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name: questions-insight description: "Question template for Insight stories ('I discovered X while doing Y'). Arc: Routine → Disruption → Recognition → Understanding → Application. Use with question-design skill."

Insight Story Questions

Story type: "I discovered X while doing Y" Arc: Routine → Disruption → Recognition → Understanding → Application

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The Shape

Insight stories capture the moment when something clicked - when a pattern became visible that was always there but unseen. The reader experiences the discovery alongside the teller.

What makes it work: The contrast between "before I saw it" and "after I saw it." The insight must feel both surprising AND inevitable in retrospect.

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Question Sequence

Opening: The Normal

Establish what was routine, unremarkable.

• "What was normal for you before this happened?"
• "Walk me through what you were doing when this started."
• "What were you paying attention to? What weren't you?"

Disruption: The Anomaly

Something didn't fit the pattern.

• "When did you first notice something was different?"
• "What caught your attention?"
• "What didn't fit your expectations?"
• "Was it a single moment or a series of small things?"

Recognition: Seeing the Pattern

The moment of seeing.

• "When did you realize this was significant?"
• "What did you suddenly see that you hadn't before?"
• "How did you know this wasn't just noise?"
• "What connected in that moment?"

Understanding: Making Sense

Integrating the insight.

• "How did you make sense of what you were seeing?"
• "What did this explain that hadn't made sense before?"
• "Did this connect to other things you knew?"
• "How did you test whether you were right?"

Application: Living With It

How the insight changed things.

• "How has this changed how you see [domain]?"
• "What do you do differently now?"
• "Where else does this pattern show up?"
• "How do you explain this to others?"

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Tacit Knowledge Triggers (Insight-Specific)

• "What were you NOT looking for when you found this?"
• "Why do you think others miss this?"
• "What made you ready to see it?"
• "What would have happened if you'd dismissed it?"
• "Is there a simpler explanation you considered and rejected?"

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Walking Adaptation

First quarter: The Normal (context setting, low cognitive load) Second quarter: Disruption + Recognition (the discovery - may need pauses) Third quarter: Understanding (sense-making, synthesis) Final quarter: Application (how it lives now, what transfers)

The Recognition moment often benefits from physical movement - insights can re-emerge when the body is in motion.

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Example: Ceremonial Magic Maps to Engineering

Opening: "What was your software development practice like before you made this connection?" Disruption: "When did you first notice the parallel between ceremonial structure and engineering process?" Recognition: "What clicked? What made you think 'this isn't coincidence'?" Understanding: "How did you test the mapping? Where did it hold, where did it break?" Application: "How has this changed how you approach a coding session?"

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The insight story shows what was always there, waiting to be seen.