INQUIRIM

INQUIRIM Insights

INSIGHTS INTO BETTER INQUIRY

How questions, assumptions, evidence, perspectives, bias and collaboration shape the judgements we reach.

INQUIRIM is being developed openly. These essays explore both the problems it is intended to address and the thinking behind the emerging method.

Collection 1 of 6 · Essays first published on LinkedIn

Why Inquiry Matters

An illuminated question mark sends branching paths towards charts, documents and analysis, illustrating how the question shapes the answer before evidence is weighed.Article 1 ·

When Good Decisions Go Wrong Before the Decision Is Even Made

A rigorous evidence base cannot rescue an inquiry whose question, boundaries, assumptions or perspectives were narrowed too early.

Two sections of a stone bridge are separated by a gap between documents and evidence, illustrating the missing reasoning needed to connect evidence to a defensible answer.Article 2 ·

The Missing Discipline Between a Difficult Question and a Defensible Answer

A strong evidence base matters. So does the process through which people decide what it means.

A polished report partially covers handwritten notes, questions and working analysis beneath it, illustrating the need to show the reasoning behind a final answer.Article 3 ·

Introducing INQUIRIM: Making the Reasoning Visible

A developing method for examining difficult questions together, while keeping human judgement, disagreement and uncertainty in view.

A sculpted hand holds a human skull in contemplation, representing the need to question the assumptions and limitations within our own thinking.Article 4 ·

Why Intelligent People Still Need a Method of Inquiry

Why capable people can still share assumptions and blind spots, and why structured inquiry needs to account for cognition, culture and participation.

Collection 2 of 6 · Essays first published on LinkedIn

Building an Inquiry

Layered question-mark cards, handwritten notes and a pen beside the words “Examine the question”, illustrating how an inquiry revisits and examines its questions.Article 5 ·

A Question Is Not Yet an Inquiry

Why asking a good question is only the beginning, and why an inquiry also needs a visible process for developing, challenging and sometimes revising that question.