What? So What? Now What? The update people can act on
By Rita Okonkwo · The Craft
Most updates stop after the first part. Somebody tells the room what happened, in detail, and then waits. The listeners are left to work out for themselves whether it is good news or bad, and whether anybody is supposed to do anything about it. Usually nobody does.
What? So What? Now What? finishes the job. Three parts: the fact, what the fact means, and the action it calls for. It is the shortest structure in this series, and the one most likely to get something done.
What? So What? Now What?, one part at a time
Question: How did the launch of the new booking page go?
- What (What happened): We launched the new booking page on Monday, and bookings are down twelve percent on last week.
- So What (Why it matters): Almost all of the drop is on phones, which means people are reaching the page and giving up at the payment step.
- Now What (What happens next): I'd like to put the old payment form back on mobile today, and I'll bring the numbers again on Friday.
The three parts
1. What: what happened
The facts, plainly, and only the ones the rest of the answer needs. A number if you have one, a date if it matters. Leave out how you found out, who noticed first and everything you tried along the way: that is the story of your week, not the update.
The trap is the long What. If this part takes more than a third of your time, the listener will have stopped waiting for the meaning before you reach it.
2. So What: why it matters
This is the part that makes an update worth hearing, and the one most often skipped. Say what the fact means for the people listening: is it a risk, a cost, a win, a sign of something bigger? "Bookings are down" is a fact. "People are giving up at the payment step" is a meaning, and it is what points at a fix.
If you cannot say the So What, you are not ready to give the update. You are ready to ask a question, which is a fine thing to do instead.
3. Now What: what happens next
End on an action with an owner and, ideally, a time. It can be something you will do, something you need from the room, or a decision you want made. "We should keep an eye on it" is not a Now What. "I'll bring the numbers again on Friday" is.
Why the meaning comes before the action
Jumping from the fact straight to the action ("bookings are down, so let's roll back") sounds decisive and often gets argued with. The listener has not yet been told why that action follows, so they supply their own So What, and it may not be yours. Say the meaning first and the action stops looking like an opinion; it looks like the obvious next step.
An answer, taken apart
What. We launched the new booking page on Monday, and bookings are down twelve percent on last week.
So What. Almost all of the drop is on phones, which means people are reaching the page and giving up at the payment step.
Now What. I'd like to put the old payment form back on mobile today, and I'll bring the numbers again on Friday.
Three sentences. Anyone who walked in late could act on the last one.
Where it works, and where it doesn't
Use it for status updates, incident summaries, feedback on somebody's work ("here's what I saw, here's why it matters, here's what I'd try"), and any moment where you have been asked "what's going on with...?"
It is thin for persuasion, where people need more than one reason before they act, and for stories, where the meaning is supposed to arrive at the end rather than in the middle. If the room needs convincing rather than informing, Problem, Solution, Benefit does more work.
How the Coach listens for it
In the Coach, a take scored on What? So What? Now What? is checked for each of the three parts. The one it most often catches missing is the So What: an answer that describes the situation and then goes straight to a plan, or describes it and stops.
Practise it
Practise What? So What? Now What? in the Coach. Lock the technique and spin: every question becomes an update you have to give in under a minute.