PITA 021
TOPIC 1: Facilitation tips/tools for virtual stakeholder workshops?(especially for in depth product discovery, with lots of senior clients in the same meeting )
Bring structure
Mural & Miro, Google Docs & Draw
Liberating Structures, and Zoom (or similar) breakout rooms
For a 3-hour meeting? Set out an agenda and goal first. And schedule breaks in. Even better if you can get them out of their seats and moving about at some point
Pre-work - the event starts when they get the invite
Charles Burdett’s work, and his Workshop Tactics cards. He’s been working with Co-op recently and doing a lot of remote sessions. He’s on Twitter too and a sound person
TOPIC 2: A product manager keeps asking me: how do we define the roadmap for the next year?
Concentrate on themes instead of details where possible
Tell the story of the sequence of the year
Separate waterfall and agile - things that are themes (problems to solve) and commitments to specific items (iPhone launch date)
Prodplan’s definition: Roadmap
#7 The Product Roadmap. A roadmap is an expression of your… | by Gibson Biddle
TOPIC 3: Misalignment between product direction and your personal/ethical views - how do we handle this best?
Matt Stratford’s ProductTank talk - “Are We the Baddies?” (ProductTank London: Product in the Enterprise - March 2020): Some things are worth walking away, others are more nuanced and you can work to change them. Dont underestimate your own influence. Be bold where you can.
Behavioural science - people sometimes dont realise they are “going with the flow”, highlighting activities could help
“Consequence scanning” - new agile concept, looking at unintended consequences of choices - https://www.doteveryone.org.uk/project/consequence-scanning/
How to connect with the core of the company, does it align? What are you fundamentally there to achieve. Can you reframe the issue to showcase the dissonance between stated values and actual actions?
You cannot get from one state to another immediately - how to make the path?
TOPIC 4: How to handle simultaneous Individual Contributor and People Mgmt duties?
Try blocking windows of time to work on your IC work, with help from the people who depend on you
If its hard to block calendar, use flexible working to find periods of time where you can focus
Speak to managers to be clear what you are expected to deliver in both roles - and be clear what can be delivered, ensure you are creating the environment for success
Speak to your reports about what their growth areas are, and can they take items from your todo list to theirs to support their development
IC rewarded for doing work, doing it well and doing it more. Managers have to have a different mindset - manager sometimes has to give work to people who will do it worse than you, but the work still gets done
TOPIC 5: Burned out by working from home (or rather, how to avoid it!)
Schedule - liberating as you can take moments when you mean to and not just drift through work
Meditation - have 10 mins to let go (apps - headspace, calm)
Mini breaks throughout day
Exercise - physical exercise helps tire you
Food - plan your breaks
Put desk away at the end of the day for clear delineation
Check last week’s notes for more
Having designated work/non-work time
Designated turn off time for devices at end of day