Customer: "I need a report that shows salaries for these employees." (hands a list of 20 employe numbers)

Me: "Why these 20 employees?"

Customer: " those are the ones I want to see!"

Me: "Yes, but what is it about these 20 employees that makes you want to see them on this particular report? What do they have in common?"

Customer: "Are you dense? What they have in common is that I want the report to show their salaries!"

Me: "Yes, I understand that ... why did you choose this list of 20? Will this list ever change?  What makes it change?"

Customer: "I don't follow.  I just want to see the salaries of everyone in the Finance department on the report, and this is the list!  Also, I don't want employees that have been terminated, of course."

Me: "So you want a report that shows the salaries of active employees in the Finance department? "

Customer: "Yes! Isn't that what I said?  Also, we will eventually reports for the other departments as well."

Me: "So, maybe a report that *prompts* for a department, and from there, shows the salaries of the active employees in that department?"

Customer: "Yes! Isn't that what I've been saying?"