Calibration
Under, just right, over.
| Situation | Under | Just Right | Over |
|---|---|---|---|
| An open commitment from Monday | Starts new work and leaves the Monday item sitting. The person waiting finds out only when they ask. | Finishes it or names a new date before picking up the next thing. Says what will wait and who needs to know. | Guards every leftover thread until each one is perfect. Time-sensitive work waits while old items get extra polish. |
| The first approach fails midweek | Stops and waits for a cleaner plan or a new owner. The original date stays on the calendar. | Tries another path the same day and tells the people waiting what changed. Keeps the outcome and drops the method that failed. | Spends the rest of the week forcing the first approach. Neighboring work sits, and the date still moves. |
| Calling a piece of work done | Marks it done while the handoff, check, or last user step is still open. The next person finds the holes. | Confirms someone can actually use it, then stops. Leaves small nits only when they do not block use, and writes them down. | Refuses to close until every nit is gone. People who needed it wait while it keeps getting touched. |
| Two deadlines in the same week | Works whichever is louder and lets the other slip with no notice. | Chooses the one that matters more, tells the other stakeholder what will move, and finishes the first one so it can be used. | Promises both will land and splits the week so thin that neither result is usable. |
| A new request arrives midweek | Adds it without moving anything already promised. Both pieces start to slip. | Weighs it against this week's commitments. Takes it only if something else is deferred out loud, or if the new work is truly small. | Protects the original list so tightly that a small, time-sensitive ask waits a week for no real reason. |
| Giving status when the work is behind | Stays quiet or still says on track. The slip appears only when the date arrives. | Says what is late, what will still land this week, and what they need. Gives others time to react. | Sends frequent updates that restate the same risk. People spend the week reading status instead of unblocking the work. |
| Inputs are still incomplete | Waits for every input to be clean before starting. The date does not move, and the week goes by. | Starts with what is in hand, marks the assumptions, and adjusts when the rest arrives. | Builds a full answer on guesses so they can say they started. The real inputs arrive and the week is spent redoing it. |
| After a date is missed | Does not reset the plan. The miss goes unexplained, and the next date is just as soft. | Says what slipped, why, and the new date they will actually hit. Cuts scope if that is what makes the new date real. | Names a tight catch-up date to repair the miss. The following week starts already behind. |