Shirley

Alarm bells should sound in your head the minute you hear anyone on your project utter the word “surely”, as in:

• Surely everyone understands.
• Surely you can do that without any more effort.
• Surely they’ll fix it if I tell them it’s broken.
• Surely you don’t mean now.
• Surely you allowed time for three review cycles.
• But you’re the expert. Surely you knew this was required.

Your immediate response should be to stop, check, and verify. Assumptions like this can derail a project quickly if they turn out to be false. Whenever you hear the word surely, this should be your cue to take a closer look, and get confirmation.

Think of it as an old friend Shirley. She can pop up any time, anywhere on any project. Watch out for Shirley. Because Shirley is not your friend.