Maybe Your Team Isn’t Moving Because Your Requests Are Too Vague
Introduction: “Make It Nice” Is Not an Instruction
Workplaces often use vague instructions.
“Make it nice.”
“Make it suitable for younger employees.”
“Make it easy to understand.”
“Create a rough draft first.”
“Be proactive.”
“Just make something.”
These may sound flexible.
But for the person receiving the task, they can be dangerous.
The purpose, audience, deliverable, deadline, decision maker, priority, constraints, and scope are often unclear.
Then, after the employee creates something, the feedback becomes:
“That is not what I meant.”
“I wanted it to be more like this.”
“Normally, you should understand this.”
“You lack initiative.”
“You do not understand the purpose.”
But is that really the employee’s fault?
In many cases, the problem is not ability.
The problem is vague requirements.
Minimum Requirements People Need to Move
For someone to act, they need basic information.
| Item | Question |
|---|---|
| Purpose | Why are we doing this? |
| Audience | Who is this for? |
| Deliverable | What should be completed? |
| Deadline | When is it needed? |
| Decision maker | Who approves it? |
| Priority | Is this above or below existing work? |
| Constraints | Time, people, tools, and restrictions |
| Scope | What is included and what is not? |
Without these, “make it nice” is not enough.
The employee can only guess.
And when the guess is later rejected, the problem is framed as lack of understanding.
That is not initiative.
That is requirement failure.
The Team Is Not Moving Because the Information Is Missing
Managers may say, “My team does not move.”
But from the employee’s side, it may look like this:
- I do not know what completion means
- I do not know who approves it
- I do not know how much I can decide
- I do not know whether this is more important than current work
- I do not know the expected quality level
- Conditions change later
- I am corrected for things that were not defined
- If I create a draft, I become the implementation owner
In this state, it is difficult to be proactive.
Initiative does not mean rushing forward without information.
Initiative requires decision materials and a clear scope of authority.
What Is the Value of a Person Who Creates Drafts?
A person who creates drafts has real value.
A draft is not just a document.
It turns vague ideas, verbal wishes, and abstract discussions into something that others can judge.
A draft maker does things such as:
- Temporarily define the purpose
- Clarify the audience
- Separate issues
- Create options
- Make comparisons possible
- Expose undefined areas
- Help decision makers think
- Align stakeholders
- Turn abstract discussion into concrete discussion
- Move meetings forward
This is valuable work.
When there is nothing concrete, people cannot discuss effectively.
A draft allows people to say:
- This part is right
- This part is wrong
- This direction works
- This area is undefined
- This should be decided later
- This part should not be implemented
In other words, the draft maker creates the ground for discussion.
Why Draft Makers Are Often Competent
People who can create drafts are often competent because draft creation requires several abilities.
1. Structuring Ambiguity
They can turn vague words such as:
“Make it nice.”
“Make it suitable for younger employees.”
“Make it easy to understand.”
into:
- Who it is for
- What should be communicated
- What order makes sense
- What should be removed
- What needs confirmation
2. Finding Undefined Areas
A draft reveals what is undefined.
- Purpose is unclear
- Decision maker is unclear
- Deadline is unclear
- Implementation owner is unclear
- Priority is unclear
- Completion criteria are unclear
Finding these undefined areas is itself valuable.
3. Moving Discussion Forward
Verbal meetings easily become abstract.
A draft makes discussion concrete.
“Should we use this direction?”
“This part is wrong.”
“Let’s ask the decision maker.”
4. Reducing Rework
A draft is not the final product.
But it helps find direction gaps early.
This reduces the risk of major rework later.
5. Externalizing People’s Mental Images
A draft reveals what people were imagining.
“I imagined something different.”
“That was not my purpose.”
“We were not aligned.”
This is also valuable.
But a Draft Is Not Implementation Responsibility
This is important.
The fact that draft creation is valuable does not mean that the draft maker must implement everything until the end.
A draft should be:
- A hypothesis for direction
- Issue organization
- Decision material
- Pre-work before deciding implementation
But in many workplaces, this happens:
- Someone casually suggests an idea
- A competent person creates a draft
- The draft is criticized
- The person revises it
- More requests are added
- Implementation is pushed onto that person
- Someone else takes credit at the end
This is not draft creation.
This is draft exploitation.
