Right on. It's a fine strategy. An alternative one is to pick your second best guess (usually in an upward inflecting question-voice; semi incredulously), to se

Right on. It's a fine strategy. An alternative one is to pick your second best guess (usually in an upward inflecting question-voice; semi incredulously), to see if this thing you think isn't the right idea gets approval. Then, you can ask your first best guess because now just asking will highlight the distinction, which may make the missing piece more apparent to both parties. Really no wrong answer, so long as all parties are earnestly working towards the solution. The nice part about this strategy is it lets your 'most correct' answer actually be multiple answers that you whittle down, rather than making the judgement calls, yourself, on what the other person most probably means to what they least probably mean. You remove an assumption and lead with your biggest concern, even if that seems like a crazy suggestion. Once you confirm that it is crazy, you're closer to the target. And if the 'crazy' thing was right, then you get to skip a lot of the steps between your initial best understanding and the correct understanding.