Canva
Guest: Cameron Adams
Behaviors
Ask detailed questions to uncover challenges and successes.
It helps to understand the depth of success and the path taken to achieve it.
Do you ever just take a moment to reflect on the insane success of this business that you've built?
Run cultural onboarding sessions for new employees.
Helps new employees understand and integrate into the company culture effectively.
I run everyone through the culture at Canva and what they can expect over the next few years as they work here.
Reflect together on company achievements during gatherings.
Strengthens team unity and provides a moment to appreciate shared accomplishments.
When the team all get together and we celebrate is when we finally have those moments.
Respond quickly to unexpected financial situations.
Ensures business continuity and can lead to better terms or outcomes, as experienced during the interrupted valuation round.
Mel and Cliff, pretty much jumped on a plane that night to go rally around a whole bunch of other investors.
Focus board meetings on product updates rather than financials.
Keeps the company product-led and emphasizes importance of product innovation.
At your board meetings, you have one slide on the financials of the business and then the rest of the deck is product updates.
Hire and promote internally to maintain team and culture fit.
Ensures alignment with company values and organic growth within the team.
Almost all your leaders are homegrown and it took you a long time to even hire outside of Australia.
Pass on tasks to others as the organization scales (give away your Lego).
Allows scaling and professional growth within the company.
Finding joy in the other things of building a team, passing on your experience.
Provide constant coaching opportunities instead of traditional management.
Fosters personal growth and skill enhancement among employees.
Everyone at Canva has a coach that is constantly thinking about this aspect of their personal growth.
Conduct regular 360 feedback sessions for employee development.
Creates a continuous improvement loop and cultivates a culture of constructive feedback.
We do 360 feedback from all the people that you work with and we do that on regular cycles.
Delay product launch until it provokes genuine excitement from users.
Ensures that the product is ready to create a strong market impression and organic growth.
For us, the product is the experience and giving people a great experience is an intrinsic part of the product.
Use SEO strategically by focusing on user problems and journey.
Drives significant, organic growth by aligning SEO with user needs and product capabilities.
He just really crystallized what SEO was and how it would actually help us grow.
Design compelling and simple onboarding processes.
Greatly improves user engagement and retention by making it easy to get started.
There was this thing holding people back from actually using it and understanding what Canva could do for them.
Launch major features publicly to engage users and generate excitement.
Keeps community engaged and attracts new users by showcasing innovations directly.
This has really opened our eyes... to redesign the way people work.
Develop local language support to enhance user experience.
Accelerates global user growth by making the product accessible and relevant to diverse markets.
We started localizing and internationalizing our products three years after launch.
Integrate AI tools to enhance user experience.
Offers users innovative tools that enhance the usability and appeal of the product.
We've had a team of machine learning engineers for probably seven years now.
Rituals
Cultural onboarding session
To introduce new employees to Canva's unique culture and values, ensuring alignment from the start.
I run everyone through the culture of Canva.
Corporate gatherings to reflect on achievements
To provide moments of collective reflection and recognition of shared success.
When the team all get together and we celebrate.
Regular product-centered board meetings
To maintain focus on innovation and product development as the core of business discussions.
You have one slide on the financials of the business and then the rest of the deck is product updates.
Internationalization initiatives
To reach and engage global markets through product localization and adaptation.
We started localizing and internationalizing our products three years after launch.
Coaching sessions for every employee
To assist in personal and professional growth by providing continuous guidance and assessment.
We have a system we call coaching at Canva where you have a coach.
360 Feedback Cycles
To encourage growth and open communication within teams by providing diverse feedback regularly.
We do 360 feedback from all the people that you work with and we do that on regular cycles.
Learn and Play Sessions
Introduce and teach new features through interactive and engaging experiences for users.
We have a whole series of learn and plays where when we launch AI photo editing.
SEO strategy meetings
Align SEO efforts with user needs and product capabilities to boost adoption and visibility.
Andre really harnessed the whole spectrum of that to produce the end experience.
Seasonal product launch events
To unveil significant product features and future directions, engaging stakeholders and the public.
We've got a big event in Los Angeles in a couple of months.
Regular international expansion reviews
To continually adapt and expand product offerings in alignment with global growth strategies.
And we tackled it with real vigor.
Gong
Guest: Eilon Reshef
Behaviors
Replicating successful pod structures when scaling teams
This approach ensures consistency and efficiency as the company grows, maintaining a successful team dynamic without reinventing the structure.
Then we said let's try to replicate what we have. So, what we essentially did is really replicated that.
Working with multiple design partners to develop new products
Increases the likelihood that the product will meet real customer needs and be adopted successfully, reducing the risk of building unused features.
Where every pod is working with sometimes a dozen design partners, sometimes two dozen design partners.
Engaging directly with customers to iterate product development
Allows for instant feedback and rapid iteration, ensuring the product aligns with user needs and expectations, which enhances customer satisfaction and product usability.
I showed him the half built stuff, I asked him to hit save, he hit save, and got an error message. And I told him, let's meet again in a week, and that save button was going to work.
Designating a research coordinator to facilitate design partner meetings
Reduces the administrative burden on PMs, allowing them to focus on product strategy and development rather than logistical coordination.
There's one person who's basically a research coordinator, and she's responsible for reaching out and she basically talks with the PMs.
Setting goals around the 'job to be done' rather than specific metrics
Allows teams to focus on delivering holistic solutions to user problems rather than simply optimizing limited metrics, which can lead to more meaningful product innovations.
Usually it's more around some sort of a job to be done, in our case it could be sales engagement, how do you prospect?
Having autonomy in team decision making with minimal top-down directives
Empowers teams to make informed decisions quickly, fostering innovation and responsiveness to changing conditions.
It's your responsibility to decide, do I know enough? Do I need more input?
Implementing a recruitment-style coordination for design partner outreach
Streamlines the process of finding design partners, allowing for a more efficient and effective integration of customer feedback into the product development process.
In our product team, there's one person who's basically a research coordinator, and she's responsible for reaching out.
Encouraging teams to show progress to design partners regularly
Builds trust and shows commitment to meeting customer needs, ensuring continuous stakeholder engagement and satisfaction.
Usually what we've done in this case is some sort of a weekly meeting where we show them progress.
Using multiple feedback sources to identify valid feature requests
Helps distinguish genuine market needs from isolated requests, ensuring that product development efforts are focused on high-impact features.
I expect them to say, hey, this is a unique... I didn't hear it from anybody else, maybe I'm going to practically reach out to more customers.
Fostering a culture of high transparency and open feedback loops
Ensures continuous improvement and alignment around goals, fostering a strong collective understanding of priorities and challenges.
We expect you to initiate a review. We have a weekly session where you can bring up your reviews.
Using a spiral method to quickly learn complex new domains
Accelerates the learning curve by leveraging knowledge from multiple experts, ensuring a well-rounded and deep understanding of the subject matter.
When you start hearing the same thing, you're like, okay, I kind of got to where I need to be, now I can make decisions.
Applying Hanlon's Razor to interpret team and customer actions
Encourages a more forgiving and understanding environment, improving teamwork and communication by attributing missteps to simple errors rather than ill intent.
Never attribute to malice, that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
Developing precise, narrow ICPs for initial market entry
Allows for a focused approach to market entry, maximizing the chances of gaining traction and becoming indispensable in a niche market.
Can you just talk about why you found it was so important to get so narrow, and just the power of getting really narrow, which is very counterintuitive to a lot of people.
Quickly making decisions on 51/49 scenarios to maintain pace
Prevents analysis paralysis and allows the organization to maintain high velocity, making the most of time-sensitive opportunities without excessive deliberation.
Both decisions are okay, so just go ahead with one, hopefully it's not huge mistake.
Assigning embedded AI specialists in product development teams
Ensures teams have immediate access to AI expertise, facilitating better integration of advanced technologies into products to enhance features and performance.
We have a couple of, maybe now it's three different pods, we have an embedded AI specialist team.
Rituals
Pod replication as a scaling strategy
Ensures consistent team structure and operating model as the company grows, leveraging successful configurations from smaller scales.
We said let's try to replicate what we have. So, what we essentially did is really replicated that.
Weekly design partner progress meetings
To maintain active engagement with design partners, providing them with regular updates to ensure projects are aligned with customer needs and feedback.
Usually what we've done in this case is some sort of a weekly meeting where we show them progress.
Ongoing customer engagement without strict coordination
Facilitates direct communication with customers for feedback while maintaining awareness through the customer success team to avoid issues, ensuring project success.
We did it much better because there's always going to be this customer frustrated about something, or in a negotiation about something.
Recruiting coordinator-style design partner meetings
Streamlines the process of engaging with design partners, similar to managing recruitment processes, enabling efficient partnerships and feedback incorporation.
And that person, all they do is just set up the meetings for the recruiter, who then sets up the meeting for the hiring manager.
Holding weekly review sessions initiated by team members
Encourages team members to actively seek feedback and guidance on their projects, fostering a culture of autonomy and continuous improvement.
We expect you to initiate a review. We have a weekly session where you can bring up your reviews.
Spiral learning method for exploring new fields
To rapidly gain a multi-faceted understanding of a complex subject by iteratively learning and revisiting concepts until comprehensive knowledge is achieved.
And eventually you feel like, well, I'm hearing the same thing again and again, and you're like, well, if I heard it from three people, I didn't learn anything new.
Running hackathons for innovative exploration
Allows spontaneous creativity and innovation, providing a platform for teams to experiment with new ideas that could lead to significant product improvements.
Even the AI fine-tuning example I gave you before, it's something came up in a hackathon, and people were like, let's start to build it.
Employing a recruitment-style process for engaging design partners
Efficiently facilitates the connection between product teams and a larger pool of users for real-time feedback and validation of product features.
In our product team, there's one person who's basically a research coordinator, and she's responsible for reaching out.
Using scrum-like agendas within pods to drive progress
Gives teams autonomy and clear task-oriented missions to solve, allowing focus on strategic deliverables that align with company goals.
They get an agenda, think like we launched a forecast product, that was a pod working on that.
Field trials of initial products with a defined testing group
Ensures new product functionality meets customer standards and adapts to real-time feedback before wider market release.
We had like 12 design partners when you first designed Gong, and then you told them, okay, we're going to start charging now, and 11 out of 12 are like, we will buy this now.
Stripe
Guest: Jeff Weinstein
Behaviors
Directly messaging customers after they mention a problem
Creates a strong connection with customers, and ensures the first-hand understanding of customer issues, potentially turning detractors into promoters.
The moment the customer felt compelled enough to go out of their way to talk about some problem, that's a unbelievable gift. I will leave a meeting to just get one message back to them.
Practicing silence during customer conversations to let ideas surface
Allows customers to express their genuine problems without interruption, leading to deeper insights into customer needs.
And it's not the customer's job to interrupt you and say, 'Hey, could you stop your pitch? I want to tell you about my top problem.'
Responding immediately to customer feedback or issues
Shows customers that their feedback is valued and acted on promptly, reinforcing trust and loyalty.
Even if it's, 'Hey, I got this. I'm about to go to dinner. Can I hit you up tomorrow?' They're like, 'Oh yeah, thank you. Awesome.'
Using a structured approach to picking customer success metrics that reflect customer value
Ensures the team focuses on creating genuine customer value, leading to increased customer satisfaction and growth.
What was the value that we're trying to produce for the customer and can we measure it from their perspective?
Incorporating customer feedback directly into decision-making processes
Leads to a product that better aligns with customer needs and increases the likelihood of a product-market fit.
If you're text message friendly with five or 10 of those, you are going to have so much direct signal that is infectious.
Framing user problems in specific, actionable terms
Transforms abstract customer complaints into concrete tasks, leading to more efficient problem-solving.
This style of product development and we can get into just how do you listen for that and then turn that into product.
Focusing on problems one and two with leadership
Ensures that the most critical issues receive the necessary attention, leading to effective strategic decisions.
You are one of the best people I've ever worked with at solving problems three through 100, but I need you stuck on problems one and two.
Regularly using vivid, specific examples to illustrate ideas
Makes abstract concepts tangible and actionable, enhancing team understanding and focus.
Charts that showcase things are going up into the right on one hand and then tweets on the other.
Encouraging cross-functional participation in empathy exercises like Study Groups
Builds a shared understanding of customer experience across different roles, leading to holistic product improvements.
We show up four to eight people total pretend to be some company with some outcome problem.
Impromptu, informal user testing with real users
Leads to rapid iteration and improved user experience by gathering real-time feedback.
Imagine running a focus group on a random Thursday afternoon with a bunch of different rest of the sales team.
Setting and pursuing ambitious benchmarks for user experience
Drives continuous improvement and innovation, leading to a better product that delights users.
And over about 18 months, we took that number from 15% to 85. We basically just flipped it.
Using varied metrics to illustrate customer satisfaction beyond simple NPS
Provides a multi-dimensional view of customer happiness, helping identify areas for improvement.
If you looked at the support tickets, there's just no way if you had a support ticket, you would not recommend it to a friend.
