Working TheoryMost hiring asks you to imagine what someone would be like to work with.
I'd rather just show you.
Send me a real problem you're stuck on. When one grabs me, I'll think it all the way through and publish what I come up with.
- "We have 400,000 loyalty members and no loyalty."
- "Our brand team and our performance team are quietly at war."
- "We sponsor a team and I don't think anyone can explain why."
- "We built the app. Nobody opens it twice."
- "Our best creative work keeps dying, and I'm not sure whether it's legal or us."
- "Something about how we talk about ourselves is off and I can't name it."
- "This doesn't fit any of the above and it's been bothering me for a year."
Five parts, every time.
- Your problemEdited down to what I think is actually being asked.
- The reframeWhat I think you're really asking, which is often not the question you sent.
- The working theoryMy best current thinking, held loosely.
- What I'd do MondayOne or two things that are actually actionable this week.
- What I'd need to know to be more sureThe honest gaps, and a question back to you.
Roughly 500 words. Sometimes I'll show the version I tried first and threw away.
Everything answered so far.
What are you stuck on?
Four questions. Nothing about company size, nothing about how you found this.
I answer one at a time, when one grabs me. Most submissions won't get a written response, and I'd rather tell you that now than let you wonder.
Don't send anything confidential, regulated, or under NDA. Describe the shape of the problem, not the documents.
This is bounded on purpose. It's my best 500 words, not a strategy engagement in disguise.
If you want the working version instead of the working theory, that's a different conversation and I'm glad to have it.