Draft makers are valuable.
That is why drafting, reviewing, implementation, and responsibility must be separated.
Random Idea Outsourcing
Sometimes people throw undeveloped ideas to others.
“We should do this.”
“Just make a proposal.”
“Make it nice.”
“Make it suitable for young people.”
“And please implement it too.”
This is random idea outsourcing.
The person who had the idea should at least provide the basic assumptions.
## Minimum Set for Requesting a Draft
### 1. What do you want to do?
Example: Create a training video for new employees
### 2. Why now?
Example: Verbal explanations are too dependent on specific people
### 3. Who is it for?
Example: New employees, mid-career hires, field workers
### 4. What is the deliverable?
Example: One video, one SOP, one slide deck
### 5. When is it needed?
Example: Direction check by a specific meeting date
### 6. Who decides?
Example: Manager, department head, field leader
### 7. Who implements it?
Example: Undecided; to be assigned after draft review
### 8. Is it higher priority than existing work?
Example: Priority needs confirmation
Without this, it is risky to ask someone to move.
The person who has the idea does not always need to create the full draft.
But they should at least provide the assumptions.
Changing Requirements After the Fact Is Requirement Laundering
When work starts with vague instructions, later corrections increase.
First, someone says, “Make it nice.”
The employee guesses and creates something.
Then they hear, “That is not what I meant.”
They revise it.
New conditions appear.
Finally, they are told, “You did not understand.”
This is unhealthy.
Undefined requirements are being treated as the employee’s misunderstanding.
This is requirement laundering.
It means:
The requester failed to define the requirements, but the cost is shifted to the worker.
Not all changes are bad.
Work requirements can change.
But when they do, the following should be clarified:
- What changed?
- Why did it change?
- How much additional work is required?
- Should the deadline change?
- Should the priority change?
- Who made the decision?
Without this, people burn out.
Defensive Sentences for Draft Makers
If you create drafts, add boundaries.
For example:
I created this as a draft for direction confirmation.
The implementation scope, owner, decision maker, and deadline should be confirmed based on this draft.
Or:
I can create the draft.
However, if the purpose, audience, deliverable, deadline, decision maker, and priority are undefined, rework may increase. I would like to confirm those first.
Or more clearly:
I will prepare this as a direction-check document.
If we implement it, I would like to separately confirm scope, workload, and priority.
This reduces the risk of being automatically turned into the implementation owner.
Requirement Definition Template Before Delegation
## Request Checklist
### 1. Purpose
Why are we doing this?
### 2. Audience
Who is this for?
### 3. Deliverable
What should be completed?
### 4. Deadline
When is it needed?
### 5. Decision Maker
Who approves it?
### 6. Priority
Is this above existing work?
### 7. Constraints
Time, people, tools, and restrictions:
### 8. Scope
Included:
Not included:
### 9. Implementation
Draft only?
Implementation included?
### 10. If Requirements Change
Will deadline, workload, and priority be reviewed?
Filling this out reduces rework.
If You Use AI for Drafts, Human Assumptions Still Matter
AI can create drafts quickly.
From meeting notes, audio, bullet points, or rough memos, AI can organize:
- Purpose
- Audience
- Issues
- Undefined areas
- Questions
- Options
- Output format
- DOCX / PPTX / XLSX / TXT / Markdown
But even AI needs assumptions.
“Make it nice” is not enough for AI or humans.
At minimum, provide:
Purpose:
Audience:
Deliverable:
Deadline:
Decision maker:
Priority:
Constraints:
Output format:
Before throwing vague ideas to people, use AI to organize the assumptions.
This alone can reduce random idea outsourcing.
Conclusion: Define Requirements Before Blaming the Team
If your team is not moving, do not look only at their ability.
Look first at your request.
Did you define:
- Purpose
- Audience
- Deliverable
- Deadline
- Decision maker
- Priority
- Constraints
- Scope
If these are undefined, people cannot move easily.
“Make it nice” is not an instruction.
“Make it suitable for young people” is not a complete direction.
“Create a draft first” does not automatically include implementation responsibility.
Draft makers are valuable because they turn vague ideas into something people can judge.
That is exactly why drafting, reviewing, implementation, and responsibility must be separated.
If you want people to move, define the requirements first.
That reduces rework, protects initiative, and prevents draft exploitation.
