What would this work change?

The question to ask next

Ask the person who asked for the work: if this came back the other way, what would you do differently? If they can answer, that is the decision, in their words. If the answer is that they would still want to see it, the work is a report. A report can be worth doing; it is sized and scheduled differently from evidence a choice is waiting on.

The small step

Before the work goes further, write the decision as one sentence in the requester's words: who chooses, between what, and by when. Take it back to them for a yes or a correction. A sentence they correct is more useful than one you guessed right, because the correction is the part you did not know.

What it costs

A conversation before the work rather than after it, and a day or two of delay that the requester carries. The conversation may find that the work has no decision behind it, which the requester may not welcome and which you are then the one to say. The alternative is building the output and finding out at the end, at the full price.

What changes the advice

If the requester names a decision but not who makes it, the open question has moved to the owner, and the review for question two is the one to read. If they name a decision that has already been made, it has moved to timing, and the review for question three.

The question to ask next

Several people are involved, and the final call is not assigned. Ask the most senior person involved: who makes the final call on this, and would they take a recommendation with an alternative in it? The answer may be a name, or it may be that the group is the owner and needs a date to decide by. Either is usable. "We will see" is not.

I don't know yet. Ask the person who asked for the work who they will take the result to. Follow that chain until it reaches someone who can say yes or no. If it never does, that is the finding, and it is worth more than the analysis.

The small step

Hold the work at its current size, and draft the shape of the recommendation anyway: the choice, an alternative you would accept, and the fact that would change your mind. Then ask who should receive it. A draft addressed to someone is harder to leave unassigned than a request for an owner.

What it costs

The work waits while the owner is found, and whoever asked for it carries that delay. Asking who decides can also show that the group would rather not say, which is information and is not always welcome. The alternative, preparing more evidence in the meantime, costs more and lands in the same place.

What changes the advice

If the owner turns out to be you, inside a boundary nobody has stated, the open question is the boundary: what you may decide alone and what needs a second signature. Agree it before acting on it. If the owner is named and the decision has a date, the next question is the evidence, question four.

The question to ask next

The choice has been made, and no point to reconsider it is agreed. Ask the owner: is there a condition or a review point that would reopen this, and what would it take? If there is one, that is the deadline the work now serves. If there is none, ask what the work is for. "To see whether we were right" is a legitimate answer, and it is a different piece of work.

I don't know yet. Ask the owner when the choice will be made, and whether it already has been. Then ask what they would need to see, and by when, for it to come out differently. The second answer sets the deadline. The first only sets the meeting.

The small step

The choice has been made, and no point to reconsider it is agreed. Re-scope the work to the next decision its result could reach: the review that could reopen this one, or the next choice of the same kind. Say so in writing to the person who asked, with the original scope and the new one side by side, and let them choose.

I don't know yet. Put a date in the sentence that describes the decision and take it to the owner for correction. A wrong date gets corrected. A missing one gets replaced by the delivery deadline, and the two are not the same date.

What it costs

Some of the work already done was for a decision that is closed, and that cost is sunk whoever carries it. Re-scoping can read as the team having been late, which it may have been. The alternative is finishing evidence for a decision nobody can act on, which costs the same and teaches nothing.

What changes the advice

If the owner names a review point, the open question becomes whether the evidence can be ready and checked by then, which is question four. If there is no review point and no next decision, propose stopping the work, with the reason, and let the owner decide whether a report is still wanted.

The question to ask next

The comparison is agreed. The evidence is missing. Ask the owner: if the comparison came out this way, is that enough to act on, or would you want it checked against something else first? The answer says how much evidence is enough, which is the size of the work.

The evidence exists. What it means, how current and complete it is, or how it was checked is not established. Ask whoever maintains the source: what does this number mean, as of when, and what has it been checked against? Then ask the owner which of those three would change the choice if it were wrong. That one is the check to run first.

Nobody has agreed what evidence would change the choice. Ask the owner, before any analysis: what would you need to see to choose the other option? If nothing would, the decision is made, and the review for question three applies. If something would, write it down; that sentence is the criterion.

