202107261602 draft statuses
1% - Realizing there are planets 10% - Deciding between Mars or Venus 50% - Where to lane on Mars or Venus 99% - Launching the damn rocket
Every piece of work can be broken into four phases:
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1%: No actual work has started. At this point, you have a concept or vision but not sure about the details.
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10%: The early concept stage. This is the point where it's early enough we should be discussing the overall piece of work not the details within. Changes are inexpensive.
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50%: Some changes are expensive, some are not.
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99%: Most changes are expensive.
1% Draft
A 1% draft is a placeholder, it's saying "something will go in this space." This is the time to collect ideas, there won't be feedback since there's nothing to provide feedback on.
10% Draft
This is the time to discuss the overall piece of work and what it is aiming to accomplish. This is the time to steer the idea in the right direction. At this point, every piece of feedback should have a reason why. That context will serve the team well as the project progresses.
Example types of work to show at this point:
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Document with bullet points or paragraphs with commentary
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User flows
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Technical architecture diagrams
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Prototypes
Questions to ask:
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What’s the goal of this?
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What’s the desired outcome?
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Why are we doing this at all?
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Are there alternative directions we should explore?
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What are the trade offs we should be making? (use even over statements)
Example feedback to provide:
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This project looks too big, we want a quick win because of X.
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Check out these companies. I really like how they have solved this problem by doing X.
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We need to spend time on making sure this delights users, it's really important because of X.
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Focus on future scalability rather than hacking a solution because of X.
Feedback to avoid:
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Avoid the details
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Typos
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Detailed design feedback (placement, padding, colors, etc)
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"I don't like this"
50% Draft
At this point, you have something tangible. It's an opportunity to provide feedback on the direction (course correct) and discuss the important details. You have to be careful on discussing the details to avoid it being heard as criticism.
Example types of work to show at this point:
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Mockups
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Technical prototype
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Document with a lot of questions
Questions to ask:
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Is the work aligned with the vision?
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Is this the right flow/story?
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Does the architecture/framework/story make sense?
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What are the details we need to make sure are amazing?
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Why did we choose this alternative over the others?
Example feedback to provide:
Feedback to avoid:
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Avoid providing feedback on the details, instead approach the details as a discussion
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Changing the direction of the entire project (unless it's necessary)
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"I don't like this"
99% Draft
Resources
This approach is inspired by multiple articles online: