Engineers default to comprehensiveness because leaving something out feels wrong. In a design review or on a set of drawings, that instinct is correct. In leadership, it backfires. The person asking the question usually isn’t requesting a briefing — they’re trying to make a decision, and when you deliver more than they asked for, you don’t look thorough. You look like you can’t tell what matters from what doesn’t. Using a story about a technically brilliant direct report who buried every answer in context, Chris walks through the design target engineers need to swap in: tailoring the response to what the receiver can actually use, with precision held in reserve rather than delivered by default. The active move is a single question to ask before the next significant response.

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Re:Engineered is a podcast for engineers and technical professionals navigating the shift from technical excellence to leadership responsibility.

Hosted by Chris Stasiuk, a professional engineer with over 25 years in engineering consulting and leadership roles, the show treats leadership, communication, and decision-making as systems to understand — not personality traits to fake. No buzzwords. No corporate theater. Just clear thinking about how technical people actually lead.

Explore episodes, transcripts, and related resources at https://chrisstasiuk.com/podcast/.