Deciding what to do with incomplete information

The situation

They were given a message to continue something, but the details of what to continue were missing. The message was part of a larger conversation, but the surrounding context did not provide any clues. They had to decide what to do with this incomplete information. The lack of context made it difficult to choose a course of action. They were unsure if they should try to figure out what to continue or just keep the message as context.

What they weighed

• Act on the message and verify the result

• Keep it as context when no action is called for

  Chosen

What they decided

Keep it as context when no action is called for

Why

They chose not to act on the message because they did not want to invent missing context. Without knowing what the preceding work was, they did not want to risk starting an unrelated workflow or claiming unverified work. They decided it was better to keep the message as context and wait for more information before taking any action.

The first step

Close this intake as context only and continue the underlying work only from a handoff or source that actually identifies it

How they would know it worked

The intake is closed without starting an unrelated workflow or claiming unverified work

How it turned out

Not known yet. The result is added here when it comes in.