Martha Tong, a Project Manager, shares her thoughts on the importance of understanding the context and concerns of stakeholders in a project. Here's a breakdown of her statement:

Importance of Understanding: Martha emphasizes the need to spend time genuinely trying to understand the issues at hand.

Seeking Clarity: She stresses the need to understand what exactly is being addressed or resolved within a project.

Continuous Learning: Martha mentions her continuous learning journey, suggesting that even with experience, there's always something new to understand or a different perspective to consider.

Balancing Speed with Understanding: She touches upon the challenge that project managers often face - the pressure to move quickly and get things done, versus the importance of taking the time to truly comprehend stakeholder needs and concerns.

Engaging with Stakeholders: Martha underscores the significance of dedicating time to understand stakeholders, listen to their concerns, and ask them deep, meaningful questions.

Empathy: She advocates for trying to grasp what life is like for the stakeholders, implying the importance of empathy in project management.

Critical Nature of Stakeholder Engagement: Martha concludes by stating that engaging with and understanding stakeholders is not just beneficial, but "utterly critical" to the success of a project.

In essence, Martha stresses the importance of stakeholder engagement and the need for project managers to balance the drive to complete tasks with the essential act of understanding and empathizing with stakeholder perspectives.