Ask for Confirmation, not Definition

As Rear Admiral Grace Hopper said – “It’s easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission”, and this is true in many areas of change. When I am fighting against “this is the way we have always done it“, I find that the path to success is to ask for confirmation, not definition. In essence, this is based on the factor that people who need help with new ideas are asking for help because they don’t know what the solution might be.

Cunningham’s Law states “the best way to get the right answer on the Internet is not to ask a question; it’s to post the wrong answer.”, and the French say “prêcher le faux pour savoir le vrai” (preach the falsehood to know the truth). This also applies to asking people to define what they need – if you instead tell them what you think they need, suddenly they will know better what they want.

So often I see that people working on a project will be asking for guidance in what to do – however the middle management that they are asking for definition of what to do, are not the experts in the project and should depend upon the project workers (in this case, the people asking) for what to do. So, the people working on the project should ideate on the potential solutions, and then ask for confirmation that this is the right direction, or fail fast.

Ask for Confirmation, not Definition

When finding innovative solutions to complex problems, half of the battle is in know what is going on. To understand issues, it is often necessary to investigate further than the stated definition of the problem.

• I find that technical issues can have their roots in procedure and process, or in human error.
• Successful implementation of new software can be influenced by human personalities and politics, or even the location of a printer.
• System upgrades can be hampered by contracts for building maintenance, datacentre CRAC etc.
• A website upgrade can be delayed or changed by a single stakeholder who does not like the standard logo colour.

Problems can have their roots in many more areas than expected, and often people are too close to the problem to see the cause. So, the definition of the problem should not be the responsibility of a person who may even be part of the problem. Instead, perform analysis and investigation to create a separate view of the problem, and then present a view of the issue for confirmation.

For business change, it pays to not ask what the change needs to be, as they may not know. It is better to ask for forgiveness in making an error of problem definition, instead of permission to investigate areas that may not be considered by the business to be related.