All you need to do is ask...

I've written before that the better consultants make themselves distinctive by asking the right questions. In our agency, where we run many international clients, one of the most valuable lessons that can be learnt is that even among colleagues, asking a lot of questions prove to make us most productive.

Why?

See? Another question. Well, because assumptions in my memory have never been a guarantee for progress. Let me share with you ten questions that resolve an immense amount of frustrations among colleagues:

Did you give them direction? Did you listen to the feedback? Did you give them enough time to even think about your question? Did you give them a deadline? Was that deadline during their working day? Was it a public holiday? Did you give them any localisation time? Are a lot of your questions the same? Did you give them a mechanism to reply - other than email? Did you actually indicate what you wanted?

The last one has to be my favorite - because it's the least professional, yet the most human one to forget.