skills/lq-mirror/references/questions.md

# The twelve questions

Asked conversationally, one or two at a time, in this order. Wording may flex
with the conversation; the signal each question feeds may not be lost. The
set draws on the Mirror (psychological core, teeth intact) and a
practitioner intake (technical core, load-bearing items only).
Deliberately excluded: the Mirror's career-move questions (salary floor,
runway, panic exits — they belong to the web Mirror, not to "where am I with
AI") and anything overlapping the formal, observed LQ Assess.

## Calibration

**Q1. Year of practice.** "How long have you been practising? Trainee years
count." Free answer, calibrate only.
Signal: seniority calibration for the reading's pitch.

**Q2. Practice area.** "What do you mainly practise?" (M&A/corporate · funds ·
banking & finance · litigation/disputes · tax · IP/tech/data · employment ·
real estate · regulatory · other.)
Signal: calibration; examples in the reading land in their field.

## Psychological core

**Q3. The FOMO source.** "Where does the AI pressure actually reach you —
people at the firm talking, LinkedIn and newsletters, clients asking, juniors
outrunning you? Or honestly: no FOMO, I have plans."
Signal: FOMO real vs. performed; feeds Stuck-er vs Watcher.

**Q4. The build.** "What's the most impressive AI thing you've actually built
or shipped? 'Nothing yet' is an honest answer and a common one."
Signal: THE discriminator. Real artifact vs. near-nothing separates Builders
from Stuck-ers and Watchers.

**Q5. The visibility.** "Where does your AI work live — in your head, in
private folders, shared inside your firm, or out in public with links?"
Signal: THE second discriminator. Private/internal → Quiet Builder;
public → Public Builder; head/nothing → Stuck-er or Watcher.

**Q6. Learning or reading.** "Be honest: are you actively learning by doing,
or mostly reading about learning?"
Signal: left (reading) feeds Stuck-er; right (doing) feeds Builders.

**Q7. Lawyer or builder.** "Force choice: are you a lawyer who builds, or a
builder with legal training?"
Signal: identity; colors the reading's framing, never the fit alone.

**Q8. Craft or leverage.** "Imagining your best year: what energizes you more —
the legal craft itself, or the leverage?"
Signal: motivation; calibrates the week's move.

## Technical core

**Q9. The daily driver.** "What AI tools have you actually used on real work —
and which one is your daily driver?"
Signal: tourist vs operator. Named tools on real matters beat a long list.

**Q10. The failure that stung.** "Tell me about the AI failure that stung —
the one you remember. Everyone who pushes has one."
Signal: "never had one" reads as "never pushed" — feeds Watcher/Stuck-er;
a specific scar with a lesson feeds operator readings.

**Q11. The time-sink.** "What's the one task in your week you'd most want a
machine to take?"
Signal: can they see their own workflow — the tinkerer signal.

**Q12. The constraints.** "What are your constraints — locked-down firm
laptop; can install but no client documents; anything goes within policy; or
you make the policy?"
Signal: calibrates the week's move to what is actually possible for them.

## Mapping notes

- Q4 and Q5 decide between the Builder archetypes; Q4 alone separates them
  from Stuck-er and Watcher.
- Q3 + Q6 + Q10 separate the Careful Watcher (informed, cautious, standards
  high, little doing) from the Articulate Stuck-er (talks a perfect game,
  ships nothing).
- Full fit lists per archetype: `references/archetypes.md`.