People · Proving to Scaling
Commitments you keep
You ask for things so the other person knows what has to be done and by when, you only say yes when you can deliver, and you speak up before the agreed day if it isn't going to happen.
Worth reading first: Planning in weeks
Does this sound familiar?
- In the meeting you asked if someone could quickly call the client back. A week later it turns out nobody did.
- You said 'I'll have a look', and the other person thought it'd be done on Friday.
- You know on Tuesday that it won't be finished by Thursday, and you say so on Thursday afternoon.
- You hand something over, and the other person says: 'That's not what I meant.'
- You say yes to everything you're asked, and then you don't keep your commitments.
Who it's for, and when
For anyone who asks a colleague for work or promises work to someone else, so for almost everyone. Early on you sit next to each other and hear straight away when something isn't working, so it sorts itself out. It starts to matter once work runs across more people and more days, and you can't see what the other person is busy with any more.
The model
Flores saw that work between people runs on conversations. Someone asks for something, someone promises it, does it, hands it over, and the person who asked says whether it's right. It can go wrong at every step: a request nobody hears as a request, a yes that was really a 'maybe', a job that quietly sits there, or something that's finished but isn't what was meant. So every commitment has two owners. Whoever said yes owns the work until it's done. Whoever asked owns the request and says whether it's right.
A clear request names three things. Who: a name, not 'can someone'. What: what it looks like when it's done, so you both know when it's finished. When: a day, and a time if it matters. 'Could you have a quick look at that quote?' has none of the three.
There are four answers to a request: yes, no, a counter-offer ('not Friday, but Tuesday works'), or 'I'll let you know by three'. 'I'll have a look at it' is none of those four, and the other person still hears a yes. Only say yes when you can deliver. A no now costs less than a yes you don't keep.
If you can't keep a commitment, say so as soon as you know, not on the day itself. Say what you can do and when, so the other person can still make other arrangements. The lesson Owning your work says you finish what you pick up; this lesson is about the moment before that, when you ask and promise. Working out whose problem it is belongs in the lesson Who's got the monkey?, and taking bad news to your manager in the lesson Keeping your manager on board.
Fernando Flores, a Chilean government minister who later started his own companies, described in his PhD thesis at Berkeley (early 1980s) how work moves through requests and promises. With Terry Winograd he developed it into the conversation for action, in Understanding Computers and Cognition (1986). In The Speed of Trust (2006), Stephen M.R. Covey names clarifying expectations and keeping commitments as two of the thirteen behaviours that build trust.
1. Ask clearly
A name, what it looks like when it's done, and a day. Ask one person, even in a group. What's asked of everyone gets picked up by no one.
2. Answer with one of the four
Yes, no, a counter-offer, or a time when you'll let them know. If you don't know yet, say when you will. If the request is vague, ask: 'What needs to be there, and by when?'
3. A yes goes on your board
Whatever you promise goes on your Week sprint or in your calendar, with the day next to it. What's only in your head gets forgotten in a busy week.
4. Renegotiate in time
As soon as you know it won't happen, go back to whoever asked. Say what you can do, when, and ask if that works. Then you make a new agreement before the old one runs out.
5. Say it's done
Hand it over and say so. The person who asked says whether it's right. Only then is the commitment closed.
Pitfalls
Saying yes to be nice
People who are new in particular say yes to everything, to show they're keen. After a few missed commitments, nobody believes their yes any more. A counter-offer shows you're keen too, and that you know what you can take on.
Not following up on your own request
If you ask for something and never mention it again, you teach the other person that your requests can wait. Check on the agreed day whether it's there, and let them know when it's good.
Watch and read
Flores's loop in three minutes: asking, promising, doing and closing, and where it goes wrong between people.
Watch on YouTubeOn the part before the promise: asking questions until the request is clear, and negotiating before you say yes.
Watch on YouTubeIn Dutch: the difference between an expectation you never say out loud and an agreement you both know about.
