Definition of Done
“Get shit done”.
This would be one of the most valuable statements to keep in mind during your career. Regardless which profession you work in or for how long you have been doing it. F*ck it, ship it.
Fulfilling a task small or big requires ownership, how it is done, that’s called experience.
When is something done ?
In software development, as for many other kind of work, processes exist and as any process, it has steps.
Done is when all the steps are accomplished, when the work finally reaches the end user and produces value. Anytime in between is considered as WIP.
In the Phoenix Project book, the authors help to define WIP (Work in Progress) as anything started but not shipped.
Worse, the more WIP or stale work we accumulate, the more chances it has to cost extra time or money!
Minimal Viable Product
In Agile, we define MVP as Minimal Viable Product. It scopes the feature to its bare minimum. This way we can fetch feedback quicker, iterate or pivot.
“Always implement things when you actually need them, never when you just foresee that you need them”. Ron Jeffries
Make sure the implementation is done in a way it can iterate with ease. But remember, done is better than perfect, tweaking endlessly a project will not produce any result.
In dopamine we trust
Puzzles could be quite complex, as children, we all start puzzles by building corners, it’s the most obvious pieces to put together, then we slowly move on to the more complex parts given clues from the corners.
The more unknowns we face, the more chances we get ourself plagued by self-doubt. Think your tasks as a puzzle, deliver corners while you figure out those uncertainties from the middle chunk.
By keeping the shipping gates flowing, you will release dopamine which is produced by this sentiment of accomplishment and will push you further.
Instead of facing this gigantic project which seems undoable. You will slowly climb it and gain small victories. One of the best way to keep yourself motivated is to track your progress properly, to dissipate doubts and rendez-vous at the top!
Next time you are ready to shoutout something you have delivered, express which value has been added instead, it will speak to a broader audience.
