“You’re accepting work… that isn’t clear.”
Here’s something that quietly creates confusion:
“Can you take a look?”
“Let’s align on this.”
“Can you help with this?”
Now—on the surface, that sounds normal.
But when the ask isn’t clear…
You don’t get clarity.
You get chaos.
Because every vague request creates 3 problems:
👉 you don’t know what success looks like
👉 you move without clear direction
👉 and you end up reworking things later
And that’s how your time disappears.
Not because of volume…
But because of ambiguity.
Strong CSMs don’t accept vague work.
They stop and define it.
They ask:
👉 “What exactly needs to happen?”
👉 “What does good look like here?”
👉 “Who owns the outcome?”
That’s the shift.
From accepting tasks…
To clarifying them before they start.
If the work isn’t clear at the start…
it won’t be clear at the end.
💬 Your turn: What’s one vague request you said yes to… that created more work later?