A Small Lyrical Introduction
Once upon a time, I played basketball, and our coach constantly drilled into us: “If your pass isn’t caught, it’s your fault” or simply put—"The passer is to blame." Surprisingly, years later, I often recall this statement in work scenarios with developers, colleagues, or top management.
Have you ever faced situations where a developer repeatedly comes to you with questions about a task? Or, on the flip side, doesn’t come at all, but new additions keep cropping up for an already completed task? In both cases, the cycle time increases, meaning more time is spent on specific work. Typically, such an increase affects not only the developer but also adjacent production units.
How to Make a Great Task Delivery? The answer is to spend time crafting a template that makes the receiver happy and sets an example. Here’s how to break it down:
Block 1: Description (Functional Requirements)
This is likely the most extensive part of the task description.
What’s the easiest and most logical way to compile such a description? Whether in the format of User stories or another descriptive manner, it’s beneficial to address the following questions:
What’s the idea and/or the problem?
What do we want to accomplish or improve?
How should the system operate, and how should it respond to user actions?
What actions are available to the user?
Here, we write down all the logic of operations, attaching diagrams, lists, and tables.
How do I understand it?
This section helps not only the developer but also the manager. For instance, you might encounter direct or indirect resistance from development or management concerning the task. Correctly presenting facts and figures can make it much easier to gain trust and cooperation from all parties involved.
How to measure and cover?
Effectively, this is a hypothesis stating which metrics will change after the release. By working through this section, it becomes easier to prioritize execution in the backlog.
PR - Publicizing the Feature
This is optional. However, I believe that being able to discuss your work is incredibly important, both internally and externally.
Having completed the description, it’s time to equip the developer with less voluminous but crucial details of the task.
Block 2: Details (Non-functional Requirements)
This part is straightforward and fairly formalized, specifying all the context necessary for task execution. Depending on the team type and work, this block may vary, for example, a backend developer may not need interface layouts, though…
Technical Requirements and Constraints
What platforms are we planning to release on? Which browsers? Regions? Any specific frameworks?
Analytics Requirements
What are we tracking, how are we naming events, and where are they being sent?
Design Specifications
Layouts, guides, assets.
Error Handling
What types of errors? How should the system respond to them? What messages should be displayed to the user?
Localization
Is it needed? If yes, where can we source it, or what strings should we use?
Miscellaneous
Everything else that doesn’t fit the above categories:
- test accounts, development environments,
- stakeholder contacts,
- test cases (though this is next-level).
Living with It
At first glance, this checklist might seem daunting and potentially off-putting for task composition, but… Start crafting great tasks, and your team will thank you with their productivity, plus, developers will brag about having a fantastic manager.
Recommended Viewing
This translation maintains the article’s intent, adapting the content to an English-speaking audience while preserving the practical advice and structured approach to task management in IT projects.