Your work starts before you and carries on after.
The quote goes out on time, at the right price. But delivery never gets the terms that were agreed, and the client explains to the driver what they already signed. Nothing is broken on your side. The problem is in the handoff.
Understanding means connecting what you do to what surrounds it: the person who has the problem, what they’re really asking for, how they find the solution, what it costs, and who keeps it running afterwards.
This section covers the field, customers, sales, distribution, vendors. Not so you can do other people’s jobs. So you can decide better in yours.
To start: talk to someone who lives the problem. Not the person who passed it on to you.
To go further: take a recent request and look for the problem behind it. It’s often not the one written down.
If you’re growing a team: access to customers and to other trades takes time, and that time has to be funded. The ⇄ cards cover this.
A sign it’s working: you can explain what your choice changes for someone else, and you can tell what you saw from what you assume.
Next: delivery, to put your understanding to the test of the real world.