You forgo any notion of trying to appear like an expert. There’s no need for that kind of pride. We’re dealing with live production systems.
You set up a brief meeting with your team lead. She’s a military veteran and served in an offensive cyber division before leaving for consulting work. You’re initially worried about possibly wasting her time by asking for guidance when you call the meeting, but she assures you it’s not a big deal.
“I expect my team members, even the more experienced ones, to ask for help when needed.”
You feel better hearing her say that. You explain that the scope document, with revisions from the client, is still vague enough to cause concern. You explain that some time spent with the customer further clarifying the scope might be beneficial, but that you also understand that the engagement window is very short for the amount of work ahead of you.
She contemplates for a moment and offers the following:
“Unfortunately, in red team consultant work, our scopes are never going to be exactly what we want. Now, having said that, I trust your opinion when you say that the scope is too vague to operate currently. Between you and I, I’ve had some difficulty with the customer in trying to get more information to clarify our requirements.
I’ll tell you what. If you want to lead the charge to try to get a more defined scope, I’ll support you. I can call the meeting and you can tell them exactly what you told me. I think that would be enough to persuade them. If you think that would be too much of a time cost, I recommend moving forward with the information that we have on hand. I’ll empower you to make the call, but I will say that I think it’s worth the time to try to clarify scope.”
What do you do?