- Don't delete any emails
- Always send a summary email after a meeting even if it isn't full minutes
- Document decisions - if someone decides something then send them an email confirming the decision
- Point out the obvious - if someone changes their mind. Point it out to them. If they are a senior stakeholder then do this one on one. Even if they do change their mind then at least they'll feel that they owe you one. If they are competing against your project then make it visible to everyone.
- Don't rely on a conference call to get you the status. Build up a social network and trust to the water cooler conversations
- Go to the raw data. If its about development then do code reviews, if its about data warehousing then go to the data quality and volumes, if its about user interfaces then go to the usability studies.
The point on documentation is short, sharp, concise and irrefutable. Its there to make decisions visible and obvious and make non-adherence to those decisions an act of wilful stupidity or disobedience.
As a client said to a BAC on one of my more entertaining projects.
"Are you a complete idiot or an asshole?" (it was an American project)
Documentation isn't there to hide behind (CYA) its there to document facts and Just the Facts.
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