Ask & Ask & Ask Until You Understand!
Make it one of your 2009 and beyond resolutions:
“I shall lead the league in Asking Dumb Questions.”
“I shall become Questioner-in-Chief.”
“I shall persist until I ‘get it.'”
“I shall evaluate others in part on their skill at Asking Dumb Questions.”
“We shall hire in part on perceived or measured Instinctive Curiosity.” (For every slot.)
Swallow your damn pride, especially “top” bosses.
Ask until you understand!
The “dumber” the question the better!
If the askee is pissed off at you for your “stupidity”-or pigheadedness, consider that Victory.
Ask!
Ask!
Ask!
(And require whomever to boil the damn thing down to one paragraph in VPE, Very Plain English—or whatever your native tongue is.)
(On the other hand, sweat the details—the weird, incomprehensible thing about whatever may well appear in Footnote #7 to Appendix C in the full version of the report.)