Finishing

My Friday Thought: Stop Starting and Start Finishing! Why is it such a difficult concept for people to grasp.

20% completion of five things is just five things just not able to be used yet. One thing 100% complete and you can start using it. Humans appear to have a desire to start many things, spin numerous plates and have many things open. Whilst perfection is the enemy of done, starting yet another thing is the villain of value delivery.

Technological delivery is no different. We not only need engineers to support in breaking down delivery into good enough for people to use over perfect. We also need stakeholders to understand that finishing one thing before starting another will improve quality, be more effective and get them to the end goal quicker.

Maybe 100% complete is too much like perfect, so there needs to be a balance, possible the 80:20 rule can help guide us there. Either way I love Kanban as a working ethos, and more so the intent behind its purpose and the simple but amazingly effective four word - Stop Starting! Start Finishing!

So what should you finish before you pick up that new shiny, fun and exciting thing to start.