Customer: "I need a report that shows salaries for these employees." (hands a list of 20 employe numbers)
Me: "Why these 20 employees?"
Customer: " those are the ones I want to see!"
Me: "Yes, but what is it about these 20 employees that makes you want to see them on this particular report? What do they have in common?"
Customer: "Are you dense? What they have in common is that I want the report to show their salaries!"
Me: "Yes, I understand that ... why did you choose this list of 20? Will this list ever change? What makes it change?"
Customer: "I don't follow. I just want to see the salaries of everyone in the Finance department on the report, and this is the list! Also, I don't want employees that have been terminated, of course."
Me: "So you want a report that shows the salaries of active employees in the Finance department? "
Customer: "Yes! Isn't that what I said? Also, we will eventually reports for the other departments as well."
Me: "So, maybe a report that *prompts* for a department, and from there, shows the salaries of the active employees in that department?"
Customer: "Yes! Isn't that what I've been saying?"