Three Definitions of “Done” — And Why Finance Is Always Stuck in the Middle
Lindsay Ramirez
There are usually three definitions of “done” on any project. And none of them match.
Ops thinks “done” means the work started. IT thinks “done” means it technically functions. Finance thinks “done” means it reconciles, reports, and survives audit scrutiny.
Everyone believes they’re aligned. They’re not.
Expectation Drift: The Silent Killer
Expectation misalignment doesn’t show up as a crisis.
It shows up as:
- Rework no one planned for
- Timelines that quietly slip
- Teams “moving fast” in different directions
- Finance asking clarifying questions everyone is annoyed by
Because Finance is the first place misalignment becomes visible. Numbers don’t care about intent. They only care about consistency.
Why This Destroys Bandwidth
Expectation drift creates invisible work.
Work like:
- Translating vague decisions into numbers
- Reconciling data that technically “matches”
- Re-explaining requirements that were “obvious”
- Fixing things that were considered complete
So when leadership asks:
“Why is Finance so busy?”
The answer is: “Because Finance is finishing work other teams thought was done.”
Q1 Makes This Brutal
In Q1, expectation drift compounds.
Close.
Audits.
ERP work.
Integrations.
Asset onboarding.
Everyone wants speed.
No one wants to slow down to align.
So Finance becomes the buffer.
Absorbing confusion.
Catching inconsistencies.
Taking the hit for timelines no one scoped realistically.
The Thing No One Says Out Loud
Finance isn’t slowing execution.
Finance is protecting the organization from pretending things are finished when they aren’t. And that protection costs bandwidth. Until expectations are aligned, Finance will always look like the bottleneck — because Finance is the last line of defense before reality.
