This or that questions for work

This or that questions for work take one word to answer and nothing personal to share. Read one out, have everyone pick a side at the same moment, or draw one at random below.

Classic email fail: send too early or forget the attachment?

108 questions in this set — nothing repeats until you have seen them all. No sign-up, no limits.

108 this or that questions for work

Funny this or that questions for work

  1. 1Classic email fail: send too early or forget the attachment?
  2. 2End of a video call: wave goodbye or just click leave?
  3. 3Your week so far: calendar Tetris or inbox whack-a-mole?
  4. 4File name: “final” or “final_v2_actually_final”?
  5. 5Long email thread: read every message or skim the last one?
  6. 6Swivel chair: secret spin or perfectly still?
  7. 7Conference swag: tote bag or stress ball?
  8. 8Worse start: join the wrong meeting or lose the link to the right one?
  9. 9Desktop icons: neat grid or scattered everywhere?
  10. 10Laptop dies mid-demo or video freezes mid-sentence?
  11. 11Worse accidental invite: 6 am Monday or 5 pm Friday?
  12. 12Locked out: forgotten password or forgotten username?

Fun this or that questions for work

  1. 1Deep work morning or deep work evening?
  2. 2Inbox zero or inbox chaos?
  3. 3Standing desk or sitting desk?
  4. 4Ship fast or ship polished?
  5. 5Written update or quick call?
  6. 6Open office or private room?
  7. 7Whiteboard or spreadsheet?
  8. 8Detailed spec or figure it out as we go?
  9. 9Bug fixes or new features?
  10. 10Pairing or solo focus?
  11. 11Long retro or short retro?
  12. 12Recurring meeting or ad-hoc when needed?
  13. 13Notifications on or notifications off?
  14. 14Dark mode or light mode?
  15. 15One big monitor or two smaller ones?
  16. 16Thread or channel?

This or that questions for meetings

  1. 1Ask your question out loud or type it in the chat?
  2. 2Raise-hand button or just unmute and talk?
  3. 3Record every meeting or record none of them?
  4. 4Laptops open or laptops closed in meetings?
  5. 5Updates round-robin or popcorn style?
  6. 6Live demo or screenshots?
  7. 7Gallery view or speaker view?
  8. 8Decide in the meeting or in a follow-up message?
  9. 9Ideas shouted out or written down silently first?
  10. 10Same facilitator every week or rotate who runs it?

This or that questions for team building

  1. 1Escape room or cooking class?
  2. 2Games night: board games or video games?
  3. 3Trivia night or karaoke night?
  4. 4Team day out: something active or something chill?
  5. 5Team challenge: race each other or race the clock?
  6. 6Hackathon or volunteer day?
  7. 7Big-picture thinker or detail person?
  8. 8Better at starting projects or finishing them?
  9. 9Group project: the planner or the presenter?
  10. 10Put your hand up first or wait to be asked?
  11. 11Team-building day: compulsory fun or optional fun?

This or that icebreaker questions for work

  1. 1Work from the couch or the kitchen table?
  2. 2Laptop stickers or a clean lid?
  3. 3Earbuds or over-ear headphones?
  4. 4Phone face up or face down on the desk?
  5. 5Fast typist or careful typist?
  6. 6First day at a new job: nervous or excited?
  7. 7Write it down or trust your memory?
  8. 8What you bring to a team: speed or patience?
  9. 9Monday person or Friday person?
  10. 10Work playlist: lyrics or instrumental?

Classic this or that questions

  1. 1Coffee or tea?
  2. 2Early bird or night owl?
  3. 3Mountains or beach?
  4. 4Books or movies?
  5. 5Call or text?
  6. 6Sweet or salty?
  7. 7Cats or dogs?
  8. 8Window seat or aisle seat?
  9. 9Summer or winter?
  10. 10Cook at home or eat out?
  11. 11Pizza or tacos?
  12. 12Music or podcasts?
  13. 13Camping or hotel?
  14. 14Big party or small dinner?
  15. 15Superpower: flying or invisibility?
  16. 16Time travel: past or future?
  17. 17Always slightly early or exactly on time?
  18. 18Remote work or office?
  19. 19Star Wars or Star Trek?
  20. 20Android or iPhone?
  21. 21Breakfast for dinner or dinner for breakfast?
  22. 22One long vacation or several short ones?
  23. 23Keyboard shortcuts or mouse everything?
  24. 24Meetings with cameras on or off?
  25. 25Rewatch an old favourite or try something new?

