Member-only story
Let’s start with a story. Peter, a software engineer, was working on a project when one day, his project manager, Tony, approached him to discuss the progress of a feature.
Tony: “There’s a task that needs to be completed. Can you take a look at it?”
Peter: “This is not difficult; I can finish it in two days. It should be ready to go live by then.”Two days later, Tony returned to check on the progress.
Tony: “How’s it going? Is it ready to go live today?”
Peter: “I’ve finished writing the code.”
Tony: “Has the testing team tested it?”
Peter: “Not yet.”
Tony: “Will they finish testing it today?”
Peter: “That… I’m not sure.”
Tony (frustrated): “What?! I already promised the business team that it would go live today!”
The Understanding Gap
In the story above, we are discussing the concept of “Beginning with the End in Mind.” The first question we need to address is: What exactly is the “end”?
In the previous example, the “end” refers to completion. However, Peter believed his work was done, while Tony did not. How could this happen? The root cause of their disagreement lies in their different interpretations of what “completion” means.
