When your manager provide you with an important task - there is perhaps a few questions you should ask

Dear blogreader,

Most strategic questions and larger action points, start at a meeting higher up in the organization and the task to provide the result for the topic is often delgated to subject matter experts one or two steps down in the organization.

There is an opportunity to cut the required time, to develop the result, in half and significantly improve quality if you adopt a few ideas provided today.

Strategic questions and larger tasks are almost by definition vaguely defined from the beginning, and keeping them vague throughout the process is a proven recipe for failure.

An alternative is to structure the task or action point around four man clarification points and you can turn the odds in your favour and deliver a result that make the sponsor satisfied. It is also a great way to secure that the most interesting task and actions will continue to come your way.

Within the first 48 hours of receiving a major action point aim to loop through the topics below and recirculate back to your sponsor.

ORIGIN AND DESTINATION
Clarify which forum the action point came from, and where it shall be reported back. Probe for when the final deliverable is due and if any interim reports are expected. Understand the expectations on how the action shall be reported (written, oral or both forms), how deep the investigation should go in the final reporting and what the presentation support (Decisions, Follow-up, Education etc.)

SPONSOR/S, ANCHOR POINTS & CONTRIBUTORS
Most large questions are so complex in nature so that they invove multiple management tiers as well as a team of subject matter experts in the development. Clarify who the sponsor for the task is, and the one you primarily shall support in making the result succesful. Identify the key anchoring points that you need to anchor any proposals with on the way up to the sponsor / reporting forum. Select the team required to deliver the best result possible. A small and diverse team is your best pick. A vital aspect to consider is to involve contributors reporting to the main stakeholders in the anchoring so that results can flow multiple routes upwards as you approach the reporting day. A vital early priority is to secure the external resources that are required, beyond direct reports to sponsor/s and key anchoring points.

CONTEXT IS KING
The single biggest contributror in cutting development lead time and increasing quality is to define the Business context that frame the question. Five to six well formulated insights about the context that is conveyed to the team, provide both a good foundation and secure good motivation.

CLEAR SCOPE OR NO HOPE
The scope of the study is best clarified by which questions the study should provide answers to. Many team start with a generic analysis framework, i.e. classic businessplan, five force analysys, SWOT or similar, that waste a lot of time on any kind of market observations instead of focus on the defining questions. These questions are clear to your most insightful people, and make sure you figure out what they know about the problem. The second time theif is the lack of clearly defined boundry conditions, both regards to what is inside and what is outside the scope of the study. By being explicit on both what is in and what is out you have a welldefined frame to execute in.

Good luck and stay tuned for more quick guides.