A classic answer to a ‘simple’ question, “It Depends” is what you’ll often get back from an experienced person whenever you throw them something formulated as “What’s better, A or B?”.
It can feel very frustrating to get this answer back. Maybe you wanted a quick confirmation or to settle an argument by getting the support of someone more senior.
“It Depends” is an answer asking for more context. It’s rare that there’s something that’s always a slam-dunk good choice, and probably more so when it’s a topic that someone needs to ask for help on.
It’s especially common in tech circles, but any complex field will be familiar with this answer. Where there are lots of ways to approach a problem, and the context of the problem tend to really matter, then you will find out that it really depends.
So, what can you do in this situation?
First up, accept it. You’ll hit the “It Depends” answer every so often, so be prepared to meet that request for extra context. A good experienced person may ask some immediate follow-up queries to get the context they’ve invited, but you can start to give it if you aren’t asked. “Okay, well, I’ve tried X & Y. My constraints are C, D & E. I need something that works well enough for this scale before the end of the month.”
Give the context, and you’ll get to a more useful answer from your available options.
The other approach is to go in with context, and rather than asking if “A or B is better”, you can ask “with this information, what could we try?”. Recognise that you get an “It Depends” answer by giving a blind choice, and step around it with some preparation. Who knows, by thinking about the context in more detail, you might just find the answer without any support!
So don’t get frustrated with “It Depends”, there really aren’t simple answers in complex spaces. Instead, recognise it as a request for more context, and build that shared pool of meaning to get to a good answer.
James Osborn 