Being explicit about expectations isn't micromanagement

Tech leads love to talk about OKRs, technical specs, and project timelines. But ask them to define what “good collaboration” looks like, and suddenly everyone gets uncomfortable. We’ve mastered the art of writing process documents, but we’re surprisingly terrible at spelling out the human side of getting work done.

You’ve seen this before. Your team’s about to kick off a massive project — maybe a platform migration, maybe a complete rewrite — and everyone’s pumped about the goals. The roadmap’s solid. The technical design looks clean. High fives all around.

And then three months later you’re in the weeds wondering why your rock star engineer is making architectural decisions in a vacuum.

Here’s the thing: goals without explicit expectations are just wishes.

Sure, OKRs are fine — if you’re into heavyweight process theater — but they’re not going to save you from the awkward “this isn’t what I meant” conversations that are coming your way.

The Hard Lesson

I learned this lesson the hard way. When a Senior Engineer joined my team for a platform migration — you know the type, the kind of project that touches everything and could absolutely blow up in our faces if we get it wrong — I thought I had all the bases covered. We spent days aligning on goals: migrate services, keep everything running, ship it in three months. Non-negotiable requirements, clear success metrics, the whole nine yards.

But I completely whiffed on the expectations part.

Maybe I assumed they’d know our collaboration culture. Maybe I thought “senior” meant “reads minds.” Maybe I was too worried about coming across as a micromanager. Whatever the reason, I didn’t spell out what I needed from them.

Fast forward a few months: they’re heads-down coding away, making massive architectural decisions that are going to impact every team — and I’m getting radio silence. When I ping them? “Oh yeah, everything’s on track!”

Narrator: It was not, in fact, on track.

The Right Way

There’s nuance here, of course. Not every project needs this level of explicit expectation-setting — if you’re dunking on your team lead for not setting up weekly syncs for a two-day bug fix, you’re doing it wrong. But for any project that could blow up in your face? You better believe it’s critical.

Here’s what I should’ve said during our project kickoff:

You’re leading this migration, and that means working with other teams. Here’s what success looks like:

Weekly syncs with the infrastructure team until the architecture is locked down. No architectural decisions get implemented without their sign-off. This isn’t about permission — it’s about leveraging their expertise to avoid landmines.

Maintain detailed documentation of every technical decision in our wiki — the context, the alternatives considered, and why we chose this path. Post weekly summaries in the slack channel. This keeps every impacted team — and yes, that includes me — in the loop and gives us a clear record to reference.

When you hit walls — and you will hit walls — speak up. We’ve got people all over this org who’ve solved similar problems. Use them. Your job isn’t to have all the answers; it’s to find them.

The Key to Making It Work

The key is positioning these expectations as guardrails, not handcuffs. After laying out the framework, I should’ve asked: “What adjustments would make this work better for you?”

Because great expectations aren’t a one-way street — they’re the starting point for a conversation about how to work together effectively.

Would documenting these expectations have helped? Maybe. But let’s be honest — the real issue was that I was uncomfortable being prescriptive. I was trying to be the “cool” manager who doesn’t “micromanage.” And guess what? That cost us months of rework.

Here’s the reality: being explicit about expectations isn’t micromanagement — it’s leadership.

If you’re not doing it, you’re setting your team up for failure. And sooner or later, that’s going to come back to bite you.

Setting Up For Success

The beautiful thing about clear expectations? They’re liberating. When everyone knows what “good” looks like, they can focus on delivering instead of mind-reading. Your team moves faster. They build the right things. They don’t waste time guessing what you want.

Want to start setting better expectations? Here’s your playbook:

1. Pick your moments — focus on high-stakes projects where clarity matters most
2. Document expectations clearly, focusing on outcomes rather than process
3. Have a two-way conversation about adjustments and improvements
4. Revisit and refine as the project evolves