Handle the follow-up question
Today's goal: Answer an unprepared question with the same structure.
A prepared update is one thing. The question that comes after it is another: “Why did that take so long?” “What happens if Thursday slips?” This is where structure usually falls apart, because there is no time to prepare.
You do not need a new skill. You apply the same three habits at small scale: answer first, one reason, stop. There is one additional tool: buying two seconds.
Buying time honestly
- Pause. Two seconds of silence before an answer looks like thinking, which is what it is.
- Repeat the core of the question: “What happens if Thursday slips?” Then answer it.
- “Good question. Let me think for a second.” Use it once per meeting, not before every answer.
- If you do not know: “I don't know. I'll find out and tell you by the end of the day.”
“Oh, um, well, I mean, I hope they won't, they said Thursday, but if they do then I guess we'd have to, I don't know, maybe move some things around, it depends really…”
“[pause] If they miss Thursday, the launch moves day for day. I'd know by Thursday noon, and I'd tell you immediately. To reduce the risk, I can ask them tomorrow for a progress check.”
Practise with a live partner
Follow-up questions cannot be practised with a script, because you do not know what will be asked. Today's exercise uses a roleplay: an AI plays your manager, listens to your update and asks follow-up questions based on what you actually said. If you would rather work with a person, ask a colleague to interrupt your update with two questions.
Today's exercise (10 minutes)
- Step 1
Prepare a 30-second update about something you are blocked on or waiting for.
- Step 2
Start the roleplay, or ask a colleague to play your manager. Give the update.
- Step 3
For each follow-up question: pause, give the answer in one sentence, give one reason, and stop.
- Step 4
Afterwards, read the transcript of your turns. Find the answer that lost its structure, and say that answer once more.