Please Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood*

3/31/2008

Posted by BJ

In the cartoon above, the concept of “luke warm” is clear to Adam. He knows exactly what he means. Yet, this term is easily misinterpreted the coffee guy (I refuse to refer to him as a Barista, no matter how much Starbuck’s wishes I would.)

I have no doubt this kind of confusion happens quite often with information that is presented within a proposal. And idea that is simple, straight forward and clear to a knowledge expert can be interpreted to mean something entirely different by the person reviewing the response.

* For you baby boomers, music fans and Robin D. and Jeff E….10 points if you know which band did the song by that title. 20 points extra is you know the lead singer’s name.

4 Comments

Andrew Gittins

3/26/2016 03:59:40 am

The Animals – Eric Burdon

BJ Lownie

3/26/2016 03:59:48 am

Well done sir. Thanks for playing.

Jeff

3/26/2016 03:59:58 am

Shoot. Missed it. Too busy updating knowledgebase records! Although I have to admit I would have had to google the answer… :)

A trio I was in actually played this song back in the late 80’s. I honestly thought it was a ridiculous construct, but audiences LOVED it. Eric Burdon was a master.

BJ Lownie

3/26/2016 04:00:08 am

I wondered why we hadn’t heard our resident music expert. I’m surprised you wouldn’t have known the answer. Our friend Andrew did as you can see.

I probably should have suggested in my post that people NOt post their answer as it spoils the fun for others (in hindsight, I should have asked readers to send their guesses to me by mail.) The posting of the answer shuts down any other contributions.

Much like when soliciting responses from a group, it is best to preface the request with, “Take a moment to think about this first and DON’T give us your response until I request it.” This gives everyone time to think and you get better responses, rather than just the fastest thinker and most extroverted person.

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BJ Lownie and Jon Williams are the co-founders of Strategic Proposals.

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