9.7 Explaining value and limits to stakeholders

In everyday life. Think of the note left on the fridge for a babysitter. It gives the bedtime, what the babysitter may not do, who to call, and what to do if no one answers.

What you will learn. The six things to tell the people who rely on work that runs without you, and the words to avoid. You practice it in step 7 of the lab.

Why it matters. The design works only if the people around it keep doing their part. How you describe it decides whether they do.

At Brightline, the book's example company, Dave, the controller, made a mistake that started with one sentence. Maria, the office manager, had told him that the AP Worker now handled the pre-run review "by itself." That review checks the invoices before each Friday's payment run. "By itself" promised more than the design could do. It also led Dave to drop a check the design still needed. Stakeholders are the people who rely on the work, such as a manager, a client or the company that audits your accounts. When you explain recurring work to them, say six things.

1. What runs, and when. "Every Thursday at 7 a.m., the worker drafts the pre-run note."
2. What it reads. "The invoice list, the five AP concepts and the matters record."
3. What it never does. "It never approves, pays or contacts a vendor."
4. What a person still checks, by name. "Maria reviews the note by noon. Dave approves the payment run from his own login."
5. How you will know it failed. "Maria checks the notes folder at 8:15 every Thursday. If the note is not there, or it reports a problem, she does the review by hand." The check is outside the run, so it catches a run that never started.
6. What it is worth, measured. For example: "Over three parallel weeks, the review took 40 minutes instead of 150, with no errors reaching Dave." Only claim numbers you measured. If you have not measured yet, say so.

Avoid "fully automated," "by itself" and "hands-free." Name the human gate instead.¹ A stakeholder who hears "fully automated" will remove the person the design still needs.

Be just as clear about the limits. The worker can miss what it was never given. It can write a well-organized note that sounds sure but is wrong. It will run on Thanksgiving, a US public holiday that is always on a Thursday, if the schedule says Thursday. Saying so keeps the design working when you are no longer there to explain it.