Note on Instructions (no claim to world domination)

How does it happen

Do you want to bring some business to a successful end? Seriously? And this is not a picnic outside the city, but a “serious” project for 3-4 months with the participation of five people, a couple of whom work remotely and have not seen each other in the eye (worse, their qualifications are definitely unknown)? And a tidy sum can take to develop a product, and besides, is there a feeling of overexpenditure, and is there a creditor with "big teeth" behind it? You have a poor idea of ​​the amount of work and, in general, how to accurately implement all this? You can’t control everyone, because you can’t imagine what each participant is doing (“ah, he went fishing again, and the project does not compile ...”)? You do not have enough qualifications to even understand what the next one sent youprogrammer? Do you have friction in the team from the very beginning? Or everyone smiles sweetly at each other, but do all Skype meetings end with only swearing or drinking beer with a clatter on the touch screen ( check the boxes against questions )?

You can only sympathize. Because it is impossible to do without proper project management, and the sooner the better. Because the screens do not tolerate when they clink about them.

So, you think this is rubbish and a waste of time. Like, project management is the bureaucracy and inheritance of the "old Persians ... soviet or Western Pharisees"? Then watch out. The case "will not burn out", but you - burn. In the best case, your project will die quietly, and you won’t even understand at what point this happened. First, one person will disappear, unnoticed like that, without even passing the last assignment, then the second ... At the same time, each will have one hundred plausible reasons about what happened and why you owe him money that you first hear about. But you yourself will come to your senses only after a week, or even two, after you should have received the results of work from them? Then you yourself will begin to devote less time to the project, and at some point you will find that you are dreaming of a completely different idea, persuade neighbor Mishka to take part in the new “super-millionth project”, but don’t even think about the old one. And it will all start over again. Only with the same result.

It could be worse. If you borrowed money from acquaintances, and even with a dark past, or received a contract from a distributor or at least a simple client, or took a loan from a bank, registered your LLC and became a general director ( “wow!” ), The matter may even end “ fried. " Do not say “gop” until you have been “shot”. If before the deal you think that signing this “cool agreement with blue seals and cool monograms in the corners” will somehow spur you and your colleagues, an inspiration star will light up on your foreheads and your strength will not leave you even after the fiftieth clinking on the screen, then you are very mistaken. Everything will be as before , but only until the moment when the creditors do not remember you. And they, unlike you, will remember. Because you now owe them by definition.

“Bullshit,” you say. - Our project is free . We are all volunteers (and generally from a parallel class). We owe nothing to anyone! ” Should not? This is the direct prerequisite for such volunteer projects for guaranteed quiet dying, described just above. Therefore, they should not do their work on time. And they should not provide quality. And all the more they should not report (Question: “No, but who are you?”. Answer: “And who are you ?!” Golden calf. ). Do you think this will end with something useful?

Who owes to whom?

Well, what do colleagues owe you? What do they need even in “free” projects? What happened as soon as you clapped hands together and joyfully cried out: “Let's go!”? This is strange, but despite the free nature of their services, everyone must now obey the instructions of the ... directives of the general director and other "generals", as well as instructions from their immediate supervisor. Of course, if all these posts exist, formally or not. And, of course, all these orders should fit into the framework of these very duties of yours and, of course, the powers of the “ordering”.

If you have been given an assignment, you are committed to completing it. The obligation consists of three principal and inseparable parts:
• your consentto fulfill (it doesn’t matter whether you want to internally, psychologically fulfill it or not - you signed up for the project, endure or quit),
• your ability (authority, strength, knowledge, skills) and
• actually accepting the conditions of the task (input parameters, requirements of the timing manager, quality, implementation methods, etc.).

There is such a thing as a "Texas handshake." Agreed, then you must fulfill the subject of the contract. There is an official contract or not, but it’s a matter of honor to bring everything to the end, moreover, as required. But this is there, in distant America, and here ...

We will be briefed on the spot ...

And now you begin to carry out the task, turn on the computer so quietly, don’t touch anyone ... “Read how to do it!”, The director screams suddenly running up, shaking some crumpled paper. “Follow what is prescribed!” The mood is falling. The determination to climb into Odnoklassniki is slowly dying away. “Damn bureaucrat! - you think. “Again, these job descriptions ...”

But what is written in these same job descriptions? Of course, the instructions that you must follow in place. It seems that everything is simple, although in practice in most organizations they have only a few sentences of a general plan, no one reads and does not want to read them, but this is another matter. Is this bureaucracy? No, not yet.

