How will you use this?
I often see situations where a stakeholder asks for something, but then are disappointed even when they receive what they asked for. This is frustrating for both parties – the stakeholder didn’t get what they wanted, and the person that did the work feels like they wasted their time. This is especially common across functions where sales asks for something of engineering or the CEO asks something of marketing.
The reason this happens is that the stakeholder has a problem. They take their best guess as to what might solve that problem, and ask for that. But they’re not an expert, so their guess doesn’t actually solve that problem.
I learned this pattern in my very first job as a software consultant, where my clients would ask for something and expect me to code what they asked for, and then got mad that it didn’t do what they wanted. Once I started asking “How will you use this?” to better understand the problem they were experiencing, I could often figure out a better solution that addressed their problem and several others they didn’t even know could be solved. One of my clients once said in exasperation: “Eric, you never give me what I ask for, but it’s always what I need!”
When somebody asks you to create something for them, I suggest asking “How will you use this?” before starting work. You may discover that you can skip the work they are asking of you because you already have a solution that will address their problem, and/or build something quicker that helps with the pain point.