I've stolen a similar technique from one of my favorite coworkers ever, which is to preface my questions but "This might be a silly question, but...". I like t

I've stolen a similar technique from one of my favorite coworkers ever, which is to preface my questions but "This might be a silly question, but...". I like this because I feel like it kind of de-stigmatizes asking "obvious" questions. If you acknowledge that the the question might be redundant, but ask it anyway, I think it makes the dialog more approachable.