Instructions - part of the project management system. Let's talk about them. What is the instruction (its variety in the case of specific tasks - “standard operating procedure”)? This is a set of steps necessary to complete a particular task and solve possible problems that may arise “along the way”. “Insert the plug into a power outlet. Press the Power button, turn the frequency control knob to the right until you get a clear sound. If there is no sound, check the volume level using the indicator on the right ... ".

Why do we need instructions? A seditious thought for some, but for me there is nowhere clearer - to efficiently and quickly solve tasks and not to invent a bicycle. And in general - to set these very tasks on time, without which your project is doomed to ... Well, read above.

Pink reality glasses

Many will say: “Instructions make the system clumsy, unresponsive, unable to respond quickly to changes and emergencies.” However, this is not a specific instruction problem, but an instruction management system, which should allow to complement and adapt procedures to existing realities. The law may be bad, but this is the law - lawlessness is much worse. But if the law is bad, a system for changing it for the better is also needed. In the same place where the laws (instructions) do not change, starting to slow down progress and harming the common cause, and a false opinion arises like "instructions - into the furnace, we are better off without them."

Of course, sometimes, in especially simple, isolated cases, "you can do without them." Where people absolutely correctly understand each other, where they know exactly what and how to do, where there are no conflicts or any kind of external force majeure, just unaccounted circumstances pop up, where there are no exact terms, limited budget and indigestible terms of reference. Have you seen this often? Take off your pink glasses! This happens very rarely. After all, it works, while ... it works, nothing more. But this also happens in the minds of the creators of the next "project in a million." And this is sad. Because there will be problems. Mandatory.

Potato season

A simple example. The employee is given the only task and, say, its delivery is planned in a week. Ten days pass. The boss catches his head (and he accidentally remembered the employee - he simply owes him money), calls: “How are you? At least half done? ” Answer: “Yes, no way, Slavka, went to potatoes, season, however!” “There's a bucket from you!” The “chief” giggles. The customer comes: "Where is the order?" The boss is embarrassed, but firm, because this is not the first time: “We are doing it. We are testing. A coffee maker? Tomorrow we’ll send everything. ” Do you think tomorrow will be all set? The funniest thing is that perhaps "will be." Because they didn’t initially understand that the price of this task was 4 hours on the strength, but they wouldn’t conduct any testing - “Why? It seems to work! ”

Bit of theory

In this case, there is a need for at least a few instructions, more precisely, “standard operating procedures” (SOP, English version - SOP).

1. The procedure for initiating a review of the implementation of a task. There may be many ideas. Too many. There are enough madmen. And for their simple consideration it may take just a lot of time - your precious time. In this case, you must ask the following questions, which are described in this manual. What exactly needs to be done? Should this be done in principle ? How to describe it ? Who will consider her as a technical specialist? Who will decide on an attempt to consider this task in general? Is it feasible in principle? Now is that moment when the project is missing something? And where should it be described so that everyone who needs to read, and those who cannot be watched, do not peep? What words need to be described? Is it just a flashing idea or a consequence of another, already existing task? What materials to attach? What reasons to bring? Does someone need authoritative opinion as an argument?

All these things should be described in detail in the instructions as a step-by-step guide so that the very initial discussion of the problem with the boss or specialist does not result in a perplexed-irritated: “And what is it finally? I didn’t understand anything ... Let’s do something like that in a month or two ... ”

2. Proceduredefinition of resources for the implementation of the task defines the assessment instructions for the following resources:

• human (do you need programmers? And designers? Will one tester cope or exactly just the two of us?),
• financial
• temporary
• material (device, auxiliary device, computer for testing, etc.),
• informational (is the technical specification provided enough or do you need additional documents such as a description of a new technology, a new animation script, or information like passwords, server addresses, etc.?),
• resources in the sense of "software resources", for example, for programmers it can be third-party libraries or icons drawn by designers before.

3. The decision-making procedure on the need to implement the task. Based on the results of the cost determination procedure, it is necessary to make a decision - is it worth it to realize this task at all at the moment? Maybe look for alternatives, put it off until better times, or even refuse?

4. The procedure for describing the task for its implementation. When a decision is made that the task is worth implementing, it must be described in a format for specific performers. The option "Need to draw a tree" is very bad. It is unclear what kind of “tree”, where it will be displayed, why and, accordingly, in what style, what size, what are the output file formats, etc. Otherwise, the artist will have to redraw “birch to oak”, and then back and, for sure, more than once - but this is an overspending of time, energy, possibly finance, and growing general tension and conflict. In the case of programmers, it is still “more neglected”. They need to be given extremely chewed tasks that clearly define "where is left and where is right." To write to them “It is necessary to animate the gnome” means to run into at best homeric laughter and a radical alteration by you of the whole task. At worst it will be nIt happened or will not work at all, but in the end again the same failed deadlines and finances. Thus, in the procedure (there should be a whole package for similar tasks or posts) it should be very clearly described: how and what to describe for the developer so that your wish clearly coincides with its implementation .

