Thanks for the reminder and dilbert. You make things a little easier.

Here is an excellent solution that helps minimize the presence of Digital Reckonings in the work place, and it starts at the Team Lead or Project Manager level.

1. If your organization doesn't have a formalized process for the project life cycle, you're already behind. You really cannot afford to skip this step. Document your process and revisit it on a routine basis. Keep what works and ditch what doesn't.

2. Make sure that review tasks are littered throughout your process. If a designer creates 3 designs, have them present them EARLY. Get eyeballs on the drafts ASAP. This isn't so much for criticism as it is for ideation/brainstorming. Schedule in the project plan 3 Design Review tasks. One for drafts. One for selection. And another before implementation (coding) even starts.

3. Software architects and programmers are not immune from this step. Once the design is finished and ready for implementation, schedule architecture design reviews and code reviews along the way.

4. Resist the urge to hide everything from the customer (internal or external) until after the lipstick and nail polish has been added. I know I know, you want to wow and dazzle them in a moment of spotlights, fanfare, and a dramatic unveiling of the final product. But that's a really crappy time to discover that your client has been thirsty for apple cider and you've baked him an apple pie.

If you schedule progress reviews, not progress reports, early and often… your team will become desensitized to the "Digital Reckoning" illustrated in the comic above. Oh and, "I'm 80% complete!" is NOT a progress review. That's a status report and in my experience it is very nearly useless to measure progress, let alone probability of success.

Someone take what I said and make it relevant to ministry or something.

peace | dewde