Inviting customers into the product development process
Ensures product development aligns closely with user needs and expectations, enhancing user satisfaction.
Inviting customers in to design the product.
Analyzing support tickets to identify product pain points
Helps identify frequent customer issues and prioritize improvements, leading to increased satisfaction.
What was the value that we're trying to produce for the customer and can we measure it from their perspective?
Using cohort analysis to improve feature adoption
Allows the identification of trends and timing issues, leading to better-targeted improvements.
Let's drive up how quickly we got to a final decision on folks and to reduce the number of overturned rejections.
Rituals
Stripe Study Groups
To cultivate empathy for the customer by role-playing as the customer and identify issues in the user experience.
This is just about practicing empathy for the customer and going through the product.
Problem Prioritization Sessions
To focus team efforts on the most critical issues, ensuring essential problems are addressed first.
You are one of the best people I’ve ever worked with at solving problems three through 100, but I need you stuck on problems one and two.
Customer Roadmap Creation
To derive the product roadmap directly from customer feedback during moments of silence in conversations.
That is infectious, both between the customers and internally, and so I'm able to bring more people into that practice.
Weekly Metric Review
To ensure alignment and progress towards key metrics that indicate product and customer success.
We could just assign them a topic. 'Hey, look at all these support tickets. Why don't you come up with the product spec, the scope, the solution?'
Usage of 'User Having a Bad Day' Charts
To visualize and address frequent customer issues, ensuring constant improvements and alignment with user needs.
If you are bored one day and you're not sure what to measure, just make a user having a bad day chart.
Rapid Response Sessions
To quickly address customer issues, turning potential detractors into promoters and maintaining a positive brand image.
I will leave a meeting to just get one message back to them.
Customer-Augmented Design Sessions
To involve customers directly in product design, ensuring the end product closely meets user expectations.
Inviting customers in to design the product.
Systematic Empathy Exercises (Friction Logs)
To continuously improve user experience by experiencing the product as customers do.
At Stripe, we do friction logs as well, which is a single individual will pretend to be a customer and go through a product experience end-to-end.
Cross-Functional Brainstorming (Impromptu User Testing)
To gather insights and foster collaboration across teams, driving innovative solutions and user-centered development.
Imagine running a focus group on a random Thursday afternoon with a bunch of different rest of the sales team.
Customer Experience Planning Workshops
To strategically design improvements in customer interactions based on quantitative and qualitative insights.
This style of product development and we can get into just how do you listen for that and then turn that into product.
Linear
Guest: Nan Yu
Behaviors
Engaging in in-depth questioning during customer calls to uncover underlying issues and motivations.
This allows for a deeper understanding of customer pain points and helps tailor product solutions that address the root cause of customer frustrations, leading to improved customer satisfaction and product fit.
My goal is to feel bad in the same way that customers feel bad.
Developing an initial product version in 10% of the allotted project timeline to test key hypotheses.
This ensures rapid iteration and early detection of incorrect assumptions, preventing wasted time and resources on unproductive paths.
By the time 10% of it has passed, you have a workable solution ... testing a key hypothesis.
Rejecting feature requests that focus on middle management reporting customization rather than IC efficiency.
Avoids software bloat and maintains a focus on improving the user experience for individual contributors, which enhances productivity and overall satisfaction with the tool.
The stuff that we absolutely have to say no to is customization features requested by middle managers ...
Iterating rapidly on product versions by testing extreme concepts to discover optimal solutions.
This approach expands the creative exploration space and helps find innovative, user-centered solutions by quickly learning what works and what doesn't through tangible implementations rather than theoretical discussions.
The biggest risk is you didn't see the right choice to begin with.
Utilizing existing customer data integrations to automate feature tracking and tagging.
Reduces manual input required from users, ensuring more accurate data capture and relieving users from tedious data entry, which enhances user experience and accuracy of insights.
We're going to hook up with your customer support tools ... automatically bring in feedback from these companies.
Prioritizing IC feedback and experience over feature demands of gatekeepers and middle management.
Maintains product simplicity and effectiveness, ensuring tools remain highly usable and enjoyable for the end user, which supports product adoption and retention.
It's very easy for a PM to say yes to this kind of request because ... they're talking with buyers.
Releasing early-stage product versions to internal and beta groups to gather feedback.
Enables early detection of issues and iterative improvements based on real-world user feedback, leading to a more refined final product that better suits user needs.
The first circle is just internal users ... We'll put it into some beta customer group as early as we can.
Allowing team structure constraints to naturally limit project scope and prevent overextension.
Naturally maintains focus on essential features and critical improvements, ensuring high quality delivery within limitations of manpower and time.
I think some of the reason we've done it this way is because we don't have the bandwidth to action everything.
Using real customer interactions as anchors for feature development debate.
Anchors discussions in tangible, real-world problems rather than hypothetical situations, resulting in more relevant and impactful features.
Tying it all the way back to real people ... a specific person, not one that you made up.
Converting negative emotions from user experience into product opportunities for improvement.
Transforms user frustrations into actionable insights for product enhancements, leading to increased user satisfaction and competitive advantage.
The more you see it from their perspective ... that's the opportunity.
Leveraging user feedback to consistently inform product backlog and development priorities.
Aligns product development with user needs and market trends, ensuring the build-out of features that will have meaningful impact.
Periodically, we accumulate some more stuff, and then we reevaluate ... what is our current understanding.
Focusing on addressing the misalignment of priorities between different user groups (e.g., ICs vs. managers) in feature development.
Facilitates a product that satisfies key stakeholders by strategically managing trade-offs and ensuring all user perspectives are considered in decision-making.
Find where the incentives are really misaligned amongst your user base.
Utilizing extreme scenario testing to identify relevant product features.
Promotes innovation and assists in homing in on optimal design and functionality by exploring the full spectrum of possibilities.
The path to get there was to do something totally extreme in one direction ... and then find where they really meet up.
Actively collaborating with sales and marketing to align messaging with product capabilities and user understanding.
Ensures that marketing materials are authentic and resonate with the target audience, leading to better product adoption and customer trust.
A big part of what we try to do is ... make us sound native to the language that our customers speak.
Creating a no-deadlines system that prioritizes essential cuts and efficiencies rather than detailed estimates.
This approach highlights agile responsiveness over rigid time frames, enabling more dynamic prioritization and rapid product advancement.
We do almost no estimating in order to hit deadlines. What we do is we ship as early as we can.
Rituals
First Week Working Prototype
To quickly test product hypotheses and validate key assumptions early in the project timeline, minimizing risk of later-stage issues.
By the time 10% of it has passed ... you have a workable solution.
Beta Testing with Expanding User Circles
To gather iterative feedback from increasingly broad user groups, refining product features and usability before general release.
We'll put it into some beta customer group ... then grow and then the ultimate release obviously is for GA.
Walking the Floor on Feature Use
To directly observe and understand how a new feature is being adopted and where users encounter issues, providing on-the-ground insights for iteration.
We'll get on a call with them and sit down with them and talk through it.
Sales-Product Deep Sync Sessions
To ensure alignment in product messaging and functionality expectations, enhancing sales effectiveness and customer clarity.
A lot of times people pick 'enterprise software' ... very underexamined how those teams interact.
Regular Backlog Conviction Updates
To reassess product direction based on accumulated user insights and ensure the roadmap aligns with emergent needs and opportunities.
... we accumulate some more stuff and then we reevaluate ... what is our current understanding.
Feature Release Communication Planning
To synchronize internal teams on the messaging and timing of feature announcements, ensuring clarity and impact in market introduction.
On our PM team, we actually have a full-time product marketer ... crafting the language for whatever upcoming release.
Weekly Demos of Radical Prototypes
To explore and communicate the boundaries of current product innovation, encouraging team creativity and spotlighting untested paths.
Sometimes, you know it's so hard because you know this is the most extreme version of the answer.
Troubleshooting User Emotions for Feature Needs
To discover actionable ideas for product improvements based on the emotional reactions users have when encountering challenges.
The more you see it from their perspective and the more they know that, the more they're willing to open up.
Tri-Annual Strategy and Vision Sync
To consolidate and communicate long-term strategic objectives across teams, ensuring alignment and shared vision.
...keeping an up-to-date analysis of each of those areas ... that everyone can engage with it.
On-the-Spot Iterative Decision Checkpoints
To make real-time decisions about product direction based on immediate feedback from both internal teams and key user groups.
You're setting up your future self to be able to make that decision.
Notion
Guest: Ivan Zhao
Behaviors
Asking 'What's making this hard?' to understand team challenges
This behavior helps to uncover specific obstacles the team faces, enabling targeted solutions.
Whenever there's friction, I just ask, 'What's making this hard?' and it usually leads to some very actionable insights.
Dedicating Mondays to alignment meetings
This ensures that everyone starts the week clear on priorities and expectations, reducing miscommunications and enhancing productivity.
Our Mondays are sacred. We spend the first few hours aligning on the week's goals.
Creating quick prototypes to test ideas
Testing ideas with prototypes allows for early feedback and experimentation, minimizing the risk of investing in the wrong direction.
We quickly whip up prototypes to see if the idea holds water before committing more resources.
Encouraging team members to propose alternatives during planning sessions
This behavior fosters creativity and ensures that all team members feel heard, often leading to better solutions.
I always ask the team to throw in any other suggestions when we're planning. It leads to some unexpected but brilliant ideas.
Setting a 'quiet time' each day for focused work
This gives team members uninterrupted time to concentrate on deep work, improving overall output and quality.
We've instituted a daily two-hour quiet time where no meetings are allowed.
Frequently updating the team on project milestones
Regular updates keep everyone informed and engaged, making it easier to adapt to new developments or changes in priorities.
I make it a point to update everyone on where we are and what we've achieved every week.
Conducting casual one-on-one check-ins
These check-ins provide a more relaxed setting for team members to express concerns or suggestions, leading to a healthier team environment.
Those casual one-on-ones have been invaluable for catching things that don't come up in group settings.
Documenting 'lessons learned' after each project
Recording what went well and what didn't helps the team avoid repeat mistakes and capitalize on successful strategies in future projects.
After every project, we document what worked and what didn’t, so we continuously improve.
Holding 'show and tell' sessions for projects
These sessions encourage learning and appreciation among team members by sharing knowledge and achievements openly.
The 'show and tell' sessions give everyone a chance to showcase their work and learn from each other.
Prioritizing customer feedback by integrating it into weekly reviews
Incorporating customer feedback ensures that the team remains customer-focused, leading to better product-market fit.
We always review customer feedback in our weekly meetings to make sure we are on track with what they need.
Setting boundaries for work hours
Clearly defined work hours prevent burnout and promote a healthier work-life balance.
We set pretty strict work hours so everyone can recharge and maintain a good balance.
Celebrating small wins
Regular celebrations of small wins boost morale and motivate the team to keep striving for goals.
We make it a point to celebrate the small wins because it keeps everyone motivated.
Seeking out diverse perspectives during decision-making
This approach broadens the scope of solutions and helps the team make more informed and balanced decisions.
I always try to get diverse input when making decisions so we don't miss anything.
Publicly recognizing team members' contributions
Public recognition boosts individual morale and encourages a culture of appreciation and motivation across the team.
Whenever someone does something great, we make sure to shout it from the rooftops.
Regularly revisiting and adjusting goals based on performance reviews
This ensures that the team's goals remain relevant and achievable, maintaining alignment with broader objectives.
We don't set goals in stone. They're living documents that we revisit and revise as needed.
Rituals
Monday morning alignment meeting
To clarify weekly goals and priorities, ensuring everyone starts the week on the same page.
Our Mondays are dedicated to getting everyone aligned on the week's goals.
Daily quiet time for deep work
To provide uninterrupted time for team members to focus on important tasks, enhancing productivity and quality of work.
We've established a daily quiet time where no meetings are allowed to give space for deep work.
Weekly project milestone updates
To keep the team informed of progress and ensure transparency about project status.
I make it a point to update everyone on where we are and what we've achieved every week.
Bi-weekly one-on-one check-ins
To provide a relaxed setting for personal feedback and open communication, fostering a supportive team environment.
Those casual one-on-ones have been invaluable for catching things that don't come up in group settings.
Post-project 'lessons learned' documentation
To capture key insights from the project to improve future performance and decision-making.
After every project, we document what worked and what didn’t.
Show and tell sessions
To share project outcomes and innovations with the team, facilitating learning and appreciation.
The 'show and tell' sessions give everyone a chance to showcase their work and learn from each other.
Weekly customer feedback integration
To keep the team focused on customer needs and ensure alignment with market requirements.
We always review customer feedback in our weekly meetings to make sure we are on track with what they need.
Work hours boundary setting
To ensure team members have work-life balance, preventing burnout and promoting well-being.
We set pretty strict work hours so everyone can recharge.
Celebration of small wins
To maintain high morale and motivation through regular recognition of achievements.
We make it a point to celebrate the small wins.
