>"he says I probably just misinterpreted an offhand comment of hers as a hard requirement."
It's sometimes helpful to explicitly reiterate your understanding of tacit/implied direction, especially when in a junior position. For example, a short email of "my understanding is that you want me to do X".
A lot of this stuff boils down to communication. In academia, it's not as much of an issue because professors assign well-formulated problems with a definite solution. In business, a lot of the work is fleshing out those details and building a consensus about the right approach. Plus, it creates a trail to CYA (although that shouldn't be your primary goal)
>"he says I probably just misinterpreted an offhand comment of hers as a hard requirement."
It's sometimes helpful to explicitly reiterate your understanding of tacit/implied direction, especially when in a junior position. For example, a short email of "my understanding is that you want me to do X".
A lot of this stuff boils down to communication. In academia, it's not as much of an issue because professors assign well-formulated problems with a definite solution. In business, a lot of the work is fleshing out those details and building a consensus about the right approach. Plus, it creates a trail to CYA (although that shouldn't be your primary goal)