I’ve written before about How I use progress reports to stay on track.
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I think it’s an interesting topic, and an important one.
While I do believe transparency is important when working with clients, that doesn’t mean it’s easy.
1. I start with daily notes
As I mentioned above I think they’re important. They provide visibility, improve trust, and keep me on track. They also help me remember what was happening on particular days. They’re like breadcrumbs on the path to building solutions.
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2. Notes can highlight organizational dysfunction
Often in my notes, there are details of who I coordinate to get what done. Perhaps I need credentials to reach a particular server. But to get those, I need an email address. And to get that, someone in department X must set that up. And there are delays with that process.
Those delays can cascade through the onboarding process, frustrating everyone. Although the operations team is read and raring to go, the finance or legal team is not quite ready, and there are delays there. Or there are hiccups in some other frequent business process.
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3. Notes can highlight task complexity
Sometimes I hear the phrase “That should be simple to do”. Only to find the devil buried in the details. As we put boots on the ground, we find there are many dependent tasks that are not finished. So those must be completed first.
In this case I think complexity of notes is a real triumph. For CTOs that are more management oriented, they may not have day-to-day understanding of coding complexity. And that’s ok. But when that complexity is laid out in all it’s gory detail it can be a real educational experience.
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4. For some CTOs high level is better
For some CTOs, they don’t want to slog through endless notes about setting up credentials, or problems with permissions of keys on server X or Y.
While in these cases I still collect the detail, I may also add some high level bullet points, that focus on what all these underlying parts are in service of.
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5. Be prepared for archeological surprises
Inevitably there will be surprises. Whether department X does not know what department Y is doing. Or whether setting up an aws account takes two days, instead of two hours. Be prepared.
Inevitably I find these all help communication. And since I’ve been keeping them, I’ve never had a customer balk at an invoice. Notes don’t lie!
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