Quarterly goal revision sessions
To ensure goals remain relevant and aligned with ongoing team performance and organizational objectives.
We don't set goals in stone. They're living documents that we revisit and revise as needed.
Various
Guest: Melissa Tan
Behaviors
Hiring individuals without prior experience in a specific field and encouraging them to use first principles thinking to approach problems.
This approach led to innovation and fresh perspectives, as seen with Dropbox's go-to-market strategy which benefited from innovative ideas from employees who started with a sales perspective and moved into different functions.
If you take people that are just super smart, they've never done it before, one advantage of that is they can innovate because I think they come in with, I don't know anything. Let me just figure this out.
Reframing assignments and setting clear success metrics for new team members.
This helps new team members understand expectations and accelerates their ramp-up process, leading to timely contributions and boosting confidence.
I gave them that feedback and afterwards, ever since then they have been just on a tear and they actually have mentioned that in later conversations.
Providing ongoing, candid feedback while showing belief in the employee’s potential.
Direct and constructive feedback, when coupled with a supportive attitude, helps team members improve, leading to personal career growth and potential successful follow-ups.
I think sometimes as a manager it can be maybe, you want to avoid the uncomfortable conversations, but I actually think the more direct you can be but also saying this is my intention.
Presenting candidates with opportunities to suggest improvement on existing work (e.g., pricing pages) during interviews.
It gives insight into their problem-solving approaches and creativity while also testing practical application of their skills within the company’s context.
I sometimes would say, 'Hey, do you have your laptop? Can you pull up our pricing page? Curious to get your thoughts, what would you want to change?'
Creating a culture that encourages team collaboration and sharing of insights.
Fosters an environment where collective knowledge and shared learning exceed individual efforts, enhancing team output and satisfaction.
I actually think this is why a lot of folks on my team, something that they actually appreciate is knowing what success looks like and knowing how they'll be measured.
Encouraging open communication in team meetings through reporting, hypothesis discussion, and collaborative problem-solving.
Maintains alignment on goals, encourages sharing of successful strategies, and keeps teams focused on large-impact changes.
We have a weekly meeting where we look at the metrics together. We also will do updates around the room to talk about initiatives and identify areas we want to work with.
Infusing a culture of ownership by clearly defining scope and responsibilities.
Promotes accountability among team members, leading to proactive problem solving and enhanced project ownership.
It's a feeling that we're owners and that really proactive mindset of how am I going to solve this problem? I'm blocked by this team, what am I going to do about it?
Infusing fun and light-heartedness into daily work routines to mitigate stress and enhance workplace satisfaction.
Reduces pressure and burnout, fostering a more productive and engaged team.
At the end of the day, this is very personal me, but the more fun you can have, the better everything is.
Running user tests by observing the onboarding experiences to gather qualitative feedback.
Provides insights into potential improvement areas in product usability, leading to better product experiences for users.
If you are a growth team, maybe thinking about splitting up by problems to solve that are really meaty by areas of the funnel like activation, monetization, etc.
Retaining a connection with former team members, offering career support and guidance beyond their tenure.
Builds long-lasting professional relationships that can lead to opportunities for mutual growth and collaboration.
I'm still in touch with a lot of people that I've managed and I've helped them. Whether it's looking for their new job or they have career advice, I always make myself available.
Inviting candidates to receive feedback on work in progress during assessments.
Provides insight into adaptability, openness to feedback, and collaborative potential before hiring decisions are made.
Before that, we have that preparation call with me where often candidates will have questions like, 'Oh, I need to know this data,' or 'I'm curious about X.'
Defining a clear mission that supports action-oriented goals for the team.
Aligns efforts with overarching company objectives, drives motivation by clarifying the purpose of daily tasks.
And then we have our mission. The why. Our mission, the why we do it is we want to build these delightful experiences for our users.
Conducting hypothesis-driven experiments informed by first-party data.
Leads to more relevant and impactful innovations that are directly applicable to the company's unique challenges and user base.
Starting your experiments based on your own data and right-sizing the experiment.
Leveraging cross-functional feedback loops to enhance product development and go-to-market strategies.
Promotes a more aligned approach to new initiatives, enhancing the product and market strategy effectiveness through shared insights.
As a growth team, one of the big values that we can have is actually giving that feedback back to other teams at the company.
Instilling a 'devils and the details' mindset, emphasizing execution quality in testing hypotheses.
Improves the reliability of experimental outcomes by ensuring robust testing set-ups and focused execution.
The way that you execute ends up really mattering. That was the second learning.
Rituals
Weekly Metrics Review Meeting
To align teams on current performance metrics, updates, and identify collaboration opportunities.
We have a weekly meeting where we look at the metrics together. We also will do updates around the room to talk about initiatives.
First Principles Hiring Process
To recruit individuals with strong analytical capabilities and a collaboration-oriented perspective.
They looked for first principles thinkers, so not necessarily your experience, but how you approach problems, how you know the right questions to ask.
Feedback Preparation Call for Candidate Presentations
Sets candidates up for success through feedback, helping evaluate adaptability and incorporation abilities.
And then the other thing I make sure to emphasize is it's really about wanting to know how you'd approach it.
Quarterly Planning Sessions
To define strategic initiatives and align on important projects between growth and product teams.
Quarterly planning where we're each identifying projects that we're driving. There's some projects that we might also work on together.
Cross-Functional Flying Formation Meetings
Define roles and responsibilities across growth and product teams to coordinate on initiatives effectively.
We created a flying formation when we were first starting the growth team at Webflow.
Executive Onboarding Checklist Creation
To streamline user activation by leveraging best practices and continuous feedback from onboarding observations.
Our team is trying to figure out, how do we make the early experience seamless as possible, reducing the steps involved?
Growth and Product Retrospectives
To reflect on past quarter initiatives to learn and iterate on previous strategies for ongoing improvement.
And then identify areas we want to work with and plan how things should move.
Mentorship and Career Development Check-ins
To provide guidance, feedback, and career growth opportunities to team members regularly.
It's actually that lifelong journey of just developing that person.
User Testing and Feedback Sessions
To gather direct user feedback on their experience, particularly for onboarding processes.
Finding five individuals that are part of your target audience, just doing user testing, set up a Zoom, watch them onboard onto the product and have them talk out loud.
Team Huddle for Candid Feedback Sharing
Provide an open forum for team members to discuss barriers to success and gather advice.
I often find that I am encouraging the team to work together...fill in context if I think someone on my team could contribute.
Airbnb
Guest: Vlad Loktev
Behaviors
Asking a ton of questions before advocating for a point of view.
This approach allows for gathering information that might be unknown, leading to better decision-making.
I'm going to ask a ton of questions because I fundamentally believe maybe there's something I don't know and there's information that I need to understand to make a better decision.
Regularly reevaluating priorities to align with the company's highest priorities.
Ensures focus on impactful work and prevents working on less critical objectives.
I woke up every day and I asked myself two questions basically. Number one, what are the highest priorities for Airbnb today and over the next three months? And then two, what can I do to actually make a meaningful dent in those priorities?
Conducting back-of-the-envelope math on projects to estimate impact.
Helps in understanding and prioritizing projects based on their potential impact on the business.
Every single project that we worked on at Airbnb, we did back of the envelope math with assumptions to help us understand the impact that something would have.
Saying 'no' to non-essential activities.
Helps maintain focus on high-priority activities that drive impact and avoid distractions.
If you were to say yes to absolutely everything that you have to do at a company, you would be distracted all the time with tons of things that will not make impact.
Calling out 'the elephant in the room' during meetings.
Enables leaders to address real issues, leading to more transparency and better decision-making.
The one thing that I always deeply appreciated was that no matter how hard things were, you always called out the elephant in the room.
Using inquiry first before advocacy when disagreeing with someone.
Creates a more open dialog and can lead to more informed decision-making.
A lot of people approach a conversation with a point of view and they begin advocating immediately. Me, I always take the opposite approach. I inquire first.
Developing a personal motto focused on impact.
Keeps one aligned and motivated towards achieving the most meaningful outcomes.
Impact, impact, impact, impact. That's the only thing that mattered.
Throwing away or ignoring things that cannot be changed (the 'shit bucket' technique).
Helps manage stress and maintain focus on controllable factors that impact future outcomes.
I would write down something that wasn't going well...I would crumble a piece of paper, and I would throw it in my shit bucket.
Incorporating the Serenity Prayer into daily work.
Mentally prepares one to accept what cannot be changed, focus on what can, and discern between the two, reducing stress and promoting clarity.
Grant me the serenity to accept the things that I cannot change, the courage to change the things that I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
Connecting the team through shared 'sprints' under artificial constraints.
Builds team camaraderie, fosters creative problem-solving, and can lead to quicker innovations.
For me, especially when you're not doing this by yourself, and you're doing this with a team of people, it was deeply rewarding.
'Poke the bear' by openly challenging leadership with cold hard data.
Prevents groupthink and ensures leadership is constantly challenged to consider alternative perspectives.
If you have a strong view after you've really grounded yourself in the truth and you feel like you've done your homework...don't be afraid to poke the bear.
Letting fires burn by focusing on the top three priorities each week.
Encourages prioritization of tasks that matter most, leading to more effective work.
We would not talk about longer-term priorities. It was literally like for this week, what are we trying to get done, and it could only be one to three things.
Aligning closely with leadership on group priorities to maintain clarity and focus.
Ensures that every team member is aware of and working towards group goals, avoiding wasted effort on less critical tasks.
You've got to let other people burn fires too, and it's very actually empowering.
Relying on strong data and intuition to set big goals.
Can drive greater innovation and progress beyond what's considered possible.
You start thinking about all the downstream consequences. The reality is, it's not about hitting the goal, it's about thinking how to hit the goal.
Explain decisions and share context with team after a decision is made.
Maintains team morale and ensures everyone is aligned and understands the rationale behind decisions.
Even performance reviews and promotions, no matter how much impact you made, no matter what you did, if you were not also exemplifying core, you didn't get promoted.
Rituals
Weekly Leadership Meeting
To set and agree on the top three priorities for the week, ensuring all leaders are aligned.
I kicked off every Monday with a leadership meeting where we would talk about our priorities for the week.
Human Tunnel Welcome for New Employees
To create a memorable and welcoming experience for new team members, embodying the culture of the company.
I was standing behind this giant wall and there was silence...you run through under everyone's cheering...I still remember that as one of the most amazing moments.
Top-Down Decision-Making Meetings
To foster informed decisions by having leadership come together to listen, question, and decide on strategic directions.
In that room where we made many of the hard decisions with Brian, the reality was he asked a shit ton of questions.
Core Values Interviewing for All Hires
To ensure every new hire embodies company core values, sustaining cultural integrity.
Even when we had thousands of people already at the company, when we were hiring people, everybody had to pass core values interviews.
Instant Book Transition Presentation
To advocate for the transition of product features, leading to better market positioning.
I remember getting up on stage in front of the entire company and explaining why this is actually good for humanity.
Serenity Prayer Reminder
A personal ritual to help maintain focus and serenity amidst daily challenges.
That prayer was so powerful for me that I actually wrote it out on a piece of paper, like on post-it notes, and I would read that thing every other day.
Shit Bucket
To systematically release frustrating thoughts and focus energy on constructive actions.
I would write it down, I would crumble the piece of paper, and I would throw it in my shit bucket.
Aligning on Fires to Let Burn
To collectively decide on which non-critical issues can be deprioritized, maintaining focus on vital areas.
We would jointly agree on the fires that we would let burn.
All-Hands Communications
To maintain transparency and alignment by sharing business updates directly from leadership.
Eventually, I started doing a lot of all hands, and I started sending the weekly thoughts from Vlad.
Founder-Led Rapid Design Sessions
To introduce purposeful chaos for quicker iterative design, fostering creativity and innovation.
He then picked a project that he thought was important...we're going to design this in 24 hours.
Atlassian
Guest: Megan Cook
Behaviors
Engaging in 'Fight Club' sessions to proactively address conflicts with team leaders.
Creates a dedicated time for difficult conversations, preventing conflicts from worsening and fostering better relationships.
It's 30 minutes every week, and it's just for myself, my engineering, and my design leader; and we get together, and we know that we're going there to have a conflict.
Dividing teams into peer feedback groups to facilitate open and regular feedback.
Encourages a culture of sharing, improves work by making feedback a regular practice, and strengthens team relationships.
So we divided the team into these smaller groups for peer feedback...and then everyone's expected to give feedback.
Organizing on-site meetings every six months for team-building and skill workshops.
Fosters deeper relationships, enhances team skill sets, and encourages innovation through shared learning experiences.
One of the other things we do is we get everyone together just like every six months.
Using a $10 game to prioritize individual tasks and assess time investment.
Helps team members re-evaluate the allocation of their time to ensure they are focusing on the most impactful tasks.
We've just started trying something new called the $10 game for priorities.
Synchronizing leadership team calendars to block out deep work time.
Ensures uninterrupted periods to focus on creative work, thereby boosting productivity and solving complex problems more effectively.
