Before the work starts, write three to six checks that someone could answer with yes or no. "The price is shown in dollars." "It fits on one page." "The link opens the signup form." If all the checks are yes, the work is done. No argument.
"I thought it was done"
Sam sends the report. "Done." Dana opens it. It is not done. Where is the summary? Where are the charts? Sam says: you never asked for charts. Dana says: it is a report for leadership, of course it needs charts.
Both are right. Neither wrote down what done meant. So they are having the argument now, after the work, instead of agreeing before it.
Done checks end the argument before it starts
Done checks, which engineers call acceptance criteria, are a short list of things that must be true for the work to count as finished. You write them with the brief. The person works toward them. The reviewer checks against them. Everyone is looking at the same list.
They are not a description of the work. They are a test of it.
How to write a good check
A good check is:
- Yes or no. Someone can test it and answer. "It looks professional" is not a check. "It uses the brand font and colors" is.
- About the result. Not "spent two hours on it." Instead, "all three plans are listed."
- One sentence. If it needs a paragraph, split it.
- One of a few. Three to six. More than that and nobody reads them. If you need twenty, the task is really three tasks.
Example: the leadership report
Before:
"Write up the survey results for leadership."
Done checks:
- It fits on one page.
- It opens with the one decision leadership needs to make.
- It shows the three findings that matter for that decision, each with the number behind it.
- The two follow-up interviews are included, not just the survey.
- Every chart has a title and a source.
- Dana has approved it.
Now Sam knows about the charts. And if check 3 is missing when he hands it in, nobody has to argue about whether it is finished.
Example: the customer email
- The first two lines say what is changing and when.
- It says what the customer must do the first time they log in.
- The help article link opens the right page.
- It does not mention the pricing change.
- It is under 150 words.
Example: the design
- Three states are shown: empty, filled, and error.
- It uses the components from the design system, not new ones.
- Text is readable on a phone.
- The copy matches the approved wording in the brief.
- The file is in the shared folder with the agreed name.
How to do this with your team
- Pick one kind of work that causes the most "I thought it was done" moments.
- Next time you brief it, add done checks. Use the acceptance criteria builder to draft them in a minute, then edit.
- Ask the person: does anything here surprise you? Fix the list together. This is the agreement.
- When the work comes back, review against the list first. Only then add your own judgment.
After a few weeks, you will notice the same checks repeating for the same kind of work. Turn those into a standing list, a definition of done, that applies every time. Template here.
Where M-Tracker fits
In M-Tracker, done checks live with the task. When the work is marked done, M-Tracker reads the brief, the checks, and the work, and tells the person which checks are met and which are not, in plain words. They fix the gaps. The manager reviews a piece of work that already passes its own test.
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