Clarify an unclear work task
Turn a vague request into a result someone can check. Separate facts, assumptions and open questions, then choose a question or test that could change your next step.
Name the result #
“Review this”, “improve onboarding” and “prepare a summary” name activities. Before starting, ask what should be different when the work is done, who needs the result and how they will judge it.
You do not need perfect certainty. You need enough clarity that the likely cost of a wrong interpretation is smaller than the cost of another round of clarification.
1. Define the result #
Someone should be able to inspect the result. “Review the deck” could mean a typo check, a logic review, a risk review or a rewrite for executives. Ask which is needed. For “improve onboarding”, name the user problem or decision the work should change.
Define how to recognise a useful result while leaving room to choose the steps.
2. Separate facts from assumptions #
List what you know separately from what you believe. Point to the ticket, measurement or observation behind each fact. Mark an untested explanation as an assumption, and a question that could change your next step as an unknown.
Without that label, a plausible explanation may be treated as a requirement.
Sources: MHC: Write known, unknown and assumed as different states
3. Ask what could change the plan #
Compare two plausible interpretations. Ask what you would expect to see under each, then choose the question whose answer could change the plan. A useful question does more than add information: it helps you decide what to do.
For a small task that is cheap to redo, one assumption check may be enough. For work that is costly, regulated or difficult to reverse, clarify what would change the decision before acting.
Write a six-line brief #
Write six lines before you start: Result — what must be different. Audience or decision — who will use it and why. Known facts — what you can support with evidence. Assumptions — what you are treating as true until checked. Unknowns — what could change your approach. Next check — the question, sample or test that could change your next step.
If you cannot continue without someone else's answer, name who must respond and by when. That makes the note a handoff someone can act on.
Sources: MHC: Hand off the uncertainty, not just the status · MHC: Write known, unknown and assumed as different states
Start when the next step is clear #
Clarification has a cost too. When the result is checkable, the important assumptions are visible and the remaining unknowns would not change your next limited step, start the work and learn from it.
For safety-critical, legal or regulated work, this worksheet is not approval. Escalate the unresolved question to the responsible specialist. For ordinary work, use the optional local worksheet if writing the brief is faster than holding it in your head.
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Run a test that could prove you wrongWrite known, unknown and assumed as different statesHand off the uncertainty, not just the statusUse this with an AI assistant
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Clarify an Unclear Work Task