Specs kept dragging without answers.
What happened next made even the customer sit up and take notice.
It was a bright Friday morning when Priya, a project manager, walked into her company’s CSR planning meeting. The room was buzzing. Sarah from HR spoke with passion about digital literacy programs to close the technology gap. Michael from finance was equally convinced that women’s empowerment would create the biggest impact. Priya herself had earlier suggested Environmental Responsibility, programs around climate, renewable energy, and waste reduction as a theme that would make the company part of something urgent and global.
Everyone in the room wanted to do good, but as the discussion went on, things began to slip. No one had done prework. The same voices kept repeating themselves while others stayed silent. Ideas floated around but never landed. Hours went by, energy dropped, and nothing concrete was decided. Priya leaned back, half-smiling at the déjà vu. “This feels just like our spec discussions,” she thought. “Everyone cares, but without preparation and structure, intent quickly becomes chaos.”
She could see the pattern. Without prep, people came in cold. Without priorities, everything seemed equally urgent. Without ownership, nobody felt accountable. Without sensitivity, some people’s inputs were ignored. And without proper tools, ideas got lost in half-written notes and random chats. Priya finally spoke up. “Friends, passion is not the problem, we all care.
But what if we add a bit of structure and agree on one theme instead of spreading ourselves too thin?” The room grew quiet, then heads began to nod. After a short but focused discussion, the team chose Environmental Responsibility. It felt relevant, aligned with their strengths, and everyone was energized. Sarah agreed to collect baseline data, Michael offered to build partnerships, and Priya took charge of shaping the plan. What had started as a drifting conversation suddenly had direction.
A week later, Priya found herself in a supplier spec workshop. These calls usually dragged, with different time zones, no detailed planning, and poor use of collaboration tools. A few people dominated while others tuned out. By the end, nothing felt decided. But this time, she remembered the CSR lesson and ran the session differently.
The workshop was planned in detail. Prep material was shared so nobody came in cold. Topics were prioritized so time went where it mattered. Roles were assigned so ownership was clear. Meeting times rotated between their time zone and the customer’s, so everyone got a fair chance. Cultural differences were respected, making the room more inclusive.
On top of that, collaboration tools were used properly. Core hours for overlap were fixed. A single shared doc became the source of truth. Async chat tools kept conversations moving after the call. A shared calendar with automatic time-zone conversion avoided confusion. And everyone agreed on clear response times, so decisions didn’t get stuck. The difference was obvious. Instead of spiraling, the discussion flowed. People were engaged, alignment was sharper, and outcomes finally stuck.
Even the customer noticed. In a follow-up call, one of them said, “We finally see your team driving specs instead of reacting to them.”
And it wasn’t just words. By avoiding rework and downstream issues, the team started saving around 5% effort every release. It may look like a small number, but across multiple releases, it meant faster delivery, fewer escalations, and stronger trust. As Priya thought back, she smiled at the irony. A CSR meeting, meant to decide how the company gave back to society, had actually taught her how to make technical workshops more productive. The same discipline that turned a noisy CSR debate into a real program had helped transform specs from endless discussions into meaningful collaboration.
5%
The lesson was clear: good intentions are never enough. Whether it’s CSR or specs, what makes the difference is planning, preparation, ownership, inclusivity, and the right tools. Every team has its version of a “CSR debate” in specs: too many voices, not enough prep, not enough overlap. If you’d like to see how we help product companies turn those conversations into clear outcomes, drop us a note at info@wonderbiz.in
Key Takeaway
Planned spec workshops meant no one came in cold, priorities were clear,
ownership was set, and rework dropped release after release.
