{"id":6446,"date":"2011-06-29T05:10:30","date_gmt":"2011-06-29T12:10:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/?p=6446"},"modified":"2011-06-08T09:25:23","modified_gmt":"2011-06-08T16:25:23","slug":"done-or-done-done","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/?p=6446","title":{"rendered":"Done or Done Done?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A common culprit behind schedule slips is adding up estimates for building subunits and not accounting for verification and integration.\u00a0 In software, a piece of code may pass unit testing, but fail when integrated with other blocks. The code may work on one operating system, but not the four that the product declares it supports.\u00a0 Similarly in hardware and larger systems, standalone pieces may not work well when combined. Even blocks that pass test cases may fail the more complex challenges that a real life customer designs.\u00a0 It is a huge source of frustration to the program manager and other stakeholders to be told something is done, only to find out that it requires more time and resources to be fully and completely done. \u201cBut they said<\/span> it was done!\u201d<\/p>\n

There are a number of ways to approach this very common problem. The easiest is to pad the schedule and figure that the integration and validation will somehow fit into the margin. This path is prone to further missed expectations and larger delays.\u00a0\u00a0 The best is to sit down with the team and spell out Definitions of Doneness.\u00a0 We distinguish whether the project has been implemented, reviewed, and integrated into the top level project.\u00a0 Reviewed might be a quantitative number of tests passed or a peer review.\u00a0 A project can be completed, but under review for a while if getting it correct takes a few tries. This first implementation milestone can never be called \u201cdone\u201d or earn the coveted green checkmark on a dashboard.\u00a0 \u00a0I color it a nice royal blue.<\/p>\n

Include these steps in the scheduling. By defining the steps of doneness, it makes it much easier to put them into the schedule.\u00a0 If using a gannt chart, there should be lines for verification, dependent on implementation, and then additional lines for verifying integrated designs.\u00a0 It can only help to remind individual estimators that their pieces may still need work when run in the context of other parts of the final product offering.\u00a0 A tricky part is scheduling time to fix things that may or may not be found in verification, especially when the sales team is screaming for the product to finish yesterday.\u00a0 Experience and the right mix of pessimism and optimism will help you produce a realistic schedule the team can count on.<\/p>\n

Deal with scoffers.\u00a0 The combination of impatient stakeholders and busy design teams creates rushed and insufficient definition of done.\u00a0 \u201cWhat?!? 3 months?? It should only take one month?\u201d is a good opportunity to define \u201cIt.\u201d\u00a0 What is included in the one month estimate? A prototype or a rigorously tested releasable product?\u00a0 Does it work in one well defined environment, or should it work in any combination a customer is likely to try?\u00a0 There is a chance that the one month estimate was asking for something less than the three month estimate was providing.\u00a0 Defining doneness can be used to shorten a schedule as well as lengthen it if there was a mismatch in expectations.<\/p>\n

It is possible that done means not only does it work, work in context, and work in real life tests, but that it is fully documented and incorporated into the training material.\u00a0\u00a0 Spelling out these requirements helps to ensure that not only is your first project completed nicely, your subsequent product isn\u2019t starved for resources at the beginning still working on \u201cextra\u201d stuff from the last project. \u00a0Training for customers and the people who support customers is often very important for product success \u2013 these steps need to be part of the original plan, and part of the definition of done.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hopefully you will heed my advice to invest time into defining doneness when setting a schedule and a plan to track it.\u00a0\u00a0 The discussion with each team \u2013 different skills may have different definitions of done \u2013 is a very worthwhile exercise to develop a solid and predictable plan your team believes in.\u00a0 Following up on doubts and apparent conflict is a good way to understand if there are gaps in expectations or other reasons a schedule may be flawed.\u00a0 I translate my definitions of doneness into colorful dashboards that speed up communication and add a little cheer to schedule reviews.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A common culprit behind schedule slips is adding up estimates for building subunits and not accounting for verification and integration.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1518,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,846,5,6,1,854,855,856,857],"tags":[195,39,33,64,94,146,110,84,211,46],"class_list":["post-6446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-goals","category-scope-2","category-time-management","category-communications","category-miscellaneous","category-pmbok-process-planning","category-pmbok-process-executing","category-pmbok-process-monitoring-and-controlling","category-pmbok-process-closing","tag-accountability","tag-best-practices","tag-common-sense","tag-communication","tag-conflict-resolution","tag-engineering-management","tag-getting-things-done","tag-management","tag-project-manager-role","tag-teamwork"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1518"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6446"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6446\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25123,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6446\/revisions\/25123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}