Unfortunately, like your example, asking the "why" tends to be above our pay grade... But I totally agree with you. Asking and solving the right questions does way more before you spend time solving an necessary problem. Thanks, Michael!
Yeah, the challenge are those above us that just go, like my boss, instead of asking why. All it would have taken was someone a little higher up the chain to ask Why and it would have been so much easier.
"To make a simple analogy on how dumb that analysis really was, it’s like seeing what happens when you put a kid in a fight against Mike Tyson and then seeing if he does any better when you hand him a baseball bat."
Now you're just feeding Netflix ideas for a new reality show.
Just to say: totally depends on which version of Mike Tyson, and which kid.
Asking the right question really is incredibly important, and this kind of thinking is under-utilized in business (and elsewhere, but very obvious in business).
I wanted to get some clarity about the scenario. Were you working for a business, or were you also part of the military then? I think it is the former, but I wanted to be sure.
I have not worked in any of the services or organizations where orders are followed to the letter and not questioned most of the time because they came from the chain of command.
My general philosophy is to question everything that does not make sense or is unclear and understand why we are doing something.
Did the above influence how your manager dealt with the question? So, I have been asked to answer a question, and I am going to answer it irrespective if it is the right question or not. I do not think the possibility of selling more missiles played a role in not asking more questions, as otherwise, he would have probably gone with your later analysis. Would you believe if you were dealing with a non-military organization, you probably would have got a different question?
I was working for a defense contractor at the time.
I've run into this problem in a lot of organizations whether it's leadership (This is our VP, he wouldn't be there if they didn't know what they were doing, now go execute) or customer (We did xyz survey and they said... (in one case the survey was so bad that we asked the customer the wrong question and got terrible results))
It's just a great example of the risks of not questioning the question. Likey you, I too always ask multiple whys to make sure we fully understand the situation.
I have worked as a DoD contractor on a large IT project, but I mostly interacted with civilian DoD employees. They did not have any issues if I asked them questions. Once they knew that I wanted clarity so we could avoid rework, they were fine.
Haha, "docu-comedy." So true.
Unfortunately, like your example, asking the "why" tends to be above our pay grade... But I totally agree with you. Asking and solving the right questions does way more before you spend time solving an necessary problem. Thanks, Michael!
Yeah, the challenge are those above us that just go, like my boss, instead of asking why. All it would have taken was someone a little higher up the chain to ask Why and it would have been so much easier.
Exactly! Too bad most people up the chain have been there long enough to be disconnected from the actual work being done….
"To make a simple analogy on how dumb that analysis really was, it’s like seeing what happens when you put a kid in a fight against Mike Tyson and then seeing if he does any better when you hand him a baseball bat."
Now you're just feeding Netflix ideas for a new reality show.
Could be fun!
Just to say: totally depends on which version of Mike Tyson, and which kid.
Asking the right question really is incredibly important, and this kind of thinking is under-utilized in business (and elsewhere, but very obvious in business).
I guess washed up Mike Tyson against the Karate Kid might be a different story.
First, excellent post.
I wanted to get some clarity about the scenario. Were you working for a business, or were you also part of the military then? I think it is the former, but I wanted to be sure.
I have not worked in any of the services or organizations where orders are followed to the letter and not questioned most of the time because they came from the chain of command.
My general philosophy is to question everything that does not make sense or is unclear and understand why we are doing something.
Did the above influence how your manager dealt with the question? So, I have been asked to answer a question, and I am going to answer it irrespective if it is the right question or not. I do not think the possibility of selling more missiles played a role in not asking more questions, as otherwise, he would have probably gone with your later analysis. Would you believe if you were dealing with a non-military organization, you probably would have got a different question?
I was working for a defense contractor at the time.
I've run into this problem in a lot of organizations whether it's leadership (This is our VP, he wouldn't be there if they didn't know what they were doing, now go execute) or customer (We did xyz survey and they said... (in one case the survey was so bad that we asked the customer the wrong question and got terrible results))
It's just a great example of the risks of not questioning the question. Likey you, I too always ask multiple whys to make sure we fully understand the situation.
I have worked as a DoD contractor on a large IT project, but I mostly interacted with civilian DoD employees. They did not have any issues if I asked them questions. Once they knew that I wanted clarity so we could avoid rework, they were fine.