Bread crumbing

"Explain it to me as if I was a cocker spaniel."

I sometimes say that.

It usually comes after the fourth or fifth message.

I ask a question. I get a short answer.

I ask for more detail. I get another short answer.

Each one is true. None of them is the whole picture.

I call it bread crumbing.

You get the crumbs one at a time, and you're left to piece the whole thing together yourself.

When I spot the pattern now, I stop asking for more detail.

I ask for a summary, BLUF: Bottom Line Up Front.

Or, on a bad day, the cocker spaniel version.

It works sometimes.

It makes people pause and think about what they're actually trying to tell me.

Instead of a trail of short answers, or a stream of consciousness that buries the point.

Artificial intelligence (AI) agents can fall into the same pattern.

When one agent hands work to another, the handoff can leave out what the next agent needs.

The next agent works from what it was handed, not from what the first one knew.

The fix is close to the same: pass on the bottom line, the context behind it, and what's still open.

What's the longest trail of crumbs you've had to follow before someone gave you the bottom line?

Hey, let's be careful out there.