Most people don’t communicate enough. They don’t tell you where things are at with that project. They don’t tell you what’s going on with different pieces. They don’t tell you, “Hey, I’m behind on something.”
Be an over-communicator. In other words, tell everybody that’s impacted by anything you’re doing what’s going on so that they know what’s going on. Do it in effective ways. Don’t bomb their email account with a whole bunch of different emails, but, instead, say, “Hey, guys, I’m way ahead on this. I’m behind on these six things. Here’s what I’m doing about these pieces. Here’s how this could impact this particular piece. Here’s how I’m communicating to them.”
When you overcommunicate, you show to other team members that you care and that you are on it, on it, and you want to be that person that’s perceived as being on it. So we know you’re going to get behind. We know you’ll make mistakes. Overcommunicate the status of where you’re at, and people will go home at night in a restful state, knowing that there will be no surprises.