I see the same conundrum over and over again with my clients: how to plan and manage work in a way that keeps people on their toes—but doesn't make them want to rip their hair out. (Trust me, you think I have this little hair for some generic reason?)

It doesn't seem difficult, right? Figure out what you want to work on, make a plan for working on it, and deliver. Job done.

Not quite.

Consider these questions:

• How do you gather and understand requirements?
• How do you track those requirements?
• How do you map them into real work that someone can deliver?
• How do you clarify when the work should be completed, what success looks like, and who is involved?
• How do you track all this without bogging down your execs (or your teams) with too much detail?

In the next episode of my open organization video series, I present an overview of the methodology I use with clients. It is simple, effective, open, and can work across startups to large-scale enterprises.