Bill Canady argues listening tours waste time and proposes a single controlling document with four elements: the key metric, connecting framework, responsible parties, and review cadence. His rule: less than 20% data is guessing, 80% or more means you're too slow, but 60% lets you move fast and iterate.
The listening tour is dangerous precisely because it produces no evidence. 100 days of relationship building leaves nothing on the table the board can audit. You come out of it well-liked and undefended. What you need instead is one document, the number, the bridge, the owners, the rhythm. That's the whole thing. Let me take some things off the table right now. You don't need clean data. Here's my rule. If you have less than 20% of the data, you're just simply guessing. And if you're waiting for 80% or more, you've taken so long, everybody's already past you. 60%, you can move. Even if you got a little bit different, believe me, you'll get there. Better to move quick.
