Account Tree’s 5 Steps to Building Better Software: Step 2 - Ask Questions

The key to impactful software? It's not just listening, it's intelligent questioning.

Ask Questions!

At Account Tree, we believe that truly understanding user needs requires more than just hearing feedback—it requires digging deeper to uncover the details that drive better solutions. We explained the importance of Listening in Part 1. While listening is an important first step in understanding, asking questions is what allows us to transform raw feedback into real, actionable insights.

Dig DeeperListening to feedback is incredibly valuable, but we’ve learned that asking questions after we listen is where the real discovery happens. After we hear what people are saying, it’s essential to ask questions that help us understand why something is a problem and how we can solve it.

Why is this so important?By asking these follow-up questions, we’re able to gain clarity and insight into the details that matter. Listening alone gives us the surface-level information, but questions help us dive deeper into the core of the issue, ensuring we address the real problem—not just what’s visible on the surface.

By asking the right questions, we ensure that the software we build is grounded in reality and specifically tailored to the needs of our users. Whether it’s simplifying the user interface or making real-time fund tracking available to parents and club advisors, the questions we ask ensure that our software addresses the key issues in an intuitive and transparent way.

Why Ask Questions?Asking questions after we listen is crucial because it helps us avoid assumptions. It keeps us from jumping to conclusions about what users need, and instead, it encourages a deeper exploration of the true pain points. By asking questions, we create a space where users feel comfortable sharing more detailed insights that we can use to improve the software.

Without this questioning phase, we might miss key insights, create unnecessary features, or fail to address the core needs of our users. It’s this cycle of listening, asking, and learning that ensures we’re always building the right solution, not just a “solution.”

The Results?We create software that is continuously evolving to meet the ever-changing needs of schools, districts, and students. We don’t just build features for the sake of building them. We build based on real insights, ensuring that every update and every new feature is driven by what our users need most.