Introduction to the WHAT family - The WHAT So WHAT and Now WHAT

A few days ago, I caught up with my former colleague. We worked together when I was Sales Operations Reporting Manager. My responsibility was compiling reports about unsecured loans sales analysis. Our chat quickly focused on work and the “good old days”. Those days I would collate slides about sales for Manco business review sessions. Our then Head of Sales would review the pack of slides sometime before the meeting.

He would softly say “So What” just as we start reviewing a new slide. That was a bit irritating for us, we recalled and joked. And we also thought he was being rude. Imagine how you would feel when someone blubs out “So What” halfway through your sentence. The key person for that matter. Little did I know then that he was introducing me to the reflective model created by Rolfe and others. This is called the “What? So What? Now What?” reflective model. Please pardon my then ignorance as the model has been widely available in the literature.

I got reintroduced to the “WHAT”, “SO WHAT”, and “NOW WHAT” reflective model years later by MBA alumni. I soon realized that the model encourages an individual to stop and reflect on their actions. Reflecting regularly allows me to deeply connect with my inner being to understand the current situation. I fell in love with WHAT? SO WHAT? And NOW WHAT questions and deemed them the WHAT family. These questions could be used in almost all my analysis. My thesis draft, for example, was structured using the WHAT family.

All three siblings allow for sub-questions we could ask. This is to match the situation or provide clarity. In so doing the WHAT family will be a useful tool for reflection. WHAT could be presented as; what issue is being addressed or population is being served? Kindly bear in mind that the “WHAT” question is about facts and not your opinions. SO WHAT could follow as; what did you learn about the people/community? NOW WHAT sample question could include; where do we go from here? Or what’s the next step in the process? This article aimed to illustrate endless possibilities to use the WHAT family for report writing. Other analysts and I have been using this approach for years with great success. Reports are received with positive feedback after being advised to apply the WHAT family approach.

Additional Resources in The WHAT Family

Article 03 - Introduction to the WHAT f.

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