Watch on YouTubeTo go further
The author of The Speed of Trust on why trust makes a team faster. For anyone who wants to know where kept commitments lead.
Watch on YouTubeRead
The Speed of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything
Stephen M.R. Covey, met Rebecca R. Merrill · 2006 · ISBN 9780743297301
Thirteen behaviours that build trust, including clarifying expectations and keeping commitments, with what to do and what to avoid for each one. Around 380 pages. Published in Dutch as De snelheid van vertrouwen (Business Contact, 2008, ISBN 9789047000877).
View the bookConversations For Action and Collected Essays
Fernando Flores, onder redactie van Maria Flores Letelier · 2013 · ISBN 9781478378488
Flores's essays from the 1980s on requests, promises and the loop that work runs in. Short, at 158 pages, and more theoretical. There's no Dutch edition.
View the bookApply it
- 1
Reread your last five requests
In the chat or your email. Does each one have a name, what done looks like and a day? If not, follow up on the request that matters most.
- 2
Pick one of the four answers for every request you get
Yes, no, a counter-offer, or a time when you'll let them know. If you're new and don't know whether you can fit it in, ask your manager what comes first, and then answer.
- 3
Put every promise on your board, with the day
On your Week sprint if it's due this week, in the backlog if it's later. That way you see on Monday what you've promised, and you don't say yes to more than fits.
Planning in weeks - 4
Check every morning: can I keep everything I've promised?
If you see something won't happen, go back to whoever asked, today. Not on the day itself.
Examples
Ready to use: a request, wrong and right
Wrong, in the team chat: 'Can someone have a quick look at the quote for Van Dijk?' Nobody feels it's meant for them, and whoever does pick it up doesn't know what 'have a look' means. Right: 'Sanne, could you check the prices in the Van Dijk quote against the new purchase prices? I want to send it on Wednesday at twelve, so ideally by the end of Tuesday. Does that work?' Who: Sanne. What: checking the prices against the new purchase prices. When: end of Tuesday. And a question that asks for an answer.
Ready to use: renegotiating, wrong and right
Wrong, Thursday at four: 'Sorry, the report isn't finished yet. It's been a busy week.' The other person can't arrange anything else now, and hears an excuse instead of a plan. Right, Tuesday at ten: 'I can see the report won't be fully done by Thursday: the October figures won't be in until Wednesday evening. On Thursday I can give you everything except the figures, and the rest on Friday at twelve. Does that work for you, or does something else need to give?' In time, what can be done, a new day, and the choice left with whoever asked.
The four answers, as sentences
Yes: 'Yes, you'll have it on Thursday at twelve.' No: 'No, I can't do that this week. Maybe Pieter can.' Counter-offer: 'Not Thursday, but Monday at ten works. Is that in time?' Answering later: 'I need to check what's already on my board first. I'll let you know at three today.'
Do this in your own business
Everything up to here is free. What you fill in for your own business, you keep in Boldcaster.
- You look back on a situation from your own work. Only you can read what you write.
- You set a date with yourself, and on that day the app asks how it went.
- You assign the lesson to your team and see who has done it.
- The quiz counts towards your progress, and you see which lesson comes next.
Four weeks free. You'll land straight in this lesson.
Quiz
6 situations. You need 5 of 6 right. You can try again at any time.
1.In the weekly meeting you say: 'Someone still needs to call the client back about the delivery.' Everyone nods. According to this model, what's likely to happen?
2.Your manager asks if you can write up yesterday's notes. You're busy and say: 'I'll have a look at it.' What's wrong?
3.You've promised the schedule will be ready on Friday. On Tuesday you realise you're a day short. What do you do?
4.You've been in the job for a month. Three colleagues ask you for help this week, and it won't all fit. What matches this lesson?
5.You hand over a presentation, and the other person says: 'I only needed three slides, not twenty.' What would have prevented this?
6.Every week you ask a colleague to fill in their hours before Friday. They're never on time, and you never say anything about it. What does the model say about your side?
Nothing is saved here. In the app, the quiz counts towards your progress.
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