Sometimes you don’t know enough about a topic to even ask the right question. This prompt fixes that.
The Prompt
I'm trying to [goal]. What are the questions I should
be asking but probably aren't? What am I likely overlooking?Examples
Starting a new project:
I'm about to build a SaaS billing system.
What questions should I be asking before I write any code?
What do first-time builders usually get wrong?Learning a new domain:
I'm a backend developer about to work on my first
iOS app. What don't I know that I don't know?
What will surprise me coming from a server background?Making a decision:
I'm choosing between Postgres and DynamoDB for this project.
What questions should I be asking to make this decision well?
What factors do people usually forget about?Why it works
You can’t Google what you don’t know to search for. This prompt turns Claude into a checklist of blind spots. It’s especially good when entering unfamiliar territory where you don’t know the failure modes yet.