I would suggest most of us work in jobs where we’re told what to do. A Pharmacist is told what prescription to make up, a Fireman is told which fire to put out, and a Cleaner is told what floor needs vacuuming. The best results come when the instruction that is given for the task that needs doing, is written down. It’s a way for the Doctor to makes sure the Pharmacist gets the medicine right, and it’s the best way for any of us to make sure our task is communicated clearly so it is more likely to be carried out accurately.

Yet inside our little offices, working within our Teams, for some reason, we don’t bother with the written instruction. Most often we’re told what is expected verbally, or in a passing email – that doesn’t necessary have all the information we need to complete the task, or that we might misunderstand or miss an important step. We already have an existing tool that would be perfect for streamlining this task request process – it’s called a Brief. We all know about Briefs as they’re always written when we deal with our Client work. We use it want to manage the Client’s expectations, to make sure we do a good job meeting their needs, to limit rework and misunderstanding and, most important of all, to know when we’ve completed the job so we can send out the invoice!

This Brief is also an invaluable tool for smaller, internal tasks, yet I’ve hardly ever seen it used that way. I challenge you to draw up a very simple brief the next time you need to ask a colleague to complete a task for you. It doesn’t need to be a complicated document, and it doesn’t have to be fancy – it just needs to be clear and accurate. It can be soft or hard copy in fact, Outlook has a Tasks tool which is built to do this very thing.

Your brief might include:

• your name and contact details
• the date
• when the work is due
• the network pathways to where files or collatorial are kept
• where you’d like the work to be saved as or stored or uploaded to

and any more information a person might need to complete the task. This works best if the task is communicated verbally when the brief is assigned so any questions that arise can be answered and added to the brief.

I would strongly suggest if you introduce briefs to your work communications that the amount of frustration and disappointment you may be experiencing now when tasks aren’t completed, or miss their deadline might now start to disappear. You’ll be able to track completed tasks a lot easer, cut down on rework and interpersonal misunderstanding while making you a better communicator, more efficient, and someone people enjoy working with.

Links: example of a simple brief | using Tasks in Outlook