Setting expectations with someone is one of the most critical pieces of effective collaboration. No matter the relationship, whether it be a friend, coworker, teammate, parent, manager, or student, it's equally important.
In a recent project at work, the understanding of where we stood in the project began to degrade. When promoting the applications to our QA environment, there were some immediate failures as testers began kicking the tires. My manager was curious about how these issues weren't caught at an earlier point through dev-testing. Long story short, my teammates and I understood an ask from management in a very different way than they meant it: we promoted the application to the QA environment ASAP, and continued development work in that environment, involving other testers as we built out the features. The features weren't finished yet!
My Understanding ≠ Management's Expectation
Instead of everyone getting up-in-arms about the situation, my brother and I (yes, my brother is my coworker) asked if we could chat with our manager to make sure everyone knew the path that got us where we are. No emotions, no stake, no arguments, just sharing what we thought was asked and listening to what the business expected. And just like that, things were clear! It's not always that simple, but if you can, do whatever it takes to keep expectations in line with one another. It pays dividends in the long run!
In a recent project at work, the understanding of where we stood in the project began to degrade. When promoting the applications to our QA environment, there were some immediate failures as testers began kicking the tires. My manager was curious about how these issues weren't caught at an earlier point through dev-testing. Long story short, my teammates and I understood an ask from management in a very different way than they meant it: we promoted the application to the QA environment ASAP, and continued development work in that environment, involving other testers as we built out the features. The features weren't finished yet!
My Understanding ≠ Management's Expectation
Instead of everyone getting up-in-arms about the situation, my brother and I (yes, my brother is my coworker) asked if we could chat with our manager to make sure everyone knew the path that got us where we are. No emotions, no stake, no arguments, just sharing what we thought was asked and listening to what the business expected. And just like that, things were clear! It's not always that simple, but if you can, do whatever it takes to keep expectations in line with one another. It pays dividends in the long run!
Jacob Brokaw
jacobbrokaw.com
jacobbrokaw.com