Canonical page: https://tellenze.com/use-cases/clarify-work-before-it-starts Your team, on a better day # Ready to start. Still guessing. One person expects a small change. Another sees a whole new journey. Bring the questions into the open and agree what finished means before the team commits to the work. [See how it works](#a-better-way)[Join early access](#waitlist) What you’re trying to do ## Agree on scope, acceptance checks and complexity before starting. - 01Shared questions - 02Independent estimates - 03Reviewed definition Commit to a piece of work the contributors understand in the same way. How Tellenze helps ## Here’s how it works. 01 ### Start with the questions, not just the title. Bring a small set of unfinished work into a refinement room. Invite people who already have access to its sources, review the context and acceptance criteria, and share the questions that need an answer. [Explore refinement rooms](https://tellenze.com/platform/learning) 02 ### Reveal the assumptions behind the estimate. Collect private complexity estimates and rationales, including Need more context. Reveal them together and discuss why people see the work differently before settling on a size. [See collaborative estimation](https://tellenze.com/platform/learning) 03 ### Save the definition the team agrees on. A facilitator reviews and applies the description, acceptance checks, complexity and any genuinely separate child work. Defer items with unresolved questions until the team can make a useful commitment. [Follow reviewed changes into work](https://tellenze.com/platform/learning) An illustrative workflow ## A clear first step for better onboarding. One contributor thinks the request means a welcome email. Another expects changes across the entire account setup journey. - Bring the item and its open questions into a refinement with the relevant contributors. - Discuss the different estimates and narrow the first deliverable to the agreed welcome flow. - Save observable completion checks and apply the reviewed definition before execution. The next contributor has an agreed scope and concrete checks for completing the work. Start small ## Try it with one piece of work. Useful for product, engineering and operations teams whose upcoming work contains conflicting assumptions that would otherwise surface during delivery. Sound familiar? - People agree on the title but describe different pieces of work. - Estimates hide unanswered questions until implementation has already started. - Acceptance criteria say improve or make better without an observable completion check. Your first step ### Pick one upcoming item that two people would interpret differently. One workflow is enough to start. Join the waitlist and explore it with Tellenze when early access opens. [Explore early access](#waitlist) The details ## Before you dive in. Does an estimate tell us how long the work will take? Estimates describe complexity using the workspace’s T-shirt sizes or story points. They are not guaranteed durations or delivery dates. Need more context lets a contributor make uncertainty visible before the team decides on a size. Does opening a room change the work item? No. Opening a room, sharing questions or voting does not update the source work. A facilitator reviews and explicitly applies agreed changes. The work keeps its current stage unless a configured automation moves it. Keep exploring [Work needs a clearer purpose](https://tellenze.com/use-cases/connect-work-to-outcomes)[Context keeps getting lost](https://tellenze.com/use-cases/keep-context-with-work)[People and agents need direction](https://tellenze.com/use-cases/coordinate-people-and-agents)[Updates take over the work](https://tellenze.com/use-cases/share-progress-with-stakeholders)[Retrospectives need follow-through](https://tellenze.com/use-cases/turn-retrospectives-into-action)[Feedback needs follow-through](https://tellenze.com/use-cases/turn-feedback-into-owned-work)[Delivery is waiting on another team](https://tellenze.com/use-cases/unblock-cross-team-delivery)[Repeated work starts from scratch](https://tellenze.com/use-cases/make-recurring-work-repeatable)[Too much work stays unfinished](https://tellenze.com/use-cases/finish-work-before-starting-more) COME TAKE A LOOK ## A little less busy. A lot more together. Curious? Leave your email. We’ll keep you posted on early access and what’s new.