I maintain software A, B, C and database D and E. Database D and E are used internally by software A, B and C.
I am often get asked by my manager to put xyz functionality in software A/B/C. She does not have any clue how can this be done. That usually requires
- Adding field to the database
- adding, modifying stored procedures
- Changes in the .NET application (actual application)
I am not sure how to communicate these changes to my manager in an effective way.
For example do I
Send email, it is done and describe a brief description of the new functionality + anything else that I did on my behalf as enhancement?
Describe the main items in the task as bullets and mark them Done next to it. This would usually be 3 items.
Write a detail of of everything thing that I did to complete the task, example
- created abc field in database D
- Change stored procedure xyz
- added stored procedure def
- change the default year in dropdown z to 2012
- Changed styling of dropdownlist on page B
- Change values of dropbox from 1,2,3 to Jan, Feb, March ..
- modified code on customerservice.asp which now uses the new stored procedure
- Link to page 123 added in CM.asp
- New function added which calculates the value for functionality M.
- redundant variable j deleted
- Admin2 permission added to page jkl
- title of the page changed from this to this
- Error is now being reported when uploading
- successful upload is marked by green, errors by red
- Link ABC moved fro top left and place next to the product field
- A new utility was created which does the comparison, .... (I did this on my own)
The problem with approach 3 is that it can be quite time consuming + is it justifiable to write all that just say, the functionality is done? Is it efficient use of time?
One of my previous manager used to break down the project in these little tasks so a 1 month project would come up with about 40 tasks.
My goal is to communicate the work has been completed, and in an informative and professional way. How much detail do I include?
Note: My manager is non-IT person but she is expert on business logic and has a good know how of the application and the database.