I don't know yet. Ask the owner what would make them choose the other option. Then ask whoever maintains the data whether that evidence exists and has been checked. Those are two conversations, and the first has to come first.

The small step

The comparison is agreed. The evidence is missing. Produce the smallest piece of evidence that settles the agreed comparison, with its as-of date and its checks stated, and take it to the owner. Scope out what the comparison does not need. A wider analysis is a later decision, and usually a different one.

The evidence exists. What it means, how current and complete it is, or how it was checked is not established. Run the one check the owner said would change the choice, record what it found, and label the number with what it means, its as-of time, and what it was checked against. A labeled limit is usable. An unlabeled one is a trust failure waiting for the meeting.

Nobody has agreed what evidence would change the choice. Propose a criterion in writing: if this is above that, we do one thing, otherwise the other. Take it to the owner for correction before any analysis runs. A criterion they correct is theirs. One they never saw is yours, and the finding will be read accordingly.

I don't know yet. Write the comparison you think the decision rests on as one sentence and take it to the owner. Take their corrected sentence to the person who maintains the data. Do not start the analysis until both have seen it.

What it costs

Agreeing the criterion and running the checks come before the analysis and delay it, and the owner carries that delay. The checks may show the evidence cannot be relied on for this choice, which narrows what can be recommended. The alternative is a finding that looks usable and is wrong once, which costs more than every check on this list.

What changes the advice

If the criterion is agreed and the evidence checks out, the open question is what the work displaces, which is question five. If the owner cannot name a criterion after two attempts, treat the decision as made and read the review for question three.

The question to ask next

The delay is known. The owner it affects has not agreed to it. Ask the owner of the displaced work, with the delay stated: this moves your item by about this much; can you carry that, and if not, what would you move instead? The answer may be no. A no with a reason is a decision. Silence is not consent.

The plan assumes spare capacity that nobody has checked. Ask whoever holds the plan: which item would this come out of? If the answer is that there is room, ask what was delivered late last month. The second answer usually corrects the first.

I don't know yet. Ask whoever holds the plan what the next step would move, and who would feel the delay. If nobody can say, the plan is not detailed enough to take a step from, and that is the first thing to fix.

The small step

The delay is known. The owner it affects has not agreed to it. Put the trade in writing, one line: this step, the item it delays, by how much, and who carries it. Send it to the owner of the displaced work and to whoever can authorize the trade. Then wait for the answer rather than starting on the assumption of one.

The plan assumes spare capacity that nobody has checked. Size the next step honestly, name the item it would come out of, and take both to the person who can authorize the trade. If you do not hold the plan, propose the trade rather than making it. The proposal is within your remit. The decision may not be.

I don't know yet. Write down what you know about the plan: what is committed this quarter, what has slipped, and where the next step would fit. Take it to whoever holds the plan as a question rather than a request. A question about capacity gets an answer. A request for it becomes another item.

What it costs

The displaced work is late by the stated amount, and its owner carries that. Naming the delay makes it visible without making it smaller. Asking may also get a no, in which case the next step waits, and that is the tradeoff working as intended. The alternative is capacity borrowed from whichever item was quietest.

What changes the advice

If the owner agrees the trade, the open question is whether the person taking the step has what they need, which is question six. If nobody can authorize the trade, the capacity decision sits a level up, and the step within your remit is the proposal, not the work.

The question to ask next

Access, or the context behind the request. Ask the person closest to the decision: what was decided about this before I was involved, and what can I see that I cannot now? Ask for the specific access or the specific meeting, not for more context in general.

Permission to act. Ask whoever would otherwise take this step: may I take it, within what boundary, and when do you want to hear about it? A boundary with a check-in point is a yes. "Use your judgment", with no boundary, is one you will find by crossing it.

Practice, or a reviewer with time to look at the reasoning. Ask the decision owner and the intended reviewer: which part of the next recommendation could I prepare, and when could someone review the reasoning before the choice is made? The reviewer's time is the ask. Agree it before the work expands.

