May 18th, 2009 |  by Jaan |  Published in Featured  |  4 Comments

Send only what they need

New project. Lots of paperwork. Lots of it! Specs, charters, charts, process outlines, notes and more notes. Let's start over... New project. A short, clear statement of work. A page or two about the scope. Done. It's been said a million times before: a project needs less than 10% of the paperwork you think it needs.
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Are you sending lots of docs, 1) out of habit, or 2) because “the client expects it”?

Ok, 1) Break the habit before it breaks you, and 2) They don’t, ask them if you don’t believe me. They expect to have a great project delivered on time and on budget by a kick-a** professional team that inspire them and make them do a better job. That’s what they want, not docs!

Sometimes docs are used as a wall to hide behind, a way to “process the process” rather than actually doing the work.

Send only what they need. Then do the work. Everybody wins, everybody is happy.

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  1. Jon says:

    May 20th, 2009 at 12:20 pm (#)

    Yep, keep it simple and concise. No need for docs that no one will read.

    If there are docs / info needed, just make sure they are well formatted and kept in a place where they can be accessed by people who need them.

    Backback by 37signals has an excellent example of this on their newly designed site

    >>> http://www.backpackit.com/examples

  2. Jaan says:

    May 21st, 2009 at 11:14 am (#)

    “If there are docs / info needed, just make sure they are well formatted and kept in a place where they can be accessed by people who need them.”

    Agree. That’s the other part of the equation. It is surprising how many co’s keep their docs in hard to find places, making each retrieval a project in itself.

    In this regard Huddle http://huddle.net and Basecamp shine brightly.

  3. Judit says:

    July 30th, 2009 at 8:17 am (#)

    Great tip. Short and to the point.

    It is nice (and very refreshing) to see that you are practicing what you are preaching - I’ve seen my share of 400-500 pages books on concise writing.

    I like everything about your site - the philosophy, the ideas, the design, even the pictures of the authors :)

    Even considering buying the book - and I NEVER buy how-to books on the web.

  4. Jaan says:

    July 30th, 2009 at 1:25 pm (#)

    Thank you Judit! We hope you like the book if you choose to buy it.

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