by Francisco Jauregui

 As contractors, we work to meet or exceed our customers’ expectations. We focus on requirements, metrics, schedules, and, of course, budgets. We work hard to always provide exceptional customer service. It’s what I’ve been doing for years as a contractor — and what you’ve probably been doing too.

It wasn’t until a customer told me he also needed an answer to the “so what” question that I reconsidered my reporting approach.

Yet, it wasn’t until a customer told me he also needed an answer to the “so what” question that I reconsidered my reporting approach. The customer explained that it isn’t enough to report that the team had performed ABC task. We must explain why it matters that we did ABC task. Further, our explanation needs to be succinct and expressed in terms so simple that his grandmother could understand it. He affectionately called it the “grandma task” as a shorthand reference.

Our explanation needs to be succinct and expressed in terms so simple that his grandmother could understand it.

I then intuitively understood how thinking like an outsider could help our customer — and make our work stand out.

An answer to the “so what" question could be that the ABC task helped the government save time, save money, create new opportunities, or fulfill a mandate. Whatever the rationale, the explanation must convey immediate meaning to outside observers and employ pithy and compelling language.

An answer to the “so what” question could be that [we] helped the government save time, save money, create new opportunities, or fulfill a mandate.

The same customer who taught me to document the answer to the “so what” question uses my “grandmother-friendly” summaries to help justify projects to his bosses — and to help secure ongoing or increased funding for these project efforts.

So, the next time you’re developing a summary report, remember to contemplate the “so what” question and answer it before it’s asked. If you do, your customers and report readers will immediately understand the significance of the work you are doing.