So my leadership team and I, we actually sync up our calendars, so we end up having these long stretches twice a week all at the same time.
Proactively seeking feedback and involvement from stakeholders early in the development process.
Builds advocacy and reduces resistance by aligning stakeholders' needs and insights early on, ensuring the project is guided by comprehensive inputs.
Partnering with a whole bunch of different stakeholders... we went to very early with the idea and the proposal and we got their feedback.
Implementing asynchronous status updates to enhance meeting efficiency.
Allows meetings to focus on problem-solving rather than updates, optimizing productive meeting time and reducing unnecessary meetings.
I personally hate having status updates as a meeting.
Encouraging use of video and audio recordings for clear, casual communication across time zones.
Facilitates better understanding through tone and expression, improving communication effectiveness across different time zones.
We would record videos back and forth and they're quick... it comes across.
Focusing planning meetings on solving specific problems rather than updates.
Increases the efficiency and impact of meetings by keeping them purpose-driven and solution-focused.
If we're having a meeting, this is to solve a problem.
Using thematic weeks where cross-functional teams come together for focused workshops and social interactions.
Boosts team morale, enhances collaboration, and cultivates innovative ideas through unstructured conversation and setting.
We book out entire floors in the office and then for an entire week we're just there.
Approaching project meetings with an open mindset, focusing on solving problems instead of presenting perfect solutions.
Fosters innovation and adaptability, allowing for collaborative improvements on ideas and solutions.
You want to be clear about your hypotheses and what are your facts.
Using visual and compelling presentations to illustrate project impact and gather support.
Inspires stakeholders and increases buy-in by vividly demonstrating potential project outcomes and customer impacts.
So our head of design... has this great mantra of show don't tell.
Iterating on small-scale product developments to prove concept viability before scaling.
Validates ideas quickly and economically, enabling smart investment decisions for scalable innovation.
We started pretty small too. So I think if you have a hypothesis and you can start small, you can get that investment more easily.
Consistently integrating customer feedback into product development cycles.
Ensures product updates align closely with user needs, enhancing user satisfaction and loyalty.
We bake in these rituals just to make it super easy for everyone to do that.
Using design-thinking derived methods such as the wonder-explore-make-impact-scale framework for product development.
Encourages innovation while systematically validating ideas through measured investments, ensuring readiness and fit.
We have really small groups with stage gates that we call wonder, explore, make, impact, and then getting to scale.
Rituals
Fight Club: Weekly Conflict Resolution Meeting
To address and resolve conflicts proactively in a dedicated, structured setting, fostering trust and improving team dynamics.
It's 30 minutes every week, and it's just for myself, my engineering, and my design leader.
Bi-weekly Peer Feedback Groups
To facilitate open feedback sessions within smaller team groups, enhancing collaboration and improving project outcomes.
So we divided the team into these smaller groups for peer feedback groups and the idea is that they meet every two weeks or so.
Semi-annual Onsite Team Meetings
To enhance team cohesion, encourage skill workshops, and strengthen personal connections in a remote work setting.
We get everyone together just like every six months so all of the product managers get together in the same place.
Bi-Annual Full Team Gatherings
To conduct workshops and have informal interactions that strengthen cross-functional relationships and enhance productivity.
Every other six months, what we do is we get all of the engineers, designers, everybody who's working together.
The $10 Priority Game
To help individuals and managers reflect on task prioritization to better align work with goals and optimize time use.
You and your manager might come in and you can list out all of your priorities and then show you through just dividing up $10 where you're spending all of your time.
Synchronized Deep Work Block
To ensure leadership teams have dedicated, uninterrupted time for focused work, promoting productivity and creativity.
So my leadership team and I, we actually sync up our calendars, so we end up having these long stretches twice a week all at the same time.
Customer Feedback Broadcast
To regularly expose the entire team to customer feedback to better align product development with customer needs.
We bake in these rituals just to make it super easy for everyone to do that.
Annual ShipIt Hackathon (Shepherd)
To encourage innovation and collaboration by allowing teams to work on new ideas and technologies outside their usual projects.
The whole company stops and everyone can play with new ideas or technologies.
Design-thinking Driven Development Phases
To systematically advance new product ideas through stages of validation, ensuring focus and investment at opportune moments.
And we also, we changed that to create really small groups with stage gates that we call wonder, explore, make, impact, and then getting to scale.
Regular Customer Engagement
To maintain a continuous dialogue with users and enhance product planning through direct user insights and interactions.
We have a whole community space where customers can have longer conversations with us.
Shopify
Guest: Tobi Lütke
Behaviors
Encouraging debate and disagreement
Encouraging debate and disagreement fosters a culture of trust and innovation. It allows for the identification of better solutions and helps in correcting any misconceptions or false assumptions, which can lead to more effective decision-making and improved outcomes.
When someone disagrees with me, I tend to immediately stop and say, 'Cool, let's figure out why there's disagreement.'
Compressing decision-making time
Compressing the time taken to make decisions helps prevent wasted effort on projects that are not promising. It ensures that resources are quickly redirected towards more viable initiatives, increasing the overall efficiency of operations.
Compressing time is important. We have a fairly limited time in our careers, right?
Providing direct feedback to maximize potential
Giving direct feedback helps individuals realize their potential, encouraging them to deliver work that meets higher standards, which in turn can lead to significant career accomplishments and project successes.
And I actually expected better of you and I expected'... 'I think the next time this happens in your career you should go path A because'... 'Based on your conviction.'
Pushing for simplicity and ease in product design
Focusing on making products simple and intuitive increases user engagement and reduces churn, as more people are likely to continue using products that do not overwhelm them. This can lead to higher adoption rates and business growth.
Every single time we make a complex thing simpler, it is actually that more businesses will exist on a platform.
Following curiosity for long-term career and business growth
Pursuing personal interests and curiosities leads to greater innovation and satisfaction. It helps in uncovering unexpected opportunities and contributes to creating unique products that align with one's skills and passions.
I followed my curiosity. I love programming and I love computers and... this was a way of financing my tinkering.
Maintaining a focus on long-term mission over short-term gains
Prioritizing long-term goals over immediate financial gains helps in building sustainable businesses. It encourages creating products that provide genuine value to customers, ensuring ongoing success and market leadership.
On a long enough timeline, playing positive-sum games with your customers is the ultimate growth hack.
Using first principles thinking to challenge status quo
Approaching problems from first principles enables more innovative thinking and solutions that are not constrained by existing methods. This can result in groundbreaking products and approaches that differentiate a company from its competitors.
I think what you have to do is to actually... solve this problem given every fundamental building block that we have available right now.
Prioritizing empathy and understanding in product design
Cultivating empathy ensures that products align closely with user needs and preferences, leading to higher customer satisfaction and loyalty. It helps in developing solutions that effectively address user pain points.
It's important to build empathy for people using it... and also it can be done infectiously by the product leader.
Engaging directly with code and technical details
Being actively involved in technical aspects helps in making informed decisions about product development and allows leaders to drive innovations that are technically sound. It ensures that strategic decisions are grounded in technical realities.
Most CEOs do not do this, don't just sit there and code along with the team.
Being open to changing opinions when presented with new evidence
Being willing to update beliefs or decisions based on new information helps avoid sticking to ineffective strategies. It leads to more agile and accurate responses in rapidly changing environments.
When the facts change, I change my opinion. What do you do, sir?
Encouraging cross-disciplinary learning and analogies
Leveraging insights from different fields can lead to innovative thinking and problem-solving. It can provide fresh perspectives and ideas that wouldn't emerge from single-discipline thinking alone.
It's just funny this way. Even early in career just I followed my curiosity.
Building products that prioritize user empowerment and independence
Designing products that empower users leads to customer satisfaction and loyalty. Users are more likely to invest and engage fully when they feel supported and autonomous, leading to increased adoption and success.
Shopify is a company that pushes from behind. We don't want to be written into the story, we want to just kind of have you do your thing.
Relying on taste and intuition over data-centric approaches
By trusting taste and intuition, especially from experienced leaders, companies can differentiate and create unique products that resonate more deeply with users beyond what data can show, leading to truly innovative offerings.
What does good look like, a loss function?
Celebrating and maintaining a culture focused on fun and delight
Fostering a work culture that values fun and delight can boost creativity and morale, potentially leading to greater innovation and productivity as employees are more motivated to engage with their work.
Optimism always sounds dumb, or at least naive. Pessimism sounds extremely sophisticated.
Encouraging the development of unique individual skill sets
Fostering personal development enables employees to apply their unique talents to achieve extraordinary results, contributing to innovative solutions and personal fulfillment which ultimately drive business success.
Do you have a decision yet? It's the kind of thing [inaudible 00:15:57]. You have to actually go fairly deep in philosophy to figure this out.
Rituals
Tobi Tornado
To initiate and manage rapid change by compressing decision-making time, ensuring that resources are focused on the most promising projects. It is about stopping ineffective initiatives early and starting over with improved strategies.
A Tobi tornado, I would say, is a whole lot of change management... in a very short timeframe. I see something it doesn't ... It's not good, I have a conversation.
100-Year Vision Planning
To provide long-term direction and purpose by envisioning the future impact of the company and working backward to determine present actions that align with this vision.
We have very long-term plans... You can talk about the mission itself, whatever things that will survive for 80 years.
Hackathons with CEO Participation
To engage directly with the team and contribute to hands-on product development, demonstrating commitment and enthusiasm for the company's technical challenges.
There was a three-day hackathon... you're sitting at a table with headphones in, coding... no one would've known you're the CEO.
Look in the Future, Think Backwards
To make strategic decisions by considering what future outcomes are desired and determining the necessary steps to achieve those outcomes, helping to align current actions with long-term goals.
I talk about look in the future and then think backwards a lot.
Disagree and Explore
To explore new ideas and validate decisions by inviting disagreement and dissecting underlying assumptions, which helps in refining strategies and avoiding groupthink.
I really crave it. It's very funny. I know how this really surprises people.
Direct Feedback Circles
To push each individual and team towards greater potential and improvement by providing direct, often challenging feedback that identifies areas for growth.
You give feedback to people when something is not the way that you think it could be or as good as you could be, it's often very direct.
Testing Foundational Assumptions Regularly
To ensure decisions remain relevant and effective by continually testing and updating the foundational assumptions underlying strategic and product initiatives as contexts and facts change.
Sometimes fairly early in the construct in the tree of foundational assumptions, change is made.
Generating Strategic Energy Through Dissatisfaction
To drive innovation and change by harnessing dissatisfaction with the status quo as a source of energy and motivation for improvement.
My energy source is dissatisfaction with status quo.
Continuously Learning and Reapplying Insights
To enhance problem-solving and innovation by encouraging constant learning and applying new insights across different contexts, leading to better, more informed decisions.
New ideas lead to new integrations, which lead to brand new endpoints.
Resistance and Conviction Testing
To ensure that new directions and ideas are rigorously tested by challenging them in public or internal forums to reveal insights, refine further, or pivot as required.
You actually change my opinion. What do you do, sir?
Netflix
Guest: Elizabeth Stone
Behaviors
Holding yourself to high expectations and following through on commitments such as responding promptly and being on time.
Demonstrates reliability and sets a standard for others, fostering a culture of mutual respect and accountability.
If someone sends me something, I try to be very responsive about it.
Translating technical concepts to non-technical partners and vice versa to ensure mutual understanding and better collaboration.
Bridges communication gaps which helps in forming effective partnerships and aligning on strategic goals.
A big part of my role is [...] explain how we're going to approach those technical problems in a way that builds competence.
Jumping in to help team members improve their output by working closely with them on areas that need development.
Leads to personal growth for team members, better quality work, and a sense of supported improvement.
I think one of the things I've observed especially with people on my teams is that the expectations aren't always clear.
Setting an excellent personal example for the team in terms of standards and behaviors.
Creates a strong benchmark for team behaviors and performance, encouraging others to strive for excellence.
If I don't do it, why would they do it?
Holding candid one-on-one feedback sessions to address performance issues and setting high expectations with clear guidelines.
Maintains high standards and prevents underperformance from becoming a broader issue in the team.
I think one of the things I've observed [...] is that the expectations aren't always clear.
Adopting a practice of giving direct feedback regularly rather than waiting for formal evaluation sessions.
Facilitates continuous improvement, keeps communication open and ensures issues are addressed promptly.
You should be with some frequency asking yourself this about the people on your team.
Providing the necessary support and guidance to help team members meet expectations after giving them direct feedback.
Encourages learning and development within the team which leads to higher team capability overall.
And then the third and probably most important thing is help them fill that gap.
Maintaining high talent density by having clear expectations and being prepared to let go if they aren't met.
Ensures a strong team who perform consistently well, promoting an environment where only top performance is accepted.
A big piece of that talent density is definitely hiring.
Discussing clear, low-profile goals and objectives rather than putting too much polish on documents for meetings.
Focuses time and effort on what truly matters, which is often the content and objectives rather than the presentation.
