Thread by @seanjtaylor

I'm procrastinating tonight so I'll share a quick management tool I use. It's close to the end of H1 so performance reviews are coming. I tell this to my reports: "Your work is going to be distilled into a story, please help me tell a good one so I can represent your work well"

A good story must be easy to understand and compelling. At all times you should think about what story you'll tell about your work. It helps you do good work and it helps me (your manager) get you the credit you deserve. A story has three parts: a beginning, middle, end.

Beginning of the story:
- Your work is well motivated. It addresses a clear need that you were smart to identify.
- Help me by being deliberate with project choice, finding good opportunities, and not chasing shiny objects. Generate buy-in and excitement before starting.

Middle of the story:
- Your work required you to do something challenging. You overcame some adversity, coordinated a large effort, or accomplished something technically complex.
- Help me by taking on challenging projects that stretch your capabilities and demonstrate skills.

End of the story:
- You followed through and delivered results. In retrospect, the work has had tangible (hopefully quantifiable) impact that people care about.
- Help me by persevering through obstacles, wrapping things up, making sure clients are happy, measuring success.

For better or worse, humans communicate in stories. Hitting on all three story parts makes it easy for me to communicate your work to others, to explain how great you are, and to make sure you are rewarded. Complicated stories or ones that only hit 1-2 parts are harder to sell.

It occurs to me this 3-part story gives the main failure modes for projects:

- Beginning fail: worked on the wrong problem
- Middle fail: didn't take on a big enough challenge
- End fail: didn't follow-through