1. Communication and Clarity

Ideally your team has a definition of done. But even if they don’t, there is probably some expectation of what done means. And, even better, the person reporting on status knows that. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have a disclaimer on the task’s done-ness.

Common things that aren’t done include writing tests, documentation, and edge cases. Take a moment and see if you can think of any more. Similarly, I don’t like the term done done. It implicitly blesses the idea that done doesn’t actually mean done. Be a clear communicator. If something isn’t done, don’t say it’s done.

This is an opportunity for you to convey more information. For example, “I coded the happy path and next I will add validation” or “I finished all the code—the only thing remaining is for me to update the user manual” or even “I thought I was done and then discovered the widget doesn’t work on Tuesdays.” All of these give information to your team.

2. Perception

Managers like hearing the word done. It means you are free to take on more work. Or help a teammate. Or pretty much anything that does not include spending more time on the task. As soon as they hear done, that becomes the perception. The but either gets forgotten or becomes a small thing.

Now you are moving on to the next thing when you didn’t finish the first thing. That’s where technical debt comes from! Sometimes technical debt is a choice. However, making that choice by discussing it is far better than having it made for you because you claimed to be done.

OK. I’m done with this article, but I still have to write the last part. See how that worked? I’m not actually done at all.

3. There’s No Partial Credit for Done

Done is a binary state. It’s either done or it isn’t. There’s no such thing as half done. Suppose you are building a pair of stilts and say you are 50% done. Think about what that means. It could mean you have one stilt. Not particularly useful. More likely it means that you think you have one stilt but still have to build the other one and then test. Testing is likely to reveal that you have to go back and change something. This rework means you weren’t even 50% done. You were optimistic.

Remember: don’t say you are done until you are done!