A weird dynamic you’ve probably experienced: the more senior someone is, the more their offhand comments get treated as orders. A VP muses "have we ever looked at X?" in a meeting, and someone burns two weeks building a deck on X — that the VP didn’t really care about.
So when your boss floats something, just ask: "Is this a priority, or thinking out loud?" They'll tell you, and half the time it's "oh no, just musing." You just saved 2 weeks.
And if you're the senior person: label your musings. "Not a request, just wondering aloud" prevents your team from silently reprioritizing around your shower thoughts.
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