Impossible this or that questions

  1. 1Never be late again or never be tired again?
  2. 2Lose all your photos or lose all your playlists?
  3. 3Read minds or be unreadable?
  4. 4Perfect memory or perfect sleep?
  5. 5Unlimited time or unlimited money?
  6. 6Always know the truth or always be believed?
  7. 7Skip the commute forever or skip meetings forever?
  8. 8Speak every language or play every instrument?
  9. 9Never feel awkward or never feel bored?
  10. 10Restart your career or restart your education?
  11. 11No internet for a month or no coffee for a year?
  12. 12Famous for something small or unknown for something huge?
  13. 13Live 100 years in the past or 100 years in the future?
  14. 14Always say what you think or never have to explain yourself?

Food this or that questions

  1. 1Pineapple on pizza: yes or absolutely not?
  2. 2Crunchy or smooth?
  3. 3Ketchup in the fridge or in the cupboard?
  4. 4Cereal before milk or milk before cereal?
  5. 5Well done or rare?
  6. 6Sparkling or still?
  7. 7Dark chocolate or milk chocolate?
  8. 8Soup as a meal or soup as a starter?
  9. 9Leftovers cold or reheated?
  10. 10Sauce on the side or sauce on everything?

How to use this or that questions for work

This or that questions for work are the lowest-stakes icebreaker there is: two options, a one-word answer, and nothing personal to share. Nobody has to be clever or funny — they just say “gallery view” — and once everyone has spoken once, the rest of the meeting has more voices in it. That makes them the safe opener for a new team, a big group, a cold video call, or a room that is tired at 9 am.

Every question on this page stays clear of pay, politics, health, relationships, and appearance, so any of them is safe to read out with a manager or a client in the room. Match the set to the moment: the funny and fun sets warm up a regular meeting, the meeting set shows how the team likes to run its calls, and the team building and icebreaker sets suit a new team, an offsite, or someone’s first week. The classic set works anywhere; the impossible and food sets are best once the room is warm and ready to argue. For dilemmas that take longer to talk through, try would you rather questions for work; for an office too busy to stop, whiteboard questions for work are answered silently with a mark.

Facilitator tip

Run this or that as a poll, not a round-robin. Ask everyone to answer at once — hands up, thumbs, or all typing in chat on a count of three — and you get every voice in the room in fifteen seconds instead of four minutes. Then pick the closest split and ask one person from each side to defend it. That is where the actual conversation is.

Frequently asked questions

What are good this or that questions for work?+

Ones that offer two options, need no explanation, and split a room close to evenly — “gallery view or speaker view?”, “escape room or cooking class?”, “ship fast or ship polished?”. If 90% of the room picks the same side, the question ends in a nod; a 50/50 split starts a conversation. They are also known as forced-choice or either/or questions, and at work they should stay on habits, tools, and harmless preferences rather than anything personal.

How do you play this or that at work?+

Read one question, count to three, and have everyone answer at the same moment with a raised hand, a reaction emoji, or one word in the chat. Answering together stops people copying the first reply. Five or six questions take about two minutes with ten people, which fits at the start of any meeting; past ten it starts to feel like a quiz. When a split is close, give each side one sentence, then move on.

What are funny this or that questions for work?+

The funniest ones are about shared workplace mishaps, not about people: “send too early or forget the attachment?”, “wave goodbye or just click leave?”, “calendar Tetris or inbox whack-a-mole?”. Everyone has been on both sides, so the laugh lands on the situation and never on a colleague. The funny set on this page is written to that rule, which is why it still works with a manager or a client on the call.

Can you use this or that questions for team building?+

Yes — they are one of the easiest team building activities to run, because they need no prep and no materials. The team building set on this page mixes ideas for a team day out with questions about how people work, such as “big-picture thinker or detail person?” and “better at starting projects or finishing them?”. Those surface working styles a new team would otherwise take months to learn. Note the splits, and you have a short, friendly map of the team.

Do this or that questions work for large groups and remote meetings?+

They are the best format for both, because every answer can be collected at once instead of one by one. On a video call, ask people to type their pick in the chat on a count of three or use reactions; in a big room, a show of hands is enough. A group of fifty can get through six questions in about two minutes, which no round-robin icebreaker can match.

Use these in your next retro

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Controversial questions for work

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