Here's something we've learned: the most important things to say are often the ones that feel too obvious to mention. You know that feeling when you're in a meeting and think "everyone already knows this," so you stay quiet? That instinct might be holding your team back.
Why obvious matters most
Obvious things are usually the most important things. When you get the fundamentals right, you can mess up some of the trickier stuff and still ship quality work. But when teams misunderstand the basics, projects die. Being good at shipping covers a lot of sins in our industry. A team that consistently delivers working software will be forgiven for architectural quirks, but a team that loses sight of what they're actually building? That's harder to recover from.
Your obvious isn't everyone's obvious
What seems obvious to you might be completely new to someone else. Our field moves fast. You can go from "I have no idea how this works" to "well, obviously that's how you do it" in about a week. A month later, you've forgotten you were ever confused.
This is especially true where we work across different domains. The frontend developer might not understand the deployment pipeline details. The backend engineer might not grasp the UX decisions. Someone took the time to explain the "obvious" parts to you back then.
Poor communication creates more work
Not saying the obvious creates poor communication and generates more work. When team members skip stating what they think everyone knows, assumptions pile up. Different people fill in different blanks, and suddenly you're building different products.
The result? More meetings to clarify confusion. More rework when assumptions prove wrong. More frustration when deliverables don't match expectations. The time you save by not stating the obvious gets multiplied into much larger time costs later.
Making it work at Dwarves
We've found a few ways to make "stating the obvious" feel natural:
- Start standups with context. Spend 30 seconds on "what we're building and why."
- Question assumptions out loud. When someone says "obviously we need to..." ask "can you help me understand why?"
- Write down the obvious stuff. In project docs, architecture decisions, even code comments.
- Embrace the teaching moment. When a teammate asks about something you consider basic, use it as a chance to align understanding.
Remember: If something feels too obvious to say, that might be exactly why it needs to be said.
