What Does Ready Mean?

Lena worked at a furniture company. On Tuesday, she asked Marco if the brochure, a small book showing their products, was ready. He said yes.

Lena arranged to have it printed that afternoon for Thursday's customer meeting. Then Priya found the wrong height for a desk. She had not checked the other details.

Marco explained that the design was ready to check, not to print. Lena stopped the printing, but the next free time was Thursday afternoon—too late.

Instead of asking everyone to work faster, Lena asked what still needed doing. Marco had finished the design. Priya needed two hours to check sizes and materials. The sales team still needed to check prices.

Lena offered two choices: use a checked computer copy or move the meeting. The sales manager chose the computer copy because the customer's travel plans could not change.

They gave each step a person and a finish time: finish the design, check product details, check prices, then agree it was ready to print. Only Lena would send it for printing. They also removed an extra photo page to save time.

Thursday's meeting went ahead with the computer copy. Paper copies would follow, but delivery cost extra.

Next time, Lena asked,"Ready for which next step?" The answer made clear what was finished and what still needed doing.