When an executive asks a seemingly simple question about data in a large organization, here’s what often happens –
- A couple of junior analysts put together a draft.
- Senior folks review it and edit.
- Stakeholders across the business align.
- And eventually, a response gets sent.
The cost to ask the question was low. The cost to answer it was enormous.
The problem isn’t the process. The problem is the executive who hasn’t been in the shoes of everyone else in a long time – and hasn’t stopped to think through the consequences of asking.
When you externalize the cost of a question, it’s easy to keep asking them. And suddenly a whole organization is disrupted and randomized, all because of something that felt casual from the top.
It gets worse with mandates. Policies handed down from executives disconnected from the detail create churn that is difficult to overstate. The more removed you are, the less visible the ripple – and the larger it actually is.
The takeaway for anyone in a senior seat: think about who bears the cost before you ask. The larger the organization, the more that question is worth sitting with.
A Learning a Day 