Value Delivery Check
Good work,
headed for a miss.
We’re working to get it all done, juggling what we can’t drop, redlining a little more than we know is healthy. That’s when one more lands on our plate: someone’s already decided it matters, and we can’t say no to it.
Usually, we handle it. But sometimes this one’s different. There’s too much riding on it to afford a miss, and from where we’re sitting, we can’t see whether it’s set up to deliver value that gets recognized.
We’re capable. We’ll figure it out. We try to engineer a solution, grind our way through it, or work out how to communicate it better. Anything more formal means an expensive consulting project.
So we take ownership and move.
But what someone asked for, what they wanted, and what they needed are not always the same thing. Even when we put it on our own plate, the problem we think we’re solving and the problem we need to solve usually aren’t the same.
And sometimes we don’t find that out until we’re too far downrange.
That’s how capable people can move fast, work hard, do excellent work, and still solve the wrong problem perfectly.
When that happens, we don’t deliver value. We register a visible loss.
Nothing we reach for tells us quickly, privately, and in time, whether the work is set up to deliver value. And stopping to ask puts our standing on the line.
There’s no easy way to check.
So I built one, from three decades of helping capable people through exactly this.
In about 25 minutes, the Value Delivery Check shows us whether the work in front of us is set up to deliver value that gets recognized, and where to focus before we sink more time or energy into it.
The diagnostic
Five questions
Each answer gives the next one something solid to stand on.
Problem
What problem are we trying to solve?
Not the solution we’ve already picked or been asked to deliver.
Outcome
What does better tomorrow look like when this problem is solved?
What’s better, and for whom, not the output or deliverable we plan to produce.
Recognizer
Who has to recognize this result as valuable?
Whose judgment decides whether it counts as business value, not just who benefits.
Agreement
Are we working from the same picture of better tomorrow?
What evidence shows the people delivering it and the people recognizing it share what becomes better and for whom?
Path
What is our path to value?
How the work, through what gets built or done, leads to the better tomorrow we agreed on.
Each question depends on the one before it. A clear path to the wrong outcome is a bridge to nowhere. It’s the order things depend on, not the order we have to work in.
The run
Three quick passes
Sketch.
Get what’s in our heads onto the page.
From memory. No prep, no research, no polish. Nobody sees it unless we choose.
Evaluate.
Predict how well each answer carries without us there to explain it.
A prediction, not a grade.
Validate.
See what someone else makes of it.
An outside read, from AI or someone we trust, shows what’s clear, what’s missing, and what they had to assume.
Then we use what we found to figure out one:
Best Next Step
A small, discrete action that unlocks progress.
What changes when we check
If it’s set up, we go. If it isn’t, we know where it breaks and what to work on first.
And it’s on paper now. If we need to go back for clarification, we don’t go empty-handed: “What do you mean?” becomes “Here’s what I figured out. Help me make it better.” The argument moves from the person to the paper.
It’s a diagnosis, not a fix, and never a verdict on us.
When to reach for it
Not for everything on the plate. For the one that’s different: too much riding on it to afford a miss, and from where we’re sitting, we can’t see whether it’s set up to deliver value.
Run it the moment it lands, before we sink more time or energy into it. Run it again when things change. If getting it wrong would cost more than 25 minutes, checking first is a no-brainer.
The right path is your choice
One check. Two ways to run it.
Recommended if you’re not sure
With AI
Upload the AI Playbook to your own AI chat, in a reasoning (thinking) mode. It asks one question at a time and never answers for you. About 25 minutes.
I’ve tested it successfully with ChatGPT, Claude and Grok. For now, I don’t recommend Gemini: despite extensive testing across its models and modes, it skips or changes steps in ways that undermine the result.
Get the AI PlaybookMarkdown · Preview · September 28, 2026
No AI required
By hand
Prefer paper, or can’t use AI for this work? Print the workbook and work through it with a pen or your favorite writing tool. Your part takes about 25 minutes, split around an outside read from someone you trust.
Get the workbookPDF · Preview · September 28, 2026
Not sure? Start with AI.
What you leave with
Your thinking on paper, and a clear Best Next Step.
About 25 minutes, from memory, no prep. Free. No gate, no registration, account or email. No pitch. Runs without me.
Private unless you share it. With AI, no other person has to see it. Your AI service has its own account terms and data handling.
P.S. “Sounds great, but I ain’t got time for that.” Take a beat. Find 25 minutes now, or burn weeks you don’t have later.
Optional conversation
Want to talk through what you found?
Bring me your Value Delivery Check.
We’ll spend about 25 minutes looking at what the check revealed, talking through what needs attention, and sharpening your Best Next Step.
It’s a dialogue, not a pitch.
If working together would give you the advantage you need, we can explore that. If not, it’ll still be a valuable experience, and we’ll probably share a few laughs.
Talk with Michael