Flawless execution is a process by which a team delivers on the requests that are given to them with impeccable quality; solving for all the details with no issues to report from a stakeholder point-of-view. Beyond that, flawless execution is really the definition of what the must-haves are along with the prioritization of constraints, for both the stakeholders and the team.
The must-haves are just that: without them, the request has not been completed flawlessly. These items have to be considered very carefully because their impact on overall delivery is extremely high; the stakeholders and team need to come to an agreement at the start of a project.
Examples of must-haves are:
- Without error
- Providing business value
- Team capacity and working hours
Constraints also need to be agreed upon at the start of a project by the stakeholders and team. These are the items that stakeholders and the team are willing to use as levers throughout a project to make sure that flawless execution is being met:
- Work duration
- Item prioritization
- Client commitments
It is important that everyone agrees on what is means to execute flawlessly; it is the basis for identifying what is truly important when real decisions have to be made about the direction of a project. If done in an aligned manner and well, everyone should not only be happy at every delivery milestone, but also at every step along the way.