Symbolism

I don't think you can underestimate the impact that symbolism can have on your software project. There's a series of tricks that rely on this to get stuff done, but the area I find it most useful is sign-off.

I almost invariably get wet-ink on a page, I get that page laminated, and that page goes on the wall.

Why?

Forcing people to sign with a pen makes them more likley to engage with a document than an email sign off. Don't ask me why it just does.

Laminating a document makes it official. It's a sign that we actually care about what we just aggreed to.

Visible tracked process. It's great to see your project grow and progress through gates.

This was all inspired by something I read in GTD about how improtant it was to have a labeller on your desk and how people jsut work better with nicely labelled file.