You will send a real request for help using the structure and review how it went.
The last three lessons gave you a routine for asking: look first, set a stuck limit, ask with the goal, what you tried, what happened and where you're stuck, and close the loop. This exercise puts it to work on something you're stuck on right now, and then measures what happened, so you can see the difference instead of taking it on trust.
It takes about twenty minutes spread over a day or two, because part of it is waiting for the answer.
Choose something you're genuinely stuck on at the moment. It can be at work: a spreadsheet formula, a process you don't understand, a system that won't do what you expect, a policy question. It can also come from a course you're taking, or a side project. What matters is that you need the answer, and that someone you can reach is likely to know it.
Before you write anything, do the groundwork from lesson 4.1, Try for a set time yourself, then ask. Search the obvious places and give it until your stuck limit. If you find the answer on the way, good. Pick another problem.
Write the question using the four parts from lesson 4.2: the goal, what you tried, what happened, and the specific point where you're stuck. Write it out in full first, without worrying about length.
Then cut it to under 100 words. This is the step that makes the question good. Remove background the helper doesn't need, merge sentences that repeat each other, and make sure the actual question is a single, specific sentence. Attach the screenshot, file or error message instead of describing it.
Check before you send it that you're not sharing personal data, customer details or anything confidential that the helper doesn't need to see.
Choose who to ask. The right person is the one most likely to know, not necessarily the most senior or the nearest. If you're not sure, ask your manager or a teammate who would know. Use the channel that suits the person and the urgency, as covered in lesson 2.4.
Then keep a simple record. Note the time you sent it, the time you got a useful answer, and how many messages went back and forth before you had what you needed. A question that got a complete answer in one reply scores zero follow-ups.
When you get the answer, close the loop: tell the person whether it worked, and thank them.
Siti is a claims executive at an insurer in Singapore. She needed to know whether a claim could be paid when the customer's medical receipt was in the name of the clinic's parent company rather than the clinic itself.
Her first draft ran to 180 words, including the full history of the claim. Her final version came to 78 words:
"Hi Daniel, I'm processing a hospitalisation claim and need to confirm the receipt is acceptable. The receipt is issued by the clinic's parent company, not the clinic named on the referral letter. I've checked the claims manual, section 4, and it says receipts must be from 'the treating provider', but doesn't cover parent companies. Can I accept this receipt, or do I need one from the clinic itself? Receipt and referral letter attached, with the customer's details masked."
She sent it to Daniel, a senior claims assessor, on Teams at 10.15am. He replied at 11.05am: "Our team accepts it if the receipt also names the clinic where treatment happened. Check the footer." One reply, no follow-ups. Siti replied with thanks and added the answer to the team's shared FAQ.
Now find a question you sent last month, before this module, and score it the same way. How long did it take to get an answer, and how many messages went back and forth?
Siti found a question from three weeks earlier: "Hi Daniel, can I check something about receipts?" That one took four messages each way and most of an afternoon, because Daniel had to ask which claim, which receipt and what the problem was.
The comparison won't always be as clean as hers. Some people answer quickly whatever you send them, and some problems are simply harder. But across a few questions, most people see fewer follow-ups and faster answers, and the people they ask notice that their questions are easier to deal with.
When you've finished, you have a question you sent, a record of the response time and follow-ups for it and for an older question, and a note of the person's answer. The last part of the exercise is to look at the two side by side and decide what you'll do differently, which the activity below asks you to write down.
Send the question, record the response time and number of follow-ups needed, and write one change for next time.
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