About Artifacts…

Project Smells — Bad Communication (2)

Meetings sometimes became long and topics become difficult to follow. Sometimes we don’t even understand what are we discussing.

— Which are the next action items?
— Can we please focus on what’s important?
— Sorry but I’m not following you…

I always recommend the use of artifacts in conversations and meetings to make them more fluent, clear and productive. What are artifacts?

“In knowledge work, an artifact is any tangible, portable object that holds information. An artifact can be anything from a piece of paper to a sticky note or index card. Artifacts make it easier to keep track of information by making it a part of the environment.”

Robb Stark planning his battles using Artifacts .

The use of Artifacts follows the same principle of Visual Management. Make information clear by making it visible and easy to understand. Artifacts allow quick recognition of the information being communicated, in order to increase efficiency and clarity.

Mighty Rust using artifacts to keep track of an investigation.

— Lots of actions items? Use post-it to write them down and stick them to the wall.
— Lots of agenda points? Write them in a white board so everyone can see them.
— Complex architecture? Draw it very quickly in a piece of paper and see how everyone starts pointing at the core elements while discussing next feature.
— Distributed team? Open a shared document and start writing down the main decisions and key points.

Artifacts are a powerful tool to improve communication in projects, between team members or meeting’s attendants. Don’t forget to use them!