Why You Must Always Ask What Before You Ask Why

We’ve all had one of those tricky projects -you now the one that seems to throw up challenge after challenge, where you have to tackle one constraint after another including cost, quality, and timescale. It’s hard work and there’s often a sense of urgency to fix the issues and just get on.

It’s tempting to urge your team to be speedy, to plough through problems and come up with natty, helpful solutions. This may help to inspire the team and drive them to come up with some great ideas. However, you should keep an eye out for team members that have a tendency to surge ahead without giving enough thought to the problem at hand.

Some workers are so keen to do a good job that start to unconsciously seek out quick answers, without asking key questions or thinking things through properly. If we aren’t careful we might (as one senior colleague described it) find ourselves looking for the why before we have fully understood the what.

Case Study: The Complex Project.

Jack is CEO at Connect Media (a company specialising in digital marketing solutions for growing businesses). He has a team of six employees working on a complex project, all work carried out must be of the highest quality but the budget is tight and the timescale is even tighter. The week kicks off and the team is enthusiastic about (but slightly daunted by) the heavy workload. To add to the pressure a number of additional reports have been requested and urgent briefings have been called. It’s a busy week!

By Friday it becomes clear that some team members have only managed to complete around 60% of the planned workload. The senior team and clients need certain data and information in order to make strategic decisions about the business – now the pressure is on for the work to be done. To top it all the weather forecast predicts that the weekend is going to be a scorcher – which means the entire workforce (along with the six project team members) will be keen to go and enjoy the weekend sunshine.

 The project team has begun to get restless, they feel as though they are working hard but the increased workload has caused a shift in attitude. Initially they were keen to “sit down and discuss X to properly understand Y”, now they just want to jump over the details so they can move on (and get out in that glorious sunshine for a break).

Recognise the scenario? It’s a good bet that the project team are suffering from stress and tension. The answer? It could be time for a vacation. Everyone needs to take a break now and again, to cool down, chill out, relax and re-charge the batteries before returning refreshed, reinvigorated and ready to go again.

What is Wrong with Asking Why Before We Ask What?

Facts, facts, facts – we can’t stress the importance of finding out the facts. It’s important to find out the reasons behind certain decisions, but first you must fully comprehend exactly what has been decided.

What happens if you ask why before asking what? 

This is likely to lead to skewed perception of the facts and improper analysis.

What are the consequences?

• Misunderstanding the project and the decisions surrounding it.
• Incorrect estimations regarding how much effort is required, how long the project will take and what sort of budget will be required.

Take Away Point:

Bad planning is as good as no planning.