How to Close Out Tasks: Criteria for Done and Records You Can Look Back On

Finishing work is harder than starting it. A task you can’t close because of a small piece that’s left. Work you thought was done, but the client hadn’t actually checked. Six months later, someone asks “Why did we decide this?” and nobody can answer. To end the series, we look at how to bring work to a close.

Note: this article is written by the developer of GeckoFlag.

The short answer: write down the definition of done first, and put decisions in writing

You decide how work will end at the start, not at the end. And if you put each decision into words as it’s made, the record is already complete once the work is done.

Three reasons “done” gets fuzzy

• No definition of done has been written (how to write one is covered in Part 2)
• Nobody has decided who marks it as done
• A small piece of remaining work keeps it from being closed

Set your criteria for done

Apart from each task’s definition of done, agreeing on shared criteria as a team removes the guesswork. For example:

• The person who asked (or the client) has checked it
• The finished work is in the agreed place
• The people involved have been told it’s done

Also decide who marks a task as done: the person who asked, or the assignee (this was also touched on in Part 6).

Turn remaining work into a new task

Some tasks are mostly finished but can’t be closed because of a small piece that’s left. In that case, make the remaining work a new task and mark the original as done. The list then shows only what’s really left, and you can see how work is actually going.

Tasks that you’ve decided not to do should also be closed, with a one-line reason. A record of the decision not to do something is more useful than leaving it sitting there.

How to keep records you can look back on

1Write what was decided, and why

“Went with Plan A” alone won’t tell you, six months later, why it wasn’t Plan B. Write something like “Went with Plan A. Reason: it fits the budget and meets the deadline. Plan B to be reconsidered next fiscal year.”

2Write down decisions made in person or by phone, too

Put what was decided in a meeting into the task’s comments the same day. The memories of the people who were there start to differ sooner than you’d think.

3Say where the final version is

When there are several versions of a file, say which one is final in your report that the work is done.

4For recurring work, write up the steps

For an annual event or monthly work, write up the steps and things to watch out for once it’s over. Next time, preparation can start right away.

A short look back

When a big piece of work is finished, write down just these three things. The format doesn’t matter; a few lines is enough.

If you make “What to change next time” the first task of the next round of the same work, you won’t forget it.

Records make handovers easier

When someone else takes over, putting together handover documents from scratch is hard work. If tasks and comments are recorded as you go, “Take a look at this project” covers most of the handover. Only the things the records can’t tell (what the other people are like, circumstances that couldn’t be written down) need to be passed on in person.

An example of what can happen

How to keep records in GeckoFlag

• When you set an issue to a status that counts as completed, it drops out of “My Issues” on the dashboard. The issue and its comments stay, so you can open them later.
• You can mark a finished project as completed.
• In the issue list, you can search the text of comments by partial match. If your team gets in the habit of writing words like “Reason,” things are easier to find later.
• You can collect steps and rules in each project’s wiki.
• With file sharing, you can create folders for each project and keep the final versions there.

You can try the actual screens in the demo.

Summary

Decide your criteria for done at the start, and turn remaining work into a new task so you can close the original. Put decisions in writing, together with the reasons. Every approach in this series can be tried today, with any tool. Start with one that’s easy for your team to agree on.

SeriesAlso see Part 2, “How to Write Tasks People Understand,” and Part 6, “How Should You Report Progress?.” The bonus article, “How to Write So Teammates Who Speak Other Languages Understand,” is coming soon