July 5, 2023
What are we solving for?
Sometimes you need to work with other people to accomplish a shared task.
Sometimes the other stakeholders will suggest an approach so absurd that it makes your face scrunch up in construction.
Instead of responding with something insensitive and counterproductive like...
- "You can’t be serious!"
- "That’s insane!"
- "Over my dead body!"
...politely ask a clarifying question, like this:
What are we solving for?
Here’s the thing...
The people you’re working with are probably smart just like you.
If they suggest something that seems outlandish, it’s not because they’re dumb.
It’s because the two of you are picturing different outcomes.
Ensuring that you both have the same end in mind at the beginning will make everything go a lot more smoothly.
Yours,
—J