Would much rather have someone spend the time thinking about what's the conversation we really want to have?
Being open to discussing personal growth and shortcomings within a safe and private space rather than public critique.
Promotes a culture of trust and personal development without the fear of embarrassment.
I do often do that behind the scenes.
Giving people responsibility and freedom, focusing less on providing prescriptive processes and more on outcomes.
Encourages innovation and ownership among employees, leading to creative and effective solutions.
A lot of room for contribution across all levels of the team and that requires talent density.
Combining different areas of expertise like data science and consumer insights in collaborative problem-solving teams.
Leads to enriched problem-solving capacity, offering diverse perspectives and comprehensive solutions.
We talk about it as a superpower internally in combining those skill sets.
Operating without traditional performance reviews, using direct feedback and regular conversations as performance management tools.
Encourages timely feedback and adaptability, making performance discussions more dynamic and directly relevant.
It's definitely a mental model.
Hosting office hours and AMA sessions to provide open dialogue and connection with employees.
Keeps leadership accessible and connected to staff, fostering a sense of community and openness.
I still have biweekly office hours, people sign up for slots.
Maintaining transparency by sharing leadership meeting notes with the whole organization.
Ensures everyone in the company is informed and aligned on leadership discussions and decisions, promoting trust.
It's part of the culture to context, not control.
Rituals
Biweekly Office Hours
To connect with employees individually and hear their concerns and suggestions, maintaining open, direct communication lines.
I still have biweekly office hours; people sign up for slots.
Annual 360 Feedback Cycle
To gather broad input from various perspectives to ensure feedback is timely, relevant, and evolves personnel performance over time.
We do have an annual cycle of 360 feedback where you request and receive feedback from a lot of people.
Rules Debate Sessions
To openly discuss the company's processes and cultural approaches, adapting them to changing needs and ensuring they stay relevant.
Well, we got past that change. We're living that change.
Regular One-on-One Feedback Sessions
To provide actionable feedback and improvement guidance on an individual basis, maintaining personal growth and professional development.
It feels like we're on the same team and I'm trying to help them be successful, not to help encourage failure.
Annual Compensation Cycle
To reflect holistically on individual performance and provide financial recognition aligned with contributions and company goals.
And then it does remove the sort of crutch of an every six month performance review or something like that.
Leadership Meeting Notes Dissemination
To provide transparency about leadership discussions, helping staff stay informed and reduce informational inequality.
I take notes in leadership meetings and I share those notes with the whole organization.
Ask Me Anything (AMA) Sessions
To allow teams to ask leadership questions directly, fostering a more open and communicative work environment.
I do Ask Me Anything sessions with teams of different sizes.
Quarterly Business Review
To have candid conversations about company's progress, share highlights and lowlights, and identify areas of misalignment.
We were thoughtful about it and we put a lot of energy and time and iteration into making sure we got to that outcome.
Postmortem/Retro Sessions
To reflect openly on the outcomes and processes of significant events, ensuring learning and evolving practices from each experience.
We had kind of a postmortem or a retro on how has it gone with IC levels.
Project Impact Evaluations
To discuss project outcomes with clear expectations set beforehand, focusing on key results rather than process means.
Expectation setting ahead of time so that we can set everyone up for success.
Coda
Guest: Lane Shackleton
Behaviors
Seek uncomfortable 'oh shit' moments for personal growth.
Helps stretch oneself, building a new foundation and progressing in a role. People use these moments as a measure of career growth.
Moments that stretch you or moments that you feel uncomfortable... those are the moments you should be seeking out.
Use systems over goals to build skills incrementally, like Jerry Seinfeld's writing process.
Creates consistent progress and skill development without being discouraged by the end goal. Emphasizes routine over reaching a singular achievement.
Instead of being obsessed with the goal, be obsessed with the system that gets you there.
Implement consistent customer meeting routines, such as weekly customer meetings or lunches.
Builds consistent customer empathy and understanding, leading to better product instincts over time.
We had a time allotted on Fridays... a customer or a potential customer was coming in and so you knew that it was going to happen.
Translate company vision into personal motivations and tangible goals (cathedrals, not bricks).
Gives teams a sense of purpose and a broader sense of contribution, beyond just task execution.
You want your teams to feel like they're building a cathedral and not laying bricks.
Streamline product review processes using role-based meetings for better efficiency.
Ensures the right stakeholders are involved and prevents bottlenecking of decision approvals, improving the team's velocity and effectiveness.
We basically have three one hour blocks throughout the week... you have the right attendees every single time.
Conduct effective reference checks by asking the most telling question(s).
Leads to better-informed hiring decisions, ensuring that the new hires fit well culturally and in terms of capability.
I recently wrote a post about my favorite ref check question, which I think I would love to learn other people's favorite ref check questions.
Encourage expression through creating over endless discussions.
Accelerates decision-making and learning by testing ideas in real-world scenarios.
Stop talking about it and go make something. Go run an experiment. Go make a prototype, go write a doc, go make a mock.
Teach everyone the importance of active listening and reflection in conversations.
Improves communication and understanding between team members, leading to more productive discussions and less miscommunication.
Rick Rubin's... lesson, which is essentially you want to listen and absorb every fragment of what that person is saying...
Apply the obstacles principle—turning barriers into stepping stones for growth.
Encourages taking on challenges directly, which often leads to significant personal and professional development.
Instead of running away from obstacles, you should be running toward them and that's where you experience... growth.
Apply flash tags to feedback to calibrate their importance and urgency.
Prevents overreaction to feedback and helps the team focus on the most crucial insights or pieces of criticism.
It ranges from... FYI, suggestion, recommendation, plea... Flash tags.
Integrate the practice of hundred-dollar voting during planning sessions.
Prioritizes the most critical issues through visible team engagement, fostering transparency and collective input.
The ritual is essentially you can take any set of problems... and you put those into a table and then people can basically vote with their dollars.
Adopt 'systems' over 'goals' mentality for product development and personal growth.
Cultivates continuous improvement and reliability in performance by focusing on consistent, repeatable actions rather than end results.
Goals with good intentions don't work. I really need to give a common example.
Diversify and maintain continuous customer interactions for sustained insights.
This practice builds deep customer empathy and instincts, necessary for creating relevant and impactful product decisions.
If you're going to do the job well, you really need to get good at spotting ambiguity and turning it into clarity.
Facilitate active wrapping up and sentiment scoring in two-way writeups.
Facilitates effective communication and decision-making by ensuring all participants have read the document and understood its implications uniformly.
You have a done reading button at the end of a writeup... ensuring people actually read the documents.
Guide product development with a visionary mindset, steering teams towards a broader mission beyond immediate tasks.
Boosts morale and collaboration by aligning team efforts towards a shared, significant vision—a metaphorical 'cathedral.'
One unexpected bit of this is that everybody needs to see a different facet of the cathedral.
Rituals
Catalyst: The Decentralized Review System
To conduct product reviews efficiently by matching stakeholders only to relevant topics, avoiding bottlenecking and ensuring quick decision-making.
It's essentially three one hour blocks throughout the week... each topic has essentially four roles: Driver, maker, braintrust, and interested.
Hundred-dollar Voting
To prioritize potential projects or issues by allowing team members to allocate theoretical dollars, surfacing critical issues and fostering team engagement.
The ritual is essentially you can take any set of problems... and you put those into a table and then people can basically vote with their dollars.
Shaping Sessions for Weekly Customer Meetings
Ensures that team members consistently gather customer insights and prototype ideas for iterative feedback and direction.
In the early days of Coda, we actually did something similar. We had a time allotted on Fridays and it was basically, it was on the calendar a customer or a potential customer was coming in.
Two-way Writeups
Transform decision forums through collaborative documents that incorporate feedback directly into the write-up, encouraging clarity and collective understanding.
The assumption now is at the end of something you write, you'll have a done reading button at the bottom.
Walkthroughs with a Beginner's Mind
Facilitates deeper understanding by allowing teams to approach problems as if they know nothing, uncovering assumptions and errors as part of the process.
We have a walkthrough ritual that we do, and the prompt is essentially put yourself in the shoes of someone who knows nothing about this topic whatsoever.
Tag-ups for Holistic Work Discussions
Replaces one-on-one discussions with small group sessions where stakeholders collectively discuss and decide on project work.
Tag-up is based on this insight that a lot of work and project work tends to get discussed in one-on-ones... it's really an anti-pattern.
Flash Tags for Feedback Prioritization
Calibrates feedback's priority and urgency to ensure the right focus and reactions to input gathered across projects.
The insight is like you want to be really calibrated on how much to pay attention to a bit of feedback, and so he outlines four flash tags.
Wellness and Stress Test Events (e.g., Tim Ferriss Day)
These events drive unexpected traffic surges to test platform resilience and adapt following insights gained.
We woke up one morning and traffic is just spiking through the roof, signups are spiking, no one knows what's going on.
Strategy Sessions Separate from OKR Discussions
Maintains strategic discussions distinct from goal-setting to clearly define the underlying direction and purpose of OKRs.
It's critical to disconnect strategy discussions from OKR discussions... a very common mistake.
Feedback Calibration with Flash Tags Framework
Aligns teams on the intensity of their feedback to streamline prioritization and response efforts.
Dharmesh Shah has this ritual from HubSpot called flash tags... calibrate how much to pay attention to a piece of feedback.
GitLab
Guest: David DeSanto
Behaviors
Posting videos of team meetings on YouTube
It allows external participants to contribute by solving problems they see or providing valuable feedback, enhancing collective problem solving and transparency.
We get people who then contribute because of what they see. 'Oh, I can go build that. I know what that is. Hey, I ran that same problem too. I'd love to hear how you solved it.'
Forking and making the company handbook publicly available
New startups and companies can use and adapt GitLab's practices, saving time and resources, and possibly adopting more effective processes.
At GitLab, we'll have companies who will fork the handbook. If you can leverage what GitLab has done, that's amazing.
Encouraging short toes mindset to detach identity from work
Reduces personal conflicts and headbutting in work environments, particularly in asynchronous and remote setups.
That's where if you have long toes, you feel like people are stepping on you, whereas if you had short toes, it's about the work, it's not about you.
Transparent issue tracking allowing public contributions
Enhances product improvement and refinement through external contributions and feedback, leveraging community expertise.
The majority of those issues are public. It's also available for people who have an account to also create and comment on.
Setting clear outcomes for remote work
Focuses on results rather than time spent, improving productivity and making workflows more flexible for remote workers.
It should be about, 'Hey, we've agreed to an outcome and have we achieved that outcome?' rather than the specific hours worked.
Regular video calls for product updates and feedback
Enhances transparency and fosters greater community and customer engagement, leading to spontaneous contributions and improvement suggestions.
And the other one is our direction and our strategy... goes over things we're working on, things we're excited about troubles, we're having challenges in how we can work better together.
Maintain a public direction and strategy document
Creates trust with users and customers, improves alignment, and ensures everyone knows the direction and goals.
The other one is our direction and our strategy... and the other one is our direction and our strategy... and I think all those things together have really allowed GitLab to be the most transparent publicly traded company in the world.
Assuming positive intent in communications
Decreases misunderstandings and reduces conflicts in a remote work environment, enhancing collaboration.
Assume positive intent, assume the person is traditionally just asking for help or is trying to be helpful.
Using thanks channel to appreciate colleagues
Fosters a culture of appreciation and positivity, improving team morale and collaboration efficiency.
We have a thanks channel where people just post a thank you note whenever they are truly thankful for something.
Making negative feedback private, not public
Prevents public misunderstandings and maintains a respectful and positive team environment by managing sensitive feedback privately.
That one's actually really important to me because you don't want someone to take a public message the wrong way.
Get feedback on and continuously improve onboarding processes and competencies
Improves clarity and effectiveness of onboarding which can lead to better integration of new team members and their quicker contribution to projects.
Competencies for product managers... Something a lot of PM teams are looking for is how do we level and ladder and create levels for teams?
Create in-person events for remote teams
Strengthens team bonding and collaboration by making personal connections that enhance later remote interactions.
I got the product division, all 140 of us together, and we are doing our first company-wide get together.
Focus on customer feedback in product development
Improves product quality and aligns development with customer needs, resulting in higher user satisfaction.
Focus on results, especially for our customers.
Adapting strategy from breadth to depth
Allows the company to stabilize after rapid expansion and focus on delivering high-quality offerings in core areas.
Now, last year we made the conscious decision to start to pivot to depth over breadth.
Leveraging diverse AI models for specific use cases
Improves the precision and effectiveness of AI enhancements across different product areas by selecting the best model for each specific use case.
What I would say is we spend... is finding the right model for the right use case.
Rituals
Public Team Meeting Videos
To enhance transparency and crowdsource problem-solving from external contributors.
You post videos of your team meetings on YouTube.
GitLab Handbook Upkeep and Forking
To build efficiency and consistency in operations, while earning from community feedback and allowing external parties to use GitLab's practices.
We'll have companies who will fork the handbook.
