This time it's not about you.
Module 01 was about your obsession. Module 02 was about making your Skill better. This one's the hardest of the three: you're going to build a Skill about somebody else's thing — and the only way to do that is to actually find out what it is.
Pick someone in your life. Someone real. Someone you'll actually talk to today or tomorrow.
"Their thing" might be a hobby, a recipe, a place they love, a person they take care of, the music they listen to, the way they fold laundry. Anything they do that they care about.
The trick is not asking what they like.
Most kids — most adults, honestly — start interviewing someone by asking them what they like. It's the worst possible question. Here's two ways to ask the same person about the same thing. Spot the difference.
Generic interview
You: Grandma, what do you like about cooking?
Grandma: I like that it makes people happy.
You: Cool. What's your favorite thing to cook?
Grandma: Probably soup.
You: Why?
Grandma: It's nutritious.
Specific interview
You: What's the part of cooking nobody else in the family notices?
Grandma: The smell when the onions just start to turn — before they brown. Most people miss it. I always stop and breathe it in.
You: What's one thing you do that's different from how other people do it?
Grandma: I add a small piece of orange peel to almost everything. Most cooks would say it's wrong.
The bad questions ask what they like. The good ones ask what they notice. Liking is generic — everyone likes their hobby. But what they notice is unique to them — and noticing is the same thing as caring.
Here are five questions that always work.
Copy this script. Use it as-is, or change a few words to make it sound like you. Bring it to whoever you picked in Step 1. Each question is designed to dig past the polite answer.
"Hey, I'm doing a project. Can I ask you 5 quick questions about your thing? I'm trying to learn what you actually notice when you do it."
- What's the part of it nobody else in the family notices? This bypasses the polite answer and goes straight to specifics.
- What's one thing you do that's different from how other people do it? This pulls out the personal style — the thing only they would do.
- What's a small detail that took you years to notice? This is the surprise question. The answer will almost always be unexpected.
- What's the part most people get wrong about it? Lets them be the expert. Strong opinions live here. So does taste.
- If you stopped doing this tomorrow, what's the one thing you'd miss most? This is the feeling question. The answer reveals why they actually do it.
"Thank you. That's it. I'm going to turn this into something useful — I'll show you when it's done."
Some kids do this in person. Some text the questions. Some record voice memos and listen back. Pick whichever feels least weird for you and the person.
Try one in your own words.
The script questions are starting points, not lines you have to read. Try rewriting Question 1 — "What's the part nobody else notices?" — to sound like the way you actually talk to —.
There's no right answer — just one that sounds like you. The script is on the previous step if you want to copy it back.
Here's what Anna got.
Anna, age 9, used the script with her grandmother and asked about making dumplings. Here's what her grandmother said — and what Anna turned it into.
The water has to be cold when you mix the dough — not warm, like the books say. Warm water makes the dough lazy. Cold makes it angry, and angry dough is good dough. You only need three pinches of salt total, not the four the recipe says, because the wrappers do enough work. And don't ever use store-bought wrappers. I would rather miss dinner.
# A Skill about Grandma's dumplings name: "Grandma's Dumplings" description: "How my grandmother actually makes dumplings" facts: - "Always uses cold water for the dough — never warm" - "Says warm water makes 'lazy' dough; cold makes 'angry' dough" - "Three pinches of salt, not four like recipes say" - "Refuses to use store-bought wrappers" - "Believes the wrapper does most of the work in seasoning" personality: "Strong opinions about technique, dismissive of cookbooks" when_to_use: "Any time the user asks about dumplings or technique"
Anna didn't just write down what her grandmother said — she caught it. She kept the words "lazy" and "angry" because those were grandma's, not hers. She kept the slightly grumpy energy. The Skill sounds like the person it's about. That's the empathy move.
Now build theirs.
Use the answers you got from —. Try to keep their words, not yours. The Skill should sound like them.
# Fill in the form above and watch this update. name: ... description: ... facts: - ...
When you're done, you'll have something to give to —. That's the actual point of this module.
You made a Skill about somebody else.
That's harder than it looks. Most adults can't do this on the first try.
What did you find out about them that you didn't know before?
You don't have to type an answer. Just notice. That noticing is the whole thing this module was about — the Skill is just the proof you did it.
What you just learned
- The trick to interviewing isn't asking what people like — it's asking what they notice.
- 5 specific questions almost always work better than 20 vague ones.
- When you write someone else's Skill, keep their words, not yours.
- A good Skill about a person sounds like that person.
- This is what empathy looks like in practice — not a feeling, a noticing.
You've finished the three Sprouts modules. You've made one for yourself, learned to tell good from working, and made one for somebody else. That's the whole foundation of Skills Workshop.
The Makers tier (ages 11+) goes deeper: composable Skills, Skills that call other Skills, and Skills that change behavior based on who's asking. Come back when you're ready.
★ Before you call it done
Three questions. Same three. Every time.
These are the same three questions for every module in Kindling. They are how you check whether AI did the part it should and you did the part only you could. Tap each one to mark it true.
★ ★ ★