PITA 039

Written By randy silver

TOPIC 1 How do you get a team comfortable with "I don't know"?

  • Go back to user research - ask, “What does it indicate?”

  • Model the behaviour

  • Co-create with the stakeholder - design sprint, estimation workshop, write the press release - something to get them collaborating, not fearing

  • Lower the stakes  & tackle something smaller in this way

  • get someone senior/respected in the discussion to say "I don't know, and that's ok" - I usually do this if I am the most senior person in the room.

  • Repurpose the Failure SwapShop to an I Don’t Know SwapShop

TOPIC 2 How do people figure out what "level" to do discovery at? High-level to figure out what initiative to work on next vs low-level to figure out detail of what to build

  • It’s fractal, baby - it happens at all levels. Start somewhere (anywhere!) depending on who you need to get involved/what you need to achieve

  • Dragon mapping can help diagram the uncertainty

  • Do just enough discovery at any point to free up things so that you can make some progress

  • Things don’t move iteratively from ideation -> discovery -> build; sometimes they go backwards

  • Teresa Torres’ Opportunity Solutions Tree - you can modify it to use it as a primary artefact in place of a backlog

TOPIC 3 Tips on how to get CTO(!) to focus on the bigger outcomes, rather than the easy to add 'features'

  • Tie the results to a bonusable measure/motivation - ensure they are aligned to what matters (h/t to Rich Mironov)

  • Measure wasted code - and bin the features/code that isn’t being used

  • Other sensible ideas that won’t work with this particular individual…

  • Try to get them to focus on the unknowns - “wouldn’t it be even cooler if…?”

  • Apply the One Minute Manager - praise them for every good thing that they do. Find ways to make them a hero when they do so.

  • Conversely - point out the CTO jobs that they’re not doing

  • Or point the CTO at a tough problem (scaling?) that they can pursue solo while unblocking the rest of the team

  • Get them to talk to other CTOs — that's been super education for some folk I've worked with who sound similar.

TOPIC 4 Factoring environmental impact into product decisions

randy silver
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