Defining Done

“Done” is not a natural stopping point — work always has somewhere else to go. Without a concrete done condition, you keep going indefinitely.

Before starting a task, write down exactly what it looks like when you’re finished. Not “make progress on X” — something you can actually evaluate: “draft sent,” “three sources compared,” “feature deployed.” When you hit it, you stop.

The done condition scopes the task before pressure sets in, and gives you permission to stop when you said you would.