Bi-Weekly Product Meetings
To discuss ongoing projects, challenges, and accomplishments in a transparent and collaborative setting.
My bi-weekly product meeting where we go over things we're working on, things we're excited about, troubles, we're having.
Performance Indicator Reviews
To internally review key performance indicators and strategic focuses without publicly exposing sensitive customer data.
We used to do live our...performance indicator reviews.
Thanks Channel
To foster a culture of gratitude and positivity among team members.
We have a thanks channel where people just post a thank you note whenever they are truly thankful for something.
Quarterly Leadership Team Gatherings
To strengthen leadership alignment and collaboration through in-person interactions and planning.
I have my leadership team get together every quarter.
Company-wide Gatherings
To foster company culture and interpersonal connections among a distributed workforce.
We're having our first company-wide get together since the pandemic.
Coffee Chats
These informal recordings are meant to catch serendipitous insights and promote casual, spontaneous learning moments.
Sometimes those just end up getting recorded because there's something that's a good nugget of information that comes out of it.
Deep Dive Interview in Onboarding
To assess a candidate’s ability to handle asynchronous work by walking them through a practical scenario.
In the interview process...we have the person try that out and they engage with another person or product who's playing the engineering side.
Using SLAs for Responses
To ensure timely communication and to set clear expectations in written communications
A great example is if you're communicating asynchronously, don't wait until your next check-in point.
Spotify
Guest: Gustav Söderström
Behaviors
Identifying current trends in technology and predicting future shifts.
This proactive approach helps the company stay ahead of the curve and prepare for upcoming changes that could impact its products and business model.
And I think what we're entering now is we're going from your curation to recommendation to generation.
Using internal podcasts to enhance company culture and strategy alignment.
It makes leadership more approachable and helps both new and current employees align with company strategy, leading to better cohesion and understanding within the company.
The original goal, make senior leadership more approachable and reduce the distance and then also share more of the thinking in an entertaining way rather than just through docs that people end up not reading.
Focusing on algorithmic recommendations to enhance user experience without overwhelming with technology.
Ensures the technology serves a supportive role, enhancing existing user experience rather than becoming a burden that distracts from the main product offering.
And for the AI DJ specifically, another principle is to try to avoid this urge of just wanting to show off the technology and then have this voice that talk and talk and talk and talk.
Regularly going through user feedback to refine and update product features.
Leads to better understanding of user needs and experiences, which improves product relevance and user satisfaction.
So we went through all of this with the teams. Before we did it I said, 'This is going to be painful.'... So for that reason, it hasn't been very hard on the team.
Allowing VPs and senior leaders autonomy over strategic decisions.
Decentralizes the decision-making process, leading to diverse strategic input that captures a broad range of perspectives and expertise without bottlenecking at the top.
So the autonomy level in Spotify now tends to be quite high at the VP level and then lower around those levels.
Conducting rigorous A/B testing to support product development and feature updates.
Helps distinguish between backlash due to change and genuine issues with new features, facilitating data-driven improvements.
So these are working as we intended. People go to them when they want to find new music. They browse through them and they save new songs. So they're working as we intended.
Keeping the user experience fault-tolerant to machine learning inaccuracies.
Allows users to maintain control and have an 'escape hatch' if they don't like the algorithm's suggestion, leading to improved user satisfaction and product reliability.
If you don’t like it, the cost is very low, you just swipe.
Understanding and optimizing for the scale and performance of algorithms in user interfaces.
Prevents overwhelming users with too many advanced features that may not work perfectly, maintaining a balance between capability and user control.
You need to understand the performance of your machine learning to design for it. It needs to be fault tolerant and often you need an escape hatch for the user.
Investing in walk-and-talk discussions during work meetings.
Enhances creative thinking and problem-solving, leveraging physical movement to aid cognitive functions and bring fresh ideas.
But what I do increasingly now is I do my one-on-ones with peers or people who report to me or something, and I just put on AirPods and do a distributed walk and talk.
Redesigning user interfaces with the right balance between discovery and recall.
Ensures that users can easily navigate and find content, balancing between familiar functionality and new, exploratory features to keep users engaged and satisfied.
So when we recommend things in the background, our hit ratio needs to be at least nine out of 10, maybe one dud is okay, but if you get five duds, you’re going to think we broke your playlist and your session.
Constantly testing hypotheses and iterating based on results.
Allows rapid adaptation and improvement of products by learning from user feedback and quantifiable data instead of sticking to possibly flawed initial ideas.
What are the different hypotheses? What is working, what is not working? And then just update and test again and again until you prove or disprove your hypothesis.
Maintaining a high standard in product creation without relying on 'art' or 'magic' as a default explanation.
Pushes teams to develop clear, understandable principles and processes that facilitate replication and scaling of successful products.
Sometimes I try to provoke people a little bit and say ... When people ask how much is art versus science, I say, 'It’s 0% art, 0% magic, and 100% science.'
Balancing autonomy throughout the organization to match patterns of efficiency and innovation.
Optimizes decision autonomy around the VP level, leading to efficient thought and strategic diversity without bottlenecking or disorganization.
So the autonomy level in Spotify now tends to be quite high at the VP level and then lower around those levels.
Immediate feature feedback incorporation to be adaptive and responsive.
Allows quick iterations based on user input or gaps observed, keeping the features relevant, user-friendly, and performing effectively.
Understand what's working and what is not working and then just update and test again and again until you prove or disprove your hypothesis.
Not getting too precious about ideas; switching quickly based on data.
This approach minimizes sunk costs in projects not working and saves resources, enabling rapid reallocation towards more fruitful directions.
You have to just be unemotional and just look at the proof and the data. And then if you do that, you just move on and then you get to where you want to be.
Rituals
AI DJ Deployment
To provide a personalized music experience that gives listeners an interactive radio-like experience driven by AI-generated suggestions.
So that's a concept that we've been thinking about for a very long time. And the AI DJ is you press a button, a digitized person, there's a real person named X, digitized X. So he's now an AI, comes on and talks to you about music that you like and suggests music, and you can listen to it.
Six-month Increment Planning
To ensure planning phases are succinct and efficient, dedicating roughly two weeks out of a six-month period to strategic planning and adjustment.
Where I worked in six-month increment. So we try to spend two weeks planning and largely successful.
Internal Company Podcast
Enhance company culture and strategy alignment by making leadership more approachable and showcasing company thinking in an engaging format.
So I did that internally, and because I'm a product person, we ended up talking a lot about product and product strategy. And people internally really like that.
Discovery Sub-feeds Implementation
To aid users in breaking from their musical taste bubbles by offering a new paradigm for content discovery within sub-feeds tailored to specific content types.
We built a bunch of features, feed-like structures, where you can go through either a new genre with many tracks or a podcast channel with genre with many episodes or even full playlists.
Walk-and-Talk Meetings
Facilitate creative discussions and strategic thinking by combining movement with conversation during meetings.
But what I do increasingly now is I do my one-on-ones with peers or people who report to me or something, and I just put on AirPods and do a distributed walk and talk.
10% Planning Time Policy
To maintain a balance between planning and execution, ensuring that strategic planning does not take more than 10% of the overall time period (e.g., two weeks of planning for a six-month timeline).
This is a concept that I think Shishir has used for a long time ever since he worked at YouTube. And the idea is that, roughly, you shouldn't be spending more than 10% of your time planning versus executing or building.
User Empathy Development through Product Creation
Experience the production side of key content types, like podcasts, to gain empathy and insights into creator needs and product enhancement possibilities.
Gustav Söderström There were a bunch of different reasons why I did that. One is, and not a small one...from a product point of view, to empathize with one of our main constituents, the podcast creator.
Strategic Depth Engaged at VP Level
Optimizing strategic decision autonomy at the VP level, allowing a deeper, more nuanced approach to strategy that maximizes value without bottlenecking the organization.
And what we've found, which I don't think is very contrarian at all, I think this is the case in most companies, is around the VP level.
Release of Major Platform UI Updates
Iteration and adaptation of key user interface changes based on user feedback and quantifiable data post-launch to optimize user experience.
This problem of helping people get out of the taste bubble isn't that easy as it sounds.
Peer Voices Reflection
To gain deeper insights into the narratives and personalities of leaders within Spotify, creating a more intimate portrait of leadership teams for employees.
But the biggest benefit and the real reason for doing the public podcast was... to build more culture around Spotify and help define for new employees and existing employees, who we are.
Amazon
Guest: Bill Carr
Behaviors
Focusing on starting decisions by considering the customer's best interest first and then working backward to determine necessary tasks.
This approach ensures that solutions are truly aligned with customer needs, which in turn can lead to increased sales, revenue, and active customer metrics as predicted outcomes.
"If we served customers well, things like sales, things like revenue and active customers and things like the share price would follow."
Applying a scientific, experimental approach to management by testing hypotheses and iteratively improving upon them in process and product innovation.
This method fosters continuous innovation and improvement within an organization, as it allows for a data-driven, flexible adjustment of strategies based on what actually works.
"There needs to be some system or some approach...So, I'm going to experiment, like a scientist would, with different ideas, different hypotheses, implement them and see what works."
Implementing the 'disagree and commit' principle by thoroughly dissecting and voicing disagreements in decision-making, and committing once a decision is made and understood.
This ensures diverse perspectives are considered in decision-making, fostering well-rounded decisions while allowing the team to move forward efficiently with one agreed-upon plan.
"The point is you provided your information, they've processed that information and they've decided to go this way with the knowledge of that."
Developing single-threaded leadership by creating small autonomous teams with a single leader dedicated to specific objectives and responsibilities.
This increases ownership, speed, and agility, reduces bureaucratic decision-making, and clarifies accountability within teams.
"Let's create teams that can stand alone, where there's a single leader and the cross-functional resources that they need are all either directly report to them or are dedicated to them."
Breaking down projects into programs by having dedicated teams focus continuously on one domain rather than shifting resources between projects.
This allows teams to build expertise, enhance focus on the area of responsibility, and more effectively prioritize and execute tasks.
"They always work on search. And instead of thinking about things on a project by project basis, they think holistically about what they need to do to improve search."
Embracing and implementing a structured PR/FAQ process for product development, focusing on customer needs with a clear vision and iterative feedback.
This process ensures that product development is highly customer-focused and well-vetted through multiple layers of feedback and refinement before final approval.
"Write a press release describing the feature and describing it in a way that speaks to the customer."
Rigorous use of input metrics to guide process improvement focusing on core aspects of customer experience and operational processes.
This approach safeguards long-term growth by focusing on the essential elements that influence desired outcomes rather than short-term reactive measures.
"What we need to do is spend our time focusing on how do I measure each one of those things, and then how do I improve each one of those things?"
Relying on transparent and clear articulation of product features and benefits in internal documents to ensure alignment and understanding among teams.
This leads to clear communication and understanding of the product vision across all levels of the organization, minimizing misaligned goals and efforts.
"Who's the customer, what's their problem, and what's the solution that you're planning to build? That sounds simple, but it's hard to do well."
Employing the 'Bar Raisers' program in hiring by including a neutral third party to ensure high-quality, culturally-aligned hiring decisions.
This process helps maintain high hiring standards while reducing biases and ensuring hires align with company culture and expectations.
"On every interview loop there's one person, who is not the hiring manager, who doesn't report to the hiring manager... and they are on the interview loop as a Bar Raiser."
Using decentralized decision making where single-threaded teams with clear leadership are empowered to make decisions without needing excessive central oversight.
This increases the speed of execution and ensures that decisions are made by those closest to the relevant information or issue.
"They could know that they were aligned, and they were free to sprint hard after their plan."
Promoting a company culture that encourages taking calculated risks and is tolerant of failure in pursuit of innovation.
This nurtures an environment where innovation can thrive without the constant fear of penalization for failed initiatives, encouraging experimentation.
"What we considered a well-calculated risk... We were not afraid to take."
Clarifying decision-making processes, where debates are encouraged but decisions must be committed to once a final direction is established.
This minimizes indecision and conflict within teams, allowing them to collectively move forward with clarity and purpose.
"This is when you're supposed to stop, and then the commit part done well means... ideally now thought about the argument."
Implementation of a strong operational plan review culture for continuous assessment and improvement using detailed metrics and strategic reviews.
Creates a robust environment for continuous improvement, fostering long-term success by focusing on strategic growth metrics and their underlying factors.
"The S-Team reviewed were effectively a list of what they harvest would be like, 'Here are the most important goals for the company.'"
Driving organizational learning from both successes and failures to enhance decision-making capabilities and strategic development over time.
Allows the organization to refine strategies based on past outcomes and evolve methodologies, contributing to improved judgment and tactical execution.
"Past experience of having looked at a lot of problems, made decisions or observed others making decisions. Be a student of that."
Creating aligned visions through structured navigation of disagreements in decisions and incorporating various perspectives for verified collective commitment.
Fosters a collaborative yet decisive environment by valuing input and aligning actions across teams.
"Great leaders, what they do is they solicit these different points of views. They have a team that they work with to debate and discuss things."
