Say It Clearly or Do It Twice

How to ask for what you need without creating rework, confusion, or delays.

Have you ever asked for something and received the exact opposite of what you meant?

You ask for a short update and get a 14-slide deck. You ask for a deck and get two lines. You ask for a summary and get a data export that looks like it escaped from someone’s SQL server.

Did you ever ask yourself why this keeps happening?

Most of the time it’s because your request wasn’t clear.
People had to guess. And when people guess, they fill in the blanks with whatever makes sense to them.

If people have to work to understand you, they won’t. They’ll improvise. And improvisation is expensive. A vague request doesn’t just slow things down. It creates new work. Clarifications, corrections, re-interpretations, “just checking” messages… all the tax you pay for not being explicit the first time.

These are delays that don’t come from complexity but from unclear asks. Someone sends a message like “Can you take a look?” and the next two days disappear in translation exercises that nobody gets paid enough for.

A clear request is an efficiency tool. It reduces noise, removes guesswork, and gets you something usable on the first try.

Start with the outcome, not the activity. If you can’t define what you need, others definitely won’t.

Keep context tight: one sentence is enough for someone to rank the task.

Cut the noise: the backstory, the softening, the open-ended “any thoughts?”.

Say what “good” looks like: format, boundaries, the essentials. Most rework comes from mismatched expectations, not bad execution.

Give a real deadline. “ASAP” is where priorities go to die.

Precision isn’t rude. It’s respectful.

Bullets instead of bricks.

One ask per message.

Rewrite forwarded chaos into something human.

When speed matters, ask for the smallest useful version first.

And say who signs off. Half of operational pain comes from approval ambiguity.

But there are moments when vagueness is the right tool. Early exploration, problem framing, and discovery work all benefit from open space. When the goal is to surface options, test angles, or see how someone thinks, a tight request kills creativity. Vagueness works, but only when it’s intentional. The key is to say it upfront: “I don’t need a final answer, I want three directions,” or “This is exploratory. Show me what’s possible.” Ambiguity is a feature only when everyone knows it’s part of the plan.

Contrast these two moments:

• “Can you check this report and let me know what you think?”
  → Two days lost.
• “I need a short summary of the top churn drivers for tomorrow’s meeting. Focus on Q3 shifts and the two biggest causes. Send by 5 PM, I’ll review and include it.”
  → One pass. Done.

Clear requests make the whole system run smoother. Less friction, better output, calmer days. And they signal something important: you know what you want and you respect other people’s time.

Most operational drag comes from unclear asks.
Write clearer ones. And be vague only on purpose.