Meaning of phrase "to close the loop on this"?

I recently received an email from my colleague saying that "he wanted to close the loop on a task". I didn't quite get the context.

It would be great if you could let me know.

Solution 1:

Think of a simple electrical circuit consisting of two strands of wire, a battery and a light bulb.

We say the circuit (loop) is open when there is a gap somewhere; the electricity doesn't flow. The circuit is closed when everything is connected.

When the circuit is closed, an electron can be thought of as going from the battery, through the rest of the circuit doing stuff (lighting the bulb), and back to the battery.

Metaphorically, closing the loop means that the person who issued the instruction gets a report on the outcome. The instruction goes out, things get done, and a report comes back to the person who issued the instruction.

As an aside: the loop metaphor is also used in the context of recycling.

Solution 2:

It means he either wanted to talk to you about finishing the task or wanted you to finish the task on your own. Now only you can tell the context. As far as closing the loop goes it means a loop is something with encircles something else. But if the circle is open from one or more sides the thing it encircles spills out as figurative speech. To close the loop means to prevent it from spilling. So in your case it means work/task should be finished so that you or him or you both don't need to work on that in future.

Solution 3:

He wants everything communicated clearly and nothing left out or un-reported. Perhaps he might also have said he wants the task 'nailed down'? A fuller explanation is here.