups
These questions never stop being relevant.
What If the Stakeholder Gets Annoyed?
Sometimes stakeholders push back:
"Why are you asking so many questions? Just build what I asked for."
How to handle it:
"I want to make sure we're solving the right problem. If we build the wrong thing, we'll waste time and budget. Can you help me understand [why/success/cost of inaction]?"
Frame it as helping them succeed. Not challenging them.
The Bottom Line
If you're just documenting what stakeholders say, you're a scribe.
If you're asking:
"Why are we doing this?"
"What does success look like?"
"What happens if we don't do this?"
You're a strategist.
And strategists get promoted.