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This sounds like a good idea. The examples in TFA are bit too far to the managerspeak side for me. Can you give some examples, though? I can't really see how y

This sounds like a good idea. The examples in TFA are bit too far to the managerspeak side for me. Can you give some examples, though? I can't really see how you could turn, say, the "budget" issue from TFA into a self-deprecating thing. But that is because I suck dicks. (Am I doing it right?)

arethuza 16y ago
To be honest asking "But we don't have the budget or skills to do that, how would we overcome that?" doesn't sound that bad to me - at least it is suggesting that there could be a solution. We Scots call the technique of appearing ignorant the "daft laddie" approach - something I like to employ a lot (probably because I'm half daft myself). Ask the questions, imply that you are the stupid one for not understanding stuff.... Of course, this is a lot easier if you are in a relatively senior position and suspected of not actually being completely daft - but it's a lot better than being an insufferable know it all.
- alex_c 16y ago
  What you call the "daft laddie" approach would be how I would handle it, rather than piling on enough sugar to give everyone in the room a toothache. "What are the budget and staffing constraints for this project?" I KNOW the project is doomed, but I don't need to be the one to point that out - let the presenter handle it, if they haven't thought about it they can give a vague answer now and figure it out later, or maybe they have thought about it and have a solution I don't suspect. Either way, the focus shifts from "you haven't thought about X" to "what about X?"