Said done but not done: the most expensive three words

"It's done" is three of the most expensive words in a growing company — because done means something different to everyone who says it.

One word, four meanings

To the engineer, done might mean the pull request is merged. To the PM, it means it's in production. To the salesperson, it means the client can use it. To the founder repeating it on a board call, it means the whole thing is finished and working. Four people, one word, four different realities — and everything downstream trusts whichever one they heard.

Why the ambiguity is so costly

Because done is load-bearing. A feature marked done gets announced. A deal marked closed gets forecast. An onboarding marked complete gets a renewal scheduled. When done wasn't actually done, the cost doesn't stay contained — it compounds through every decision built on top of it, and surfaces at the worst possible moment.

Closing the gap

Two things close the said-done gap. First, a shared, explicit definition of done — so done means the same verifiable thing to everyone. Second, a check that pairs the claim of completion with the evidence of it: the deploy, the login, the payment.

The first narrows the gap. The second is what actually catches it — because even with a perfect definition, "done" is still just a label until something verifies it. That verification is the job of reality reporting.