To do != to get done

I won't pretend that it's my original idea. I've decided to borrow it from a cool book on project management because it resonates with me.

Let's imagine a simple task you have to get done.

Your wife asks you to buy a loaf of bread for dinner. In other words, your goal is to have tasty bread on your table, so you and your wife enjoy it with a soup today. When a task is so trivial, nobody doubts if it's is done or failed.

❌ You forget to buy a loaf.
❌ You buy some old bread that nobody wants to eat.
❌ You get hit by a car on your way home, and an ambulance takes you to the hospital.
✅ You enjoy bread today during the evening meal (at some X time).

To get something done is to get the result by the specified deadline with the specified quality. Everything else has nothing to do with "getting done" even if the sun has exploded.

What if we have a more complex and undetermined task?

A client asks you to design a landing page by the end of the week. Today is Monday. The task's deadline is 18:00 Friday - you should present your design that meets all requirements given by the client on Zoom meeting.

❌ You did nothing.
❌ You have nothing to show during the call, but you've been working hard all week.
❔ You came up with a great design (at least you and your mom like it) and even implemented it. You think the client will be more than happy.

The last point has a small probability that everything will be fine. But:
❌ What if you or your client forgets some small but cruical detail or your design doesn't actually meet all of the requirements?
❌ What if nobody else appreciates your genuis idea? After all, you have no more time to fix all the issues.

How we could have avoided this situation?

By setting control points.

You could schedule a call with a client on Wednesday, so he could validate your concept and point out the flaws. This way, you have just enough time* to fix everything by the Friday. Moreover, this intermediate call is another deadline that should stimulate you to not put the task off until the last minute.

*If you set an adequate deadline in the first place.

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