Reader situation
You’re preparing a contribution: a post, a guide, a presentation or a resource for your Circle. You keep refining it, adding detail and polishing the wording. It takes far longer than planned, and you’re still not sure it’s ready.
Central idea
A clear standard helps you spend effort where it matters. Agree what a useful contribution needs to accomplish, and stop polishing details that do not improve that purpose.
Practical steps
- Identify audience. Decide who the contribution is for. 2. Define usefulness. Describe what the contribution needs to accomplish for them. 3. Choose quality checks. Pick a few checks that reflect usefulness. 4. Obtain focused feedback. Ask someone to check against those standards. 5. Finish. Stop when the checks are met.
Worked example
Fictional example
The people and details are invented to illustrate an approach. It reports no outcomes.
Owen is writing a guide on running retrospectives for his Circle. He has rewritten it four times. Using the checklist, he identifies his audience as new team leads and defines usefulness: a team lead should be able to run a first retrospective after reading it. He chooses three checks: the steps are in order, there’s a sample agenda and it fits on two pages. He asks a peer to check whether she could run a retrospective from it. She says yes, and suggests one clarification. Owen makes the change and publishes it the same day, resisting the urge to rewrite the introduction again.
Companion tool: Contribution quality checklist
1. Identify audience
- Who is this for? ________
- What do they already know? ________
2. Define usefulness
- After reading or using this, the audience should be able to: ________
3. Choose quality checks
Choose three to five checks that reflect usefulness:
4. Obtain focused feedback
- Who I’ll ask: ________
- My question: “Could you ________ after reading this?”
- Feedback received: ________
5. Finish
Ready to share on: ________
Boundaries
- Some contributions, such as those with legal or safety implications, need higher standards and more review.
- A clear standard isn’t an excuse for careless work. Accuracy always matters.
- Your standard may differ from others’. Explain the purpose if someone suggests changes that don’t fit it.
Member action
Ask a peer what would make your planned contribution useful to them. Use their answer to set your quality checks before you start.
Discussion prompt
How do you decide when a piece of work is good enough to share?
