Father Watson's Questions
Feb 14, 2026
These are from the Rich Hickey talk on “Design in Practice” at Clojure Conj 2023.
The four questions (from a Jesuit priest) are:
- Where are you at?
- Where are you going?
- What do you know?
- What do you need to know?
The first two questions are what we most commonly encounter in our modern workplaces. We usually have to give some kind of periodic updates about the status of what we are currently working on (Where are you at?) and what our targets are (Where are you going?). These kinds of questions are second nature to us.
However, the second two questions are more related to the design question, i.e., more about reflecting on the problem space itself. If the first two questions are reflections on action, the second two are reflections on understanding. Hickey argues, and I agree, that we aren’t generally as good with these second two questions, at stepping back from the immediacy of doing and reflecting instead on the why of the doing. Hickey has a nice grid presentation for these questions:
| Understanding | Activity | |
|---|---|---|
| Status (to stand) | What do you know? | Where are you at? |
| Agenda (to be done) | What do you need to know? | Where are you going? |
He also writes that inquiry - advancing knowledge - is the driver.