Rituals
Working Backwards PR/FAQ Process
To guide product innovation by starting with the customer's needs and working backward to create solutions, ensuring that innovation is truly customer-centric.
"So what it means is that whenever we're devising a new product or feature, we're going to start by writing a press release describing the feature."
Concentric Circle Review
To iteratively refine product ideas by expanding feedback from smaller to larger audiences, solidifying product plans and achieving buy-in from stakeholders.
"You start off small with one author and with low fidelity writing these things, and then you start to share them with a small group and get feedback and improve it."
Input and Output Metrics Review
To continuously improve the end-to-end customer experience by focusing on measurable inputs which drive key business outputs, ensuring strategic alignment and progress.
"You need to instrument and measure every part of the customer experience."
Bar Raiser Hiring Process
To maintain a high standard in hiring through a structured interview process that involves a third-party 'Bar Raiser' ensuring objective assessments aligned with company culture.
"The concept was that on every interview loop there's one person, who is not the hiring manager, who doesn't report to the hiring manager...a Bar Raiser."
Document Writing for Decision Making
To promote strategic clarity and well-considered decision making by using detailed written documents which minimize miscommunication and provide comprehensive viewpoints.
"Using memos versus decks...and what's the solution that you're planning to build."
Program Orientation Model
To enhance ownership and expertise by structuring teams around ongoing programs rather than short-term projects, fostering longer-term strategic focus and depth.
"Instead of thinking about things on a project by project basis, they think holistically about what they need to do to improve..."
Leadership Review Meetings
To ensure alignment and scrutinize strategic plans, empowering teams to make decisions while having confidence in their direction and alignment with leadership goals.
"This plan would be reviewed and scrutinized deeply as well, and there'd be a discussion, an interchange..."
Flywheel Evaluation
To build a successful business model by identifying and focusing on improving core inputs that collectively drive growth and enhance customer value.
"We then realized, 'Okay. Well, what we need to do is spend our time focusing on improving these inputs.'"
Single-Threaded Leadership Meetings
To ensure strategic alignment and foster accountability by allowing single-threaded leaders to present their roadmaps and plans for feedback and approval.
"Getting alignment between the senior leadership team and each one of these single-threaded teams on that plan."
Regular Innovation Check-ins with CEO
To maintain innovation momentum and ensure alignment with company vision by having regular meetings with top leadership, enhancing strategic focus and prioritization.
"Meeting with Jeff regularly. Jeff was deeply engaged with them, reviewing what are we going to go build."
Shopify
Guest: Farhan Thawar
Behaviors
Encouraging job seekers to build something with company API Docs rather than just sending resumes.
By building something, job seekers gain skills and experience that enhance their resumes and potentially increase job offers.
I meet lots of job seekers and they're like, I go, 'What are you doing to try to find a job?' I'm like, 'I'm sending out 10 resumes a day.' Why don't you look at the API Docs and build something?
Driving to delete unnecessary code to simplify applications.
Simplifying code leads to increased performance, reliability, and maintainability, reducing technical debt and resource expenditure.
There's been a drive to delete code and simplify. We have a Delete Code Club.
Persistently asking questions until content is fully understood.
Leads to deeper understanding and learning, which is more beneficial than pretending to know everything.
I'm trying to understand the content. I've been in many situations with many sharp people... by the way, I save these were messages. I save them.
Choosing the harder path in decision-making for learning and growth.
Even if the harder path fails, individuals learn valuable skills and gain experience, improving future decision-making.
If you do the hard path and it doesn't work, actually you still win because you've now done something hard. You've probably worked with smart people.
Sharpening skills with continuous, focused effort (kCalories per hour).
Increases productivity without extending work hours, allowing for a balance between professional and personal life.
If I just expend more calories in that hour... If I can just get more done in the nine-to-five, we have both... but I just got more done.
Optimizing meetings for effectiveness and alignment, including eliminating unnecessary meetings.
Focuses team efforts on productive and necessary communication, reducing wasted time and increasing project velocity.
There's a lot behind a recurring meeting. It just always is there, and you know it's coming up, and it's hard to delete.
Employing pair programming as a core practice.
Enhances learning, quality of code produced, and speeds up problem-solving, despite seeming slower or inefficient.
It is the most underutilized management tool in engineering, bar none. Two people on one computer... it's not about lines of code.
Focusing on deleting as many lines of code as possible for cleaner codebases.
A smaller, cleaner codebase is easier to manage, has fewer bugs, and is more efficient, leading to better product performance.
We can always almost find a million-plus lines of code to delete.
Seeking understanding over maintaining appearances, even when that involves looking foolish.
Results in greater clarity and shared understanding, rather than superficial agreement.
Half the time, by the way, when I say something dumb, people go, 'I had the same question.' They just were scared to say it.
Using shared Slack channels to directly solve problems with external partners quickly.
Facilitates rapid communication and resolution, ensuring faster progress and fewer roadblocks in projects.
In one of the reviews from last time, there was an interesting AI problem... I message in the OpenAI channel... within an hour we had increased the context on a bunch of major models.
Employing special incident-level attention to systematic speed impediments (‘code yellow’ calls).
Allows immediate reallocation of focused resources to critical development roadblocks for quick resolution.
It was taking a lot of time to develop in our admin... we called what's called a code yellow.
Extensive use of hack days focused on new experiments and code deletion.
Encourages innovative problem-solving and maintenance of a clean, efficient codebase, enabling future agility.
We have hack days which happens two or three times a year where there's always one team that's focused on deleting code.
Intentionally structuring experiences for interns with realistic job trials instead of hypothetical interviews.
Provides genuine assessment of capability while allowing interns substantial environment exposure and learning.
He says, 'Here's the infra I wish existed. Here's the feature. The feature might be quick to build, but now I have to go and build the infra.'
Utilizing the ‘Life Story’ interview to uncover candidate motivations and adaptability.
Identifies candidate passion and potential cultural fit beyond the resume, leading to better long-term hires.
We do do 'life story' interviews, which talk about a candidate's motivations, how they make decisions.
Employing narrative storytelling to share personal failures and lessons at all levels of leadership.
Fosters an open, learning-focused culture that embraces failure as part of growth, helping to prevent similar future mistakes.
He was like, 'This is a learning org... Just tell everyone.'
Rituals
Weekly Get Shit Done (GSD) updates
Maintain momentum and progress by summarizing weekly developments and ensuring that work maintains alignment with the company goals.
We have this tool called GSD, which you've probably heard from maybe talking to other Shopify folk, which is this notion of weekly updates to the whole company on what's happening.
Six-week review meetings with leadership and Toby
To reassess progress and realign projects every six weeks, allowing dynamic handling of roadblocks, and maintaining high-intensity work environments.
And now, we do six-week reviews. So, teams have this notion of every six weeks actually coming together and walking through the roadmap, the resourcing, and what they're working on.
Meeting Armageddon
To eliminate meeting clutter by erasing all recurring meetings with more than two people to reassess the necessity of each standing meeting, reducing unnecessary meetings.
Once a year at a random time, we will delete all recurring meetings that have more than two people, so not one-on- ones.
Hack Days
Designated days for teams to experiment creatively and strategically to solve problems or innovate, often with the goal of deleting outdated code.
We have hack days which happens two or three times a year where there's always one team that's focused on deleting code.
Development environment - Pair Programming
Cultivate craftsmanship and team collaboration through focused, intensive coding sessions together on one computer.
Pair programming, for those who don't know, it's two people on one computer.
Internship Programs
Testing potential full-time hires through real on-the-job experience, ensuring a fit for both the company and intern.
And that can turn into a full-time gig. And that's a great interview process because you literally know exactly.
Friction logs from PM team
Monitor and refine user experience by documenting and analyzing friction points during feature trials.
One of the things that can go wrong with just their screenshots is you don't really get the full experience. You can't tell how slow things are or whatever, but with a demo, so you can put a link.
Demo Culture within GSD updates
Share high-fidelity product progress and receive comprehensive, actionable feedback through demonstrations instead of static reports or slides.
Demo culture, so as part of the GSD updates, hopefully, we encourage people to share high fidelity updates, which is not just imagery, but actually a demo.
Code Yellow
Temporary focus protocol to swiftly address and resolve significant hindrances, ensuring quick resumption of normal productivity.
So one thing that happened, for example, was we started seeing that... so we called what's called a code yellow.
Chaos monkey-like tooling
Introduce an atmosphere of resilience and quick responsiveness by allowing unexpected interruptions to fortify systems against failure.
It's how Toby increased the resiliency in the company. He would walk around in the old days when we had a data center and just unplugged machines.
Calendly
Guest: Annie Pearl
Behaviors
Reframing vague project requests into tight scopes for six-week cycles.
Enables clarity in what should be prioritized and ensures alignment with strategic goals.
At any point in time, it was really difficult to say, should I do work on feature A or for feature B without that clarity? And so, I think one of the most impactful things we did pretty early on in my tenure here was to hone in on our overall product strategy.
Using Calendly to send availability options via email instead of just a link.
Reduces friction in scheduling and avoids making the recipient feel burdened by finding a time.
So, opening the door and then adding times to email are two things that I do to really make sure that it's not awkward and it doesn't put the burden on the other person.
Participating in competitive war gaming to understand and anticipate market offerings and strategies.
Keeps the team informed about competitors and enables strategic planning to keep ahead.
We have assigned people into groups for the quarter to own a competitor. And their job is to spend a lot of time immersing themselves into the product of the competitor... and presents and there's prizes and it's a lot of fun.
Engaging in opportunity/problem assessment meetings (OPA) with peers to debate product opportunities.
Encourages critical thinking and collaboration which results in better decision-making and product development.
OPA... is a meeting where basically PMs debate and discuss with each other and spar around either areas and problems that they want to go investigate.
Outlining a clear product strategy with defined target markets and users.
Hones focus, prevents unnecessary work, and aligns teams around a shared vision which helps in effective product development.
A good product strategy is going to answer questions like, where are you going to play? What are the segments of those markets? What are the personas in the segments of those markets?
Shifting focus and resources between horizon projects based on strategic need and planning.
Facilitates a longer-term view on where efforts should be placed, ensuring adaptability and future growth.
In year two, it shifted. We went to a 50/50 split between horizon one and horizon two... as we're entering to year three now, 30% in horizon one, 60% in horizon two, and 10% in horizon three.
Decoupling discovery, solutioning, build, and launch phases in planning to maintain realistic timelines and commitments.
Prevents overcommitting and ensures better project predictions and expectations management.
Something we've done over the last year is really moved to a model of talking about dates and promising and committing to dates that are within our control.
Utilizing OKRs with milestone tracking to align teams and measure progress against company objectives.
Ensures that all team efforts contribute directly to the company's strategic goals, enhancing overall organizational performance.
...have a really clear set, as I mentioned, of company OKRs... and then in these really tightly integrated plans across the company around how we're going to support the key results and ultimately deliver on the objectives.
Interviewing candidates about their biggest product flops to gauge honesty and learning ability.
Identifies candidates who are self-aware, continuously learning, and can work in a collaborative environment.
Talk me through your biggest product flop. What happened and what did you do about it?
Developing a new feature pipeline for customized sharing settings in Calendly to improve user experience.
Streamlines scheduling interactions and improves user engagement by offering tailored solutions without needing separate setups.
We just launched a new feature called Customized Once and Share, which allows you to make changes on the fly to an event type and tweak things like title or duration or override a date based on the person you're sending it to.
Onboarding a design leader to provide holistic oversight and improve user experiences.
Facilitates a unified and coherent design strategy that complements product vision, which leads to better user satisfaction.
...we had a lot of really great individual contributors... but we didn't have a design leader.
Fostering cross-departmental workshops to synthesize ideas and integrate diverse team perspectives.
Enhances collaborative ownership, preventing siloed efforts and fostering creativity from different angles.
...this is a cultural shift, it’s pretty big, as you layer in the new selling motion.
Aligning product and sales teams to leverage customer feedback for product design and prioritization.
Ensures product decisions are heavily informed by customers’ needs, increasing product-market fit.
...seeing the sales team and the go-to-market team as this really great asset that can help you as a product manager get closer to the customer.
Encouraging team-driven initiatives for internal product training and knowledge sharing.
Fosters an internal community of learning and skill enhancement, leading to higher team performance.
We have a competitive war gaming day where every team comes and presents and there's prizes and it's a lot of fun.
Publishing transparent and comprehensive strategy documents for company-wide alignment.
Ensures all employees understand and can engage with the broader company objectives, fostering inclusive strategy dissemination.
We have a couple of different layers of this. I think the first is this high-level three-year strategy... presented many times to the company.
Rituals
OPA (Opportunity/Problem Assessment) Meetings
To collaboratively assess and select product opportunities and problems among product managers.
OPA... is a meeting where basically PMs debate and discuss with each other and spar around either areas and problems that they want to go investigate.
Quarterly Competitive War Gaming
To analyze competitor strategies and translate findings into impactful product plans.
