I tend to think if I talk to other people (not betas or co-writers) about a fic than it's jinxed to never be finished. However, talking works really well for some people. I've worked with students who wrote terrible papers, expect if I transcribed as they told me what their paper was about.

I rarely do outlines. If I do, it's like one or two words describing the scenes. It really depends on the fic and the length of it.