Doneness Generator

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“Doneness” is a word we created, i.e. When is something done? 

In order to know if something is “done,” one must have a metric by which to measure completeness. Sometimes this is also called an “exit criteria.” A quantitative list of deliverables expected when a body of work is completed. In the FTTM Methodology, the Doneness of each major program milestone is the starting place for planning. It is based on the concept of “Start with the end in mind.” 

A team outlines the incremental integration points or stages of a product from concept to reality, each major phase ending in a milestone. Each milestone then gets doneness criteria, which quantifies the expected outcomes at that point in time. This is the outcome that the team agrees upon for each incremental progression/step/phase in the project. By defining the end-state (i.e. doneness criteria) the team defines the expected outcomes they want to achieve. From this list of deliverables, the team develops the macro tasks that are required to achieve the outcomes.

The first step in the planning process is to create the doneness criteria. This is best done in a workshop with all the stakeholders present, so each topic can be debated and argued for by each outcome owner. Misalignment about outcomes is the most common failure when planning and executing a new product development program. They are not aligned on day-one, which is exacerbated over time as things change and more stakeholders get involved. Knowing what is to be delivered and when is an essential element of FTTM Planning. Further, reaching team consensus around these deliverables in terms of the specific functions or performance desired at a given point in time is essential. They always change over time, so having them defined and agreed upon at the start of the project provides a framework for continuous change, knowing what it was and what it changed to, over time.

In order to make the job of creating “doneness” with a team we have implemented a Doneness Generator, which is a formatted spreadsheet used to collect the data and then import it to fastProject. It can also go the other way and export doneness criteria back to the spreadsheet if the team makes changes once in fastProject. It becomes a great communication tool to send around to team members, since most people can open a spreadsheet, no need for MS Project. There are multiple tools in fastProject for defining the planning framework (see Tools/Build) for the complete list.

Following is an example of how the Doneness Generator works. 

How to access the doneness generator (tools/build)

Use Create Doneness Criteria to generate a blank Doneness form (Excel Sheet). Each sheet in the spreadsheet is a separate milestone. Typically we create 5-10 major milestones in every program. These are macro milestones, i.e. integration points from the start to the end of the program.

Example of a single milestone with it’s definition

The process of consensus is critical at this step when defining doneness criteria. Each milestone doneness criteria could take hours of team debate and discussion before everyone can agree on the expected outcomes. Each milestone becomes a new sheet in the file. The questions in the doneness generator are designed to explore the scope of the milestone. The questions provoke discussion and debate. The more discussion the team has means the better changes they have in aligning on the expected outcomes.

Once the doneness criteria is defined in the spreadsheet, it is imported to fastproject where the build process continues

Above is an example of what a milestone might look like once imported back into fastProject. Notice how the team converted the Objectives into a series of Macro tasks that come before the milestone. Everything in the doneness spreadsheet is also stored in the milestone Notes. If this is changed in fastProject, those changes can be exported back out to a new spreadsheet. This is an excellent tool for sharing with team members to reconfirm outcomes or change them over time as the project changes.

Each major milestone would receive a doneness criteria

Following are the prompting questions in the Doneness Generator. These questions have been designed and refined through hundreds of facilitated workshops with teams around the world. They usually generate lots of conversation.

Milestone Name

  • What is the desired outcome of this milestone?

  • Express it as a succinct line of text.

  • Use past tense language, e.g. XYZ qualified at Z performance level

Objectives

  • What are the high-level, measurable objectives of this milestone?

  • Express as a single line, starting with a verb

Success Criteria

  • What are the criteria that must be satisfied to consider this milestone "done"?

  • Express as a single line and in the past tense

  • Example criteria could be related to performance, quality, yield, cost

Assumptions

  • Essential: What are the "Must Haves"?

  • Avoid: What should be avoided (the Must Nots")?

  • Boundary: What constraints must we live with?

Risks

  • What could go wrong?

  • What externally could impact our ability to achieve this milestone?

  • What don't we know/what are the uncertainties?

Risk Mitigations

  • What can we do to reduce or eliminate the chances of the risks materializing?

Level of Confidence

  • What is your confidence in achieving the milestone on time?

A final word about the difference between Objectives and Success Criteria.

Objectives are:

  • Specific steps

  • Associated with a schedule and time frame

  • The means to the end result

Success Criteria are:

  • Measurable outcomes (from the objectives)