Ink has power!

Do you ever have people second guess why you defined the content of a release even though they were in approval chain through email? Do you ever have people complain about the quality of a release when they forced you to send it out early after you told them there were issues? Do people forget about the effect of last-minute features they ask you to implement? You may want to consider old-fashioned ink-signature sign-off sheets for the phases of your product lifecycle.

People often forget casual conversations in person or through email but they do not often forget when they are asked to sign a document. The act of signing has power. In a world where misstatements and fraud are more closely scrutinized than ever before with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, more executives pay attention to what they sign. Even without this government oversight, many people take the time to examine a document which will contain their signature. The same is true with sign-off sheets. Here are the basics:

• Identify the stakeholders (the higher up the better)
• Provide an executive summary with the salient information
• Provide object information
• Hold up progress until you get a signature

One key to the success of a signature process is to identify the people who are the largest stakeholders. In most companies this includes engineering, product management, sales and support. Try to keep the number of people to sign at a minimum but do not scrimp either. Pick executives with the big picture and big responsibilities -- first line managers or even directors are probably not the right level. Figure out some way (faxes work fine) to have the signature process not bog down due to peoples travel or meeting schedules. Provide a meeting time in case the stakeholders want more information about what they are signing.

You must distill the information into easy to understand pieces and consequence. For example "Waived 50% of bugs that are required to be fixed by criteria and this may result in customer failures and reputation issues." Even better if you can color code critical issues with a red background. Provide layers of information attached to the sign-off sheet so that stakeholders can drill down if they wish.

Many times executives ask how people "feel" about a phase or release. I feel this is inappropriate because it is subjective, inaccurate and often causes significant disagreements between groups. Take a look at the criteria section in my book 100 Questions to Ask your Software Organization for more information on how to objectively qualify releases.

Finally stick to your guns. Often the real discussions do not occur until you require real signatures. If you forgo the process, you will be forgoing the real discussions. A great example of this is that sales teams often complain about what goes in or is left out of a release even after product management has collected their input and closed the loop with them. I have had success in getting to the real discussion because the sales vice president will not sign off.

Ink has power and will help your company make better informed decisions.

More later ...