Clarity
What, why, so what
Stop communication from ending at information.
The problem it addresses
Reporting what happened and stopping, leaving the listener to work out what it means.
The shape
- What
- Why
- So what
Why that order
What establishes the information. Why establishes the cause. So what establishes the implication. The three turn information into understanding and then into relevance.
A worked example
- What
- Customer complaints rose 18 per cent this month.
- Why
- Most of the increase came from delivery delays.
- So what
- If the delivery bottleneck is not addressed, retention becomes a bigger problem next quarter.
You have it right when
Information becomes decision relevant.
What usually goes wrong
Treating so what as a synonym for therefore we should. Sometimes the implication is an insight and not yet an action, and forcing an action makes the insight smaller.
Used in
Where this shape does its work in a real situation.
A framework tells you what shape the answer takes. It cannot tell you whether shape is what you are short of, and for most people it is not. Which one is yours, and whether a framework is the right instrument at all, is what a Discovery Call is for.
Take the AssessmentOr read the whole glossary first.