This advice is veeeeeeery useful. Please share it.
On Communication:
- Answer the question
- Answer first, explanation after
- Be concrete
- When questions should be answered by a date
- Who questions should be answered by a name
- How much/many questions should be answered by a number. Dates, dollars, percentages. Define your units.
- Avoid weasel words (should, could, might, etc.)
- Own your problems. Don’t be defensive. “Yes; my mistake. Won’t happen again.” “I don’t know. I should know. I will have that information for you by Friday.”
On Deliverables:
- Ask for clarification if you are unclear on expectations (due date, format, content)
- If asked for a deliverable by a certain due date, send the document by that date or schedule a meeting to occur by that date and bring any requested documents for review
- If asked to schedule a meeting to review a deliverable, you are expected to schedule the meeting
On Doneness:
- Sprint goals should specify doneness
- DONE (i.e. D1) = Code complete, including unit testing
- DONE, DONE (i.e. D2) = Tested on pre-prod, QA signoff complete
- DONE, DONE, DONE (i.e. D3) = Launched in prod at 100%
On Dates:
- Be conservative when providing dates and expect to be held accountable
- I don’t like pushing dates back. Given the choice, I will always prefer to move them up.
- Assume that every date you give me will be relayed to our CEO with your name and the deliverable attached to it
- COB = Close of Business (5:00 pm)
- EOD = End of Day (midnight)
- EOW = End of Week (Friday, 5:00 pm)
