Five Dimensions of Information Completeness

When experts gather information from clients, they systematically probe five dimensions that non-experts typically omit:

1. Contextual: personal/organizational background and current situation
2. Constraint-based: resource limitations, time boundaries, regulatory requirements
3. Preference-oriented: goals, priorities, acceptable trade-offs
4. Environmental: external factors, dependencies, situational context
5. Historical: previous experiences, baseline conditions, lessons learned

Users typically provide answers to “what do you want?” but omit the constraints, context, and history that shape what’s actually possible or appropriate.

These dimensions create intersecting constraints that narrow the solution space, moving from generic advice to personalized recommendations.

Related: 01-atom—expertise-information-gap, 05-molecule—fata-framework, 05-atom—proactive-vs-reactive-clarification