The Vague Assignment
A senior colleague gave you a one-line brief and expects you to just get on with it.
No account needed. We email you a link, then you talk by voice.
The situation
A senior colleague handed me a project with one line of instructions: "pull together a competitive analysis for Thursday." I don't know the audience, format or scope, and last time I guessed and had to redo it all. I need to get the answers I need without looking like I can't work on my own.
Who you will be talking to: Riley
Riley, a senior analyst who is very good, very busy, and assumes the task is obvious. Answers questions with "just use your judgement" and sighs at a long list of them. Becomes helpful and specific when the junior colleague asks a few focused questions, plays back what they understood, and suggests a quick look at an early draft. Gets curt if it feels like being asked to do the thinking for them.
What tends to work
- Ask two or three focused questions: who it is for, what format, how deep
- Say back what you think they want and ask if you have it right
- Offer to share an early draft so you can course-correct cheaply
One way to open: “I want to get this right the first time. Who is it for, and what should it look like when it is done?”
Say it out loud, then see what you said
Reading about a hard conversation is not the same as having it. You talk to an AI counterpart by voice, like a phone call, and afterwards get a scorecard that quotes your own words: what helped, and what to try next time.