Let me tell you about the worst carrots I ever cut.
I shared this story a few weeks ago at the UTERC conference, in a room full of engineering master’s students and new graduates. But you do not need to be an engineer, or eight years old, for it to land. It is really about something we all do to each other without noticing. Here goes.
When I was eight, my mom asked me to cut the carrots.
That was the whole instruction. “Cut the carrots.”
I had never cut a carrot in my life. But I wanted to help, so off I went. I cut them small, really small. And I did not peel them, because I did not know carrots had to be peeled. They are orange all the way through. To eight-year-old me, the peel was not even a thing.
I was so proud. I brought them over. And my mom was, let’s say, not thrilled.
I did exactly what I was asked. “Cut the carrots.” I cut the carrots. And somehow it still was not right.
So where did things go wrong?
Two reasons, really.
First, no one told me what the carrots were for. Second, no one showed me how. My mom assumed that because it was obvious to her, it was obvious to me.
Both were missing that day. But it is the first one I want to focus on, because it is the one we skip most, even when we remember to show someone how.
Notice what I did not need to get this right. I did not need the cooking time, the seasoning, the order everything went into the pot. I needed one thing. Context. These carrots are going into a stew. That’s it.
That is the piece we leave out. Whether we are giving a task or being given one, the context tends to stay in someone’s head. To the person handing it over, the stew is obvious. It is not obvious to anyone else.
And without it, even the most capable person will cut the carrots, miss the mark, and end up redoing the work anyway.
Clarity is not every detail. It is giving, and asking for, enough context to succeed.
This week, one question. Ask it of every task you hand over, and every task you are handed.
What is it for?
Try it right now. Look at your to-do list and go down it one item at a time. Some tasks will have an obvious purpose. But a few will be carrots: you know you are meant to cut them, but no one ever told you they were going into a stew. And some of the tasks you have handed to other people are probably carrots too.
The practice is small. Before you pass something along, say what it is for. Before you start something handed to you, ask. One question, both directions, thirty seconds.
Here is what I love about the carrot story. It was such an ordinary moment. A busy mom, a willing kid, a simple task. No one did anything wrong. My mom was not careless, and neither was I. There was just a small gap between what she pictured and what I understood, and that gap turned into a plate nobody could use.
It looks the same at work. A busy person hands off a task the way it makes sense in their own head. Another busy person does their honest best with the little they were given. The stew stays in one mind, and everyone else is left guessing.
The good news is that the gap is small, and so is what it takes to close it.
Here’s to finding your spark and letting it shine.
Karen.
Why do clear instructions still go wrong?
Because the instruction often leaves out the purpose. When someone knows what a task is for, they can fill in the gaps correctly. Without that context, they solve for the literal instruction and miss the actual goal.
What is the most important thing to share when handing off any task?
The purpose. Telling someone what the work is for matters more than listing every step. One line of context lets a capable person make the right decisions on the details you did not spell out.
What should you do when someone hands you a task without context?
Ask what it is for. A single question at the start surfaces the purpose and saves everyone the rework of guessing wrong.
Does giving more detail make communication clearer?
No. Too much detail buries the point. Clarity is the one piece of context that changes how the work is done, not the entire recipe.