Working out loud is more than telling people what you’re doing. It has two halves, and each one on its own falls short.
The first half is observable work: your documents, drafts and decisions live where others can see them, follow them and add to them while you work, instead of once they’re “finished”. The second half is narrating: leaving a short trail of what you’re doing and why, on an internal blog, a microblog or a channel.
Narrate alone, and it feels like one more task on top of the ones you already have, which is why so many people push back. Leave your work in view alone, and others can see it but can’t tell where you are with it. Together they work: the work in progress is there, and your story gives it context.
What you gain is time, though it arrives from the other side. When anyone who needs to know how something is going can look whenever they like, much of the follow-up email, the status reports and the catch-up meetings fade away. And the history stays where it can be found, instead of being buried in inboxes or loose files.
A picture that helps: it’s like watching the film while it’s still being shot. Whoever wants to know where the rest of the team is simply looks at now.