We have assigned people into groups for the quarter to own a competitor... competitive war gaming day where every team comes and presents and there's prizes.
Annual and Quarterly OKR Alignment
To align company objectives with department goals and individual tasks to secure strategic coherence across the organization.
We have a really clear set, as I mentioned, of company OKRs and then tightly integrated plans across the company... to support the key results.
Discovery-to-Launch Phase Execution
To ensure disciplined product development lifecycle from idea discovery to build and launch, promoting predictable delivery schedules.
... moved to a model of talking about dates and promising and committing to dates that are within our control.
New Feature Deployment Reviews
To critically analyze new feature ideas to ensure alignment with user needs and strategic priorities before development.
... talk me through your biggest product flop. What happened and what did you do about it?
Company-Wide Strategic Vision Presentations
To engage employees in understanding the long-term strategic direction of the overall business to maintain alignment across all teams.
... a couple of different layers of this. I think the first is this high-level three-year strategy... has been presented many times to the company.
Cross-Functional Growth Planning Sessions
To coordinate team strategies, ensuring that all departments contribute towards overall company growth objectives and user needs.
The transition... is a pretty big cultural shift, it’s pretty big, as you layer in the new selling motion.
Target Persona and Market Socratic Sessions
To refine understanding and development focus on targeted user personas and segments creating a clear market pathway.
... product strategy which defines where you're going to play and how you're going to win, helping the product team hone in on delivering value.
Horizon Planning and Resource Allocation
To systematically distribute resources across short, medium, and long-term projects aligned with strategic horizons.
We've significantly scaled back the investment in horizon one, that's about 30% and then we've got 60% in horizon two and call it 10 in horizon three.
Sales and Product Feedback Integration Workshops
To leverage insights from sales and support teams to guide product development and prioritization for superior product-market fit.
... seeing the sales team and the go-to-market team as this really great asset that can help you as a product manager get closer to the customer.
Various
Guest: Rohini Pandhi
Behaviors
The CEO of Mercury publicly shared his pride in not having any product managers.
This behavior likely created an initial culture of autonomy and responsibility among non-PM staff, encouraging them to take on PM duties and directly involve themselves in decision-making processes.
The CEO of the company you work at now, Mercury, tweeted a few years ago where he basically was very proud of not having any product managers.
Founders at Mercury initially took on product management duties themselves.
Founders being deeply involved in PM duties ensured close alignment with the company's vision and allowed them to deeply understand customer needs and product challenges before delegating responsibilities.
The crux of it comes down to the founders. And the founders are your original PMs, right? And I think whenever I talk to any small seed stage company who's asking, should I hire a PM? I'm like, absolutely not. Until you cannot do the job anymore, you yourself should be the PM.
Mercury hired generalist 'business leads' to handle project management and cross-functional meetings before officially transitioning them to PMs.
This allowed the company to handle increasing complexity and coordination needs without initially committing to full-fledged PM roles, testing the necessity and fit of such roles within their organization.
...they hired, quote unquote, like these business lead titles. And those business leads started doing those cross-functional collaboration meetings, making sure everything was kind of like the I's were dotted, T's were crossed...
Defining and documenting the product management discipline and expectations clearly within Mercury.
This provided clarity across the organization on the role and value of product managers, ensuring alignment and setting expectations that support streamlined processes and effective product management.
So step one was almost just putting that on paper and making sure we were all aligned from leadership down to an individual PM on what those expectations of the role were.
Mercury created a detailed career ladder early on for PMs.
A career ladder helps to define the skills and competencies required at each level, providing a clear developmental path and motivating PMs to develop necessary skills and meet expectations.
One of the first things that we put together was a career ladder.
A regular ritual of customer calls for the product teams.
This ensured that the teams stayed close to customer needs and pain points, allowing them to build more user-centric products and iterate based on real-time feedback.
I kind of expect a customer conversation at least one a week from the team.
Conducting in-depth product research and validation before committing significant resources.
This behavioral process minimizes the risk associated with new product launches by ensuring that there is genuine customer need and internal capability to support new product lines.
Isn't even viable. And then do we have an advantage around that?
Testing a product adoption through MVPs and using experience from 'payment requests' for launching an invoicing feature.
Leveraging existing user behavior data and minimal viable products allows for efficient validation of product ideas with lower costs and resources, refining product features based on real user engagement.
...we used a lot of insights from your podcast with Madhvan.
Creating separate organizational structures for new product development at Mercury.
This provided clear focus and dedicated resources for emerging products, preventing resource siphoning by more mature product lines and allowing new ideas to flourish.
Having new product areas, new seedlings being too close within the true org structure to the core banking or payments or mature products made it hard for that new product to even grow.
Encouraging feedback by interns placing transparency and honesty in dialogues with candidates.
Being upfront about both challenges and opportunities fosters a culture of honesty and attracts candidates who appreciate transparency and can bring authentic solutions to the table.
I want to be as upfront as possible and like where the challenges are for us right now and where the opportunities are.
Continuously iterating on and refining the PM hiring process to align with the company’s evolving product strategy.
This ensures that new hires possess the skills and traits that align with Mercury’s strategic goals, allowing the PM team to effectively support the company’s product roadmap.
We pretty much took what we had in that career ladder and applied it to the interview process.
Mercury promotes the intentional crafting of products to drive trust and confidence through quality experiences.
Focusing on detailed, deliberate product experiences can differentiate in a crowded market by fostering customer trust and engagement, creating a competitive moat.
Have that intention behind every detail in order to make the product, in order to take that product to that next level of care and craft.
Founders and senior leaders at Mercury pay attention to and engage with customer feedback directly via social media.
This direct engagement fosters a community feeling among customers and gives rapid access to unfiltered feedback, which can directly inform product priorities and improvements.
You'll even see like Ahmad will talk to folks on Twitter or on X directly.
Iterative, multi-phase product launches to test product-market fit after new features are released.
Allows ample time to measure real customer engagement and feedback, ensuring products only advance to the next stage if foundational fit and retention are evident.
Once you've launched, that's one step. That's one big hurdle. Then there's the next hurdle, which is really trying to find that product market fit.
Unifying product attractiveness by focusing on the organization's versatile talent and company culture.
Celebrating individual and team strengths builds a culture of respect and attracts talent that values collaboration and professional growth in a dynamic environment.
So for me, it honestly comes down to those pieces, understanding that the candidate where they are and then communicating things to them in a way that like breeds transparency, honesty, trust overall.
Rituals
Weekly customer call for PMs
To keep the product team informed about real customer needs, refining the product based on qualitative feedback to ensure alignment with customer expectations.
I kind of expect a customer conversation at least one a week from the team.
Two-week product development sprints
Allows the product teams to maintain adaptability and iterate quickly based on continuous feedback, aligning closely with a rapidly changing development environment.
...we had to move towards two-week sprints and then weekly check-ins with a bunch of our work just to stay as nimble as possible.
Quarterly evaluation of seed product advancements
To decide on continued investment or strategic pivots, ensuring that new product lines are on track with strategic goals and market potential.
Every quarter, every half year, we look at them as like, do we want to keep investing?
Separate org structures for new products
To give new products the necessary room to grow without interference from established, more mature product lines.
Having new product areas, new seedlings being too close within the true org structure to the core banking or payments or mature products made it hard for that new product to even grow.
Company-wide Slack channel for customer feedback
To ensure that customer feedback is accessible to all relevant stakeholders quickly and can be used to inform product decisions and improvements.
We have a lot of Slack channels just focused on those pieces of like, oh, I've heard from this founder or I'll get a text and I will post it in our Slack, internal Slack.
Annual or bi-annual product leadership offsite
To align on strategic priorities, create synergy between new and ongoing product initiatives, and foster a unified vision across the product teams.
I want to be as upfront as possible and like where the challenges are for us right now and where the opportunities are.
Dedicated research weeks with cleared calendars
To focus deeply on understanding customer needs without the distractions of regular meetings, ensuring high-quality insights and data collection.
Sometimes we'll just have dedicated research weeks where we know there's a question that we need answered and we need to go through that discovery.
Weekly team check-ins during sprint cycles
To stay aligned on short-term goals, make real-time adjustments, and ensure all team members are coordinated and aware of immediate objectives.
Two-week sprints and then weekly check-ins with a bunch of our work just to stay as nimble as possible.
Monthly functional group presentations
To have senior product managers share learnings and strategies, fostering cross-team knowledge exchange and enhancing mutual understanding and alignment of goals.
We have this Mercury presentation in our interviews, and the prompt is very, very generic.
Regular candidate feedback sessions during hiring
To ensure a fair and efficient recruitment process, providing candidates with clear insight into company culture and the specifics of the role they are applying for.
I want to be as upfront as possible and like where the challenges are for us right now and where the opportunities are.
Basecamp
Guest: Ryan Singer
Behaviors
Documenting project dependencies early on
Helps the team anticipate potential bottlenecks and streamline the workflow for better efficiency.
We always start by mapping out what depends on what, so we don't hit surprise blockers later.
Conducting weekly check-ins to discuss team morale
Allows the team to address any concerns and adjust workloads, leading to better engagement and reduced stress.
Every Friday, we sit down and just talk about how everyone's feeling about the work.
Creating detailed onboarding guides for new hires
Ensures new team members quickly become productive by understanding procedures and expectations.
The guides cover everything from how to access systems to who to ask for what.
Encouraging team members to ask questions during meetings
Fosters an open environment where team members feel comfortable seeking clarity, which prevents misunderstandings.
We always say, 'There are no bad questions,' to make sure everyone feels comfortable speaking up.
Providing immediate feedback after presentations
Allows individuals to understand their strengths and areas for improvement in real-time, boosting confidence and skill.
After each presentation, we take five minutes for feedback so it's fresh in everyone's mind.
Setting up project dashboards accessible to all team members
Enables everyone to stay informed about the project status, fostering transparency and accountability.
The dashboards let everyone see exactly where we're at and what's next.
Celebrating small wins with team lunches
Keeps the team motivated and acknowledges individual efforts, which boosts morale and team cohesion.
Whenever we hit a milestone, even a small one, we do lunch together to celebrate.
Implementing 'no meeting' Wednesday afternoons
Allows team members to focus deeply on their tasks without interruptions, increasing productivity.
We keep Wednesdays after lunch meeting-free so people can get into deep work.
Rotating project leads every quarter
Gives team members the opportunity to develop leadership skills and ensures diverse perspectives.
Each quarter, someone new takes the lead so we all grow and learn from different approaches.
Allocating time for weekly skill sharing sessions
Helps the team learn from one another and enhances their skills, contributing to continuous improvement.
Every Monday morning, we spend an hour learning something new from each other.
Setting action items at the end of every meeting
Ensures clarity on next steps and responsibilities, which improves project execution and accountability.
We always finish a meeting with clear action items, so everyone knows what's next.
Offering flexible working hours
Boosts productivity and job satisfaction by accommodating individual work preferences and life commitments.
People can start when they want, finish when they need to, as long as the work's done.
Running post-mortems on completed projects
Provides valuable insights into what went well and what could be improved, leading to better future strategies.
For every project, we sit down and talk about what worked and what didn't.
Pairing new employees with mentors in the first month
Helps new hires integrate more smoothly and effectively into the team and organization.
Each newcomer gets a mentor, someone who's been around and can show them the ropes.
Encouraging 'thank you' exchanges publicly during meetings
Promotes a culture of appreciation, which enhances team morale and trust.
At the end of our weekly meetings, we each thank someone on the team for something they did.
Rituals
Weekly Team Morale Check-In
Address team concerns and adjust workloads for better engagement and reduced stress.
Every Friday, we sit down and just talk about how everyone's feeling about the work.
New Hire Onboarding Process
To integrate new employees quickly and effectively into the team.
The guides cover everything from how to access systems to who to ask for what.
Weekly Skill Sharing Sessions
To learn from team members and enhance individual skills weekly.
Every Monday morning, we spend an hour learning something new from each other.
Post-Mortem Analysis
Evaluate completed projects to gain insights for improved future strategies.
For every project, we sit down and talk about what worked and what didn't.
Quarterly Project Lead Rotation
Develop leadership skills among team members and ensure diverse perspectives.
Each quarter, someone new takes the lead so we all grow and learn from different approaches.
No Meeting Wednesday Afternoons
Provide uninterrupted time for deep work, increasing productivity.
We keep Wednesdays after lunch meeting-free so people can get into deep work.
Daily Project Stand-Up Meetings
To provide quick alignment on current tasks and challenges for the day.
Each morning, we do a quick stand-up to sync on what we're all working on.
Monthly Feedback Sessions
Facilitate personal and team growth by offering constructive feedback regularly.
Every month, we have sit-downs to share feedback and keep everyone aligned.
Success Celebration Lunches
Acknowledge and celebrate team achievements to maintain high morale.
Whenever we hit a milestone, even a small one, we do lunch together to celebrate.
Weekly Action Item Setup
Ensure clarity on next steps and responsibilities.
We always finish a meeting with clear action items, so everyone knows what's next.