Delivery capacity. Ask whoever holds the plan what this step comes out of, with the size stated. If the answer is that there is room, ask what was delivered late last month; the second answer usually corrects the first.

I don't know yet. Take the four in order: can you see what you need, may you act, who would look at your reasoning, and do you have the hours? Then ask the person who could supply the first one that fails. One gap at a time is answerable. All four at once is a complaint.

The small step

Access, or the context behind the request. Request the specific thing in a sentence that names the decision it is for, and say what you would do with it. A request tied to a decision is easier to grant than a request for access, and easier to refuse with a reason, which is also useful.

Permission to act. Propose a bounded next step in writing: what you would decide, the alternative you would accept, the fact that would change your mind, and when you would report back. Ask for a yes within that boundary. The accountable owner keeps the business decision. You are asking for the step, not the seat.

Practice, or a reviewer with time to look at the reasoning. Take one bounded recommendation to the reviewer: a choice, an alternative you would accept, and a fact that would change your mind. Agree the review time before expanding the work. The reviewer examines the reasoning. The owner still decides.

Delivery capacity. Bring the step and the item it would displace to the person who can trade them, as a proposal. If you hold the plan, make the trade and tell the owner of the displaced work. If you do not, the proposal is the step.

I don't know yet. Name the first gap, in one line, to the person who can close it, and ask for that alone. What comes back tells you whether it was the right gap, and that is the next thing you need to know.

What it costs

Access, or the context behind the request. Someone's time to explain or to grant access, and the possibility that the context changes the recommendation you had in mind, which is the point. The alternative is a recommendation built on what could be seen, read by people who know what could not.

Permission to act. The owner gives up some control over a step they used to take, and carries the risk of a call they would have made differently. The first bounded step may take longer than their doing it. Keep it small enough that a wrong call is recoverable before the decision closes.

Practice, or a reviewer with time to look at the reasoning. The reviewer gives this attention instead of another task. Name that task, and agree who carries its delay. The first attempt takes longer than the experienced person doing it alone. Keep the scope small enough to review while the choice is still open.

Delivery capacity. The displaced work, and its owner's agreement. If the trade cannot be made, the step waits and the decision is made on what exists, which is a cost the owner should hear in advance rather than discover afterward.

I don't know yet. A conversation that may show the gap was not the one you expected, and the time of the person you asked. Both are cheaper than preparing more alone against a constraint that preparation cannot move.

What changes the advice

Access, or the context behind the request. If the context cannot be shared, the step is not yours to take yet. Ask for a smaller decision that can be taken on what you may see, and take that one.

Permission to act. If the boundary cannot be stated, the owner is not ready to delegate this one. Propose a smaller, lower-consequence decision to practice the boundary on, and come back to this one with that record.

Practice, or a reviewer with time to look at the reasoning. If the reviewer cannot make time before the decision, resolve that first, or agree a smaller and later decision to practice on. More solo preparation leaves the same constraint in place.

Delivery capacity. If the plan has no room for the step this quarter, the open question is the plan, and the review for question five is the one to take to whoever holds it.

I don't know yet. If closing the first gap does not move the step, the gap was elsewhere. Go back to the four and take the next one. Two rounds of that usually find it. A third means the step itself is the problem.

The question to ask next

Ask the owner for two things: when do you want the recommendation, and what would you need to see to choose the other way? If both answers come easily, the conditions you named are real. If either stalls, one of your six answers was generous, and you have just found which.

The small step

Take one bounded recommendation to the owner before the window closes: the choice, an alternative you would accept, and the fact that would change your mind. Record what was decided and why. A few of those records are the most honest evidence of judgment anyone has, and they are what a larger decision gets handed on.

What it costs

Exposure. A recommendation with a condition can be shown to be wrong on terms agreed in advance, and a declined one has to be counted as the format working. The owner may choose the alternative. What is spent is the safety of a finding with caveats, which is also most of why findings go nowhere.

What changes the advice

If the recommendation gets no decision and no reason, one of the six conditions was not what it looked like, and the exercise cannot tell you which. The owner's answer to the question above usually can. Go back to questions one to three first; the later ones only matter once those hold.