In my day job as a consultant, I often joke that “it depends” is my default answer to any question, much as Ben Goldacre made a catchphrase out of “I think you’ll find it’s a bit more complicated than that.”

I’m here today to tell you that it’s both absolutely true, and not at all true.

The truth is that, given a complex problem, the correct answer almost always is “it depends.” Without knowing all the constraints, all the things that have been considered and rejected, and all the things that affect the solution, it’s vanishingly rare that there is one, objectively correct answer that you know from the top of your head.

But where many people go wrong is by answering “it depends” and stopping.

The thing is, people don’t like “it depends” as an answer. It may be true, but it means that they have to do more work to figure out what it depends upon. And the last thing any of us wants is more work.

There is not necessarily One True Way to respond to this, but I have a few of patterns that I use a lot.

The first, is “The most common answer to this is…” There are a couple of reasons why this works. If you’re trying to diagnose a problem, the most common solution is generally going to be the one to try first. It may not be it, but it’s going to be a good place to start. After “The most common answer to this is…” you might want to add your caveats or explanations why this is or isn’t going to be the solution.

Another reason that the most common solution is a good starting line is that a lot of people are risk adverse. Starting with a solution that everyone else is doing is likely to be safe. It may not be correct but, no one gets fired for doing what everyone else is doing. Whether that’s whatever is “Best Practice” or buying Microsoft.

Another option I use is, “Here’s what I think… I’m about 70% sure that this is correct.” This is a much riskier option than “the most common solution.” You need credibility. You need to be right most of the time; don’t use this option if you have poor intuition or are working in an area where you have no experience. And, clearly, you need to be at least 50% sure that you’re correct, otherwise you’re adding no value to the discussion. An important next step to any speculation is following up with the correct answer. Hopefully you were right, but to maintain that credibility to you need to own it either way.

If you can’t come up with a recommendation, another option is to articulate what the solution depends upon. If you offer to come back with an answer, maybe you just don’t know! If you can say why it’s complicated and there’s no single, obvious solution that will buy you some time.

There are many other entirely valid responses, but the important thing is that the uncertainty is not left dangling.

We’re not sure… and… here’s what’s going to happen next to resolve this doubt.

This is one of those posts where it feels like the set up is comical, that no one would ever do this. Sadly, I hear this all the time. Don’t be that person.