The Clarity PM: 6 Areas to Improve

One of my favorite movies is A Few Good Men. The riveting court scene at the end of the movie where Lt. Daniel Kaffee (played by Tom Cruise) is questioning Col. Nathan R. Jessep (played by Jack Nicholson) ranks right up there with some of my favorite movie scenes. “You can’t handle the truth!” and “Did you order the code red?” are lines that could be said in just about any venue or context, and someone will likely tie the line to the movie.

In another scene, Jessep is explaining to Kaffee that, “We follow orders or people die, it’s that simple. Are we clear?” Jessep then underscores, “Are we clear?” to which Kaffee responds, “Crystal.” The scene intensifies in its back-and-forth dialogue until Jessep…actually I won’t spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen the movie.

The ”Are we clear”? line has stuck with me over the years. Aside from it being powerful theatrics, it’s something that I believe is a foundational tenet of what we as PMs are all about.

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