5. The procedure for transferring tasks to the performer. It is not enough to write an assignment and with a tired but satisfied look lean back in an old but leather chair left over from the previous owner of the office. How will the developer get this task? Will he receive an automatic notification by mail or should he call the communal apartment and scream for a long time at the receiver, causing his spirit among 37 guests? Are you sure that he looks at the mail every 15 minutes? What will he undertake at all for his performance (otherwise potatoes have a season)? That when he takes it, you will immediately know about it, because you would like to control the very beginning and change something now? This procedure should describe in detail all these nuances - who, to whom, when and how to transmit documents and "give the go-ahead." In general, there should be the so-called principle of non - repudiation- if the task is started in a certain system (for example, Project Management like Podio, Do.com or Basecamp), then the recipient is guaranteed to receive it by email, phone and the like, and after that he basically has no right to babble like a child that "There was no notification, probably the server was buggy, and I sat and waited." But even if there is this principle in this situation, it is better to provide for something like the response of the performer: “The task is received, I understood everything.” For your peace of mind.

6. Implementation control proceduretasks. Well, the task is received. And it seems that even its execution has begun. What's next? The task can be very important, extremely. And the performer “has so many relatives in the country, and they are all so painful (Watch out for the car”) ... Control over the progress of work is always necessary. Oh, no, don’t call the developer every half an hour and ask in a hysterical voice how many pixels he already painted or wrote lines of code! It is annoying just creepy. However, information in the form of performance percentages, it is clear that approximately, he is obliged to provide - in the same Project Management system., Say once a day or once every two days, it does not matter - but, again, in agreement with this instruction. If the task is large, interim reports are possible on the course of execution and emerging problems - either tied to dates or to stages of work.

7. The procedure for completing tasks by the developer . This procedure is the essence of the description of specific actions that depend on the task actually performed. What should a developer do? How to do? What problems can be and what to do to solve them? There can be both two lines and 200 pages of long text, there are no universal solutions ... But this is precisely what often saves the time, nerves and strength of the performer.

8. The procedure for the assignment . So the work is done. Now it must be passed. The procedure describes how the results of the task are transmitted, to whom, in what form, how the notification of interested parties occurs.

9. Task Testing Procedure. Getting the results of the assignment does not mean the end of the story. It is necessary to check whether it has been done, with the proper quality, and so on. In fact, this is a testing phase (a huge separate topic for discussion). A very important stage, therefore testing procedures are an integral attribute of a quality product. Unfortunately, too often this is ignored by the developers. The testing instruction is written for a specific task, depending on its specificity and as detailed as possible. It lists all the conditions under which the "result of the task" can function, or the "how it should look like" if it is a drawing (that is, compliance with the technical task). A poorly written test script causes errors and bugs in the final product.

10. Procedure for accepting assignments. Testing in itself is just testing. Formally, the work on the task has not yet been accepted. Now it is necessary to describe the steps to “enable” the task both formally (put a “plus” on completion, and the piece-rate paid employee is also accrued earnings), and practically - for example, if this is a drawing, then what is done with it, what kind of stakeholder becomes this is known so that they can use it in their tasks, to whom it is transferred “physically”, where it is stored, how it is stored, etc.

11. A procedure for maintaining and monitoring the results is also possible .tasks. Indeed, in serious projects, the history of the task does not end there. It is often necessary to continue to monitor it - for one reason or another. In the end, subsequent general testing may find bugs in it, and the developer will be required to recall the details of how this "feature" was implemented. Perhaps the results themselves can inherently change over time or due to interaction with other emerging opportunities (completed tasks) - both intentionally and not. All this must be strictly taken into account, and for this there are already these instructions. Considering such things can be difficult.

Impressive? But these are only the basic, general procedures, instructions for maintaining "only" tasks! For separate, specific tasks, their SOPs are usually written. But it’s precisely these steps that help to fulfill all the tasks outlined, to do only what is required - on time, without exceeding financial or material resources and, ultimately, to complete the project, and not later regret that they generally got involved in doing such things, hiding eyes from a customer or lender.

Bureaucracy

Well, where and how does bureaucracy arise? Where does this disaster come from that are widely accused of instructions? It arises primarily in the minds of people, from the inflexibility of their thinking, from the unwillingness to not only follow something, but often just read. The instruction does not allow you to turn around in full glory? So change the instruction, but after the change follow it, remaining in the system, otherwise you will not get freedom, but anarchy.