Question of the day for work.
A question of the day is one easy question your team answers every morning: in the team chat, at the start of the standup, or as a poll. It takes a minute, nobody has to prepare, and over a few weeks people learn more about each other than in a year of status meetings. Here are 120 to pick from, grouped by mood, with a few tips for keeping it going.
By Jitto Joseph6 min read
How to run a question of the day
- Pick one place. A channel in the team chat called #question-of-the-day, or the first minute of the standup. The same place every day makes it a habit.
- Post it at the same time. First thing in the morning for the earliest time zone, so everyone sees it during their day.
- Keep answers short. A word, a sentence or an emoji. Easy questions get answers; hard ones get silence.
- Rotate who asks. Hand the question to a different person each week. People start bringing their own, and the questions get better.
- Answer first. Whoever posts the question answers it straight away. It shows the length and the tone, and nobody has to go first.
Fun questions
- 1.What's the best thing you've eaten this week?
- 2.What's a small thing that made you smile recently?
- 3.Which app on your phone do you open the most?
- 4.What's your go-to snack while working?
- 5.What was your first job?
- 6.What's a skill you'd love to learn this year?
- 7.What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given?
- 8.What's your favourite way to spend a Sunday?
- 9.What's on your desk right now that you can't explain?
- 10.What's a film you could watch again and again?
- 11.If you could have any job for one day, what would it be?
- 12.What's your hidden talent?
- 13.What's the most useful thing you own?
- 14.What's a hobby you picked up and dropped?
- 15.Which song would be your entrance music?
- 16.What's the last thing you bought that you love?
- 17.What's your favourite season and why?
- 18.What's a place you'd go back to tomorrow?
- 19.Which fictional character would you want as a coworker?
- 20.What's a smell that takes you straight back to childhood?
Funny questions
- 21.What's the strangest thing you believed as a kid?
- 22.What would your autobiography be called?
- 23.What's the worst haircut you've ever had?
- 24.If your pet could talk, what would it complain about?
- 25.What's the most useless fact you know?
- 26.What would you name a boat?
- 27.What's your most irrational fear?
- 28.If you were a vegetable, which one would you be?
- 29.What's the weirdest food combination you secretly like?
- 30.What would be your wrestling name?
- 31.What's the silliest thing you've ever argued about?
- 32.Which emoji do you use far too much?
- 33.If your life had a laugh track, when would it play?
- 34.What's the worst gift you've ever received?
- 35.What's a word you always spell wrong?
- 36.Which animal would be the rudest if it could talk?
- 37.What's your most-used excuse for being late?
- 38.What would your out-of-office message say if you could be honest?
- 39.If you could only eat one food forever, what would it be?
- 40.What's the most ridiculous thing you've Googled this month?
Would you rather
Two options, one pick: they work well as a poll. There are more in our would you rather questions.
- 41.Would you rather have a four-day week or a month of extra holiday?
- 42.Would you rather never join another meeting or never answer another email?
- 43.Would you rather work from a beach or from a cabin in the woods?
- 44.Would you rather be able to fly or be invisible?
- 45.Would you rather have free coffee for life or free lunch for life?
- 46.Would you rather speak every language or play every instrument?
- 47.Would you rather start work at 6am or finish at 9pm?
- 48.Would you rather have a personal chef or a personal driver?
- 49.Would you rather read minds or see the future?
- 50.Would you rather live without music or without films?
This or that
The quickest kind to answer. For a hundred more, see this or that questions.
- 51.Coffee or tea?
- 52.Early bird or night owl?
- 53.Mac or Windows?
- 54.Cats or dogs?
- 55.Beach or mountains?
- 56.Dark mode or light mode?
- 57.Call or message?
- 58.Books or podcasts?
- 59.Sweet or salty?
- 60.Summer or winter?
Work questions
- 61.What's one thing you're working on that you're excited about?
- 62.What's the best tool you started using this year?
- 63.What's a work habit you're trying to build?
- 64.What's the best meeting you've ever been in, and why?
- 65.What's one thing that would make your week easier?
- 66.Who taught you the most at work?
- 67.What's a mistake that taught you something?
- 68.What does a perfect workday look like for you?
- 69.What's one thing you'd change about how we work?
- 70.What's the most useful thing you learned from a teammate?
- 71.When are you most focused during the day?
- 72.What's your favourite way to celebrate a win?
- 73.What's a skill you'd like to learn from someone on this team?
- 74.What did you want to be when you grew up?
- 75.What's one thing on your to-do list you keep putting off?
- 76.What's the best piece of feedback you've received?
- 77.What's a project you're proud of?
- 78.What's your trick for getting through a slow afternoon?
- 79.What's a small win from yesterday?
- 80.If you could automate one task, which would it be?
Get to know you
- 81.Where did you grow up?
- 82.What's something about you that would surprise us?
- 83.What's a tradition from your family or culture you love?
- 84.How did you end up in your line of work?
- 85.What's the best trip you've ever taken?
- 86.What languages do you speak, even a little?
- 87.What are you reading, watching or listening to right now?
- 88.What's a cause you care about?
- 89.What do you do to switch off after work?
- 90.What's the best concert or event you've been to?
- 91.Do you have any pets? Tell us about them.
- 92.What's a dish you cook well?
- 93.What's your favourite place in your city?
- 94.What's the best thing about where you live?
- 95.What's something you'd like to do before the year ends?
Remote work questions
- 96.What's the view from where you're working today?
- 97.What's one thing you'd never give back about working remotely?
- 98.What's one thing you miss about an office?
- 99.What's the best thing about your home setup?
- 100.What do you do on your lunch break?
- 101.Do you have a work-from-home uniform?
- 102.Who's your favourite coworker who isn't on this team (pets count)?
- 103.What time zone is your favourite to work with?
- 104.How do you start your workday?
- 105.What's your favourite background noise while working?
Seasonal questions (autumn and Halloween)
- 106.What's your favourite autumn food or drink?
- 107.What's the best Halloween costume you've ever worn?
- 108.Which film always feels like autumn to you?
- 109.Pumpkin spice: love it or skip it?
- 110.What's the scariest film you've actually watched to the end?
- 111.Which sweet do you hope to get, and which do you give away?
- 112.What's a holiday tradition you look forward to every year?
- 113.If you dressed up as a coworker's job, what would the costume be?
- 114.Cosy night in or out with friends?
- 115.What's on your list for the rest of the year?
- 116.What's the best thing about this time of year where you live?
- 117.What's a smell that means the seasons have changed?
- 118.What's something you'd like to try before winter?
- 119.Which spooky story from childhood do you still remember?
- 120.What's your favourite way to spend a rainy day?