Create requirements, tasks and deadlines

[marietheresa]

By now, you - and hopefully most people affected by the change - know generally what you want to achieve. Now, it's time to finalize things and fill in those details. That's right, we're making a plan!¹ So you'll want to answer your basic wh-questions² and use those answers to create requirements, tasks, and deadlines.

And yes, this is a continuation of #4. And that's okay. But while you might have mentioned the broad timeframe and the general task before³, now we need the details. And you'll need to be as detailed as possible to prevent confusion and misunderstandings. And that's important because it can help avoid undermining motivation.

So, define what the requirements are precisely. Right little text blurbs to explain them. Set deadlines for specific dates and not "the end of October"⁴ or even worse " in the fall". Make it obvious who you're talking to and what information is aimed at whom. Tell people about how you will support them and give details on that.

And remember, you don't have to share all that information simultaneously, but you'll want to get it all out quickly and definitely at this stage.

Footnotes

1. A plan that the people who do the change will (have to) follow. So think about them first when creating requirements, tasks and deadlines. You can always make an executive summary version for management later. ↩

2. What? Who? When? Why? ↩

3. It's good to keep people updated on that level if you can't (or don't want to) be more specific. Saying "this tool is going to be introduced in the beginning of next year" is way better than not saying anything at all (if it's true that is). ↩

4. What is the end of October? Hmm? Is is Halloween? Is it the last weekday in October? Does that mean by Halloween - so technically the day before - or by end of business on Halloween? ↩