building the team that builds the product

Carey Jenkins, Sr. Engagement Manager

#buildingtheteam

who am i and what am I here to talk about?

who am i and what am I here to talk about?

engagement

- product management

- product strategy

- account management

- delivery

- enthusiasm ambassador

product teams

- EM, Lead Designer & Lead Developer

- Cross functional

- Lean Agile

- blah, blah, blah

collaboration = spontaneous greatness

madness

- building good products is hard

- people who build products well are unique

- people who pay people to build products are unpredictable

from chaos comes greatness.

and also - trust issues

- miscommunication

- missed opportunities

- tense meetings

- unrealistic expectations

- anxiety

it feels wobbly.

this is the story of what one team did to find some steady.

some context

- Three products

- 2 trips to SF

- 8 trips to NYC

- 2 trips to Philly

- 2 launches and 1 still to go

San Francisco 49ers Wine Tasting Android App3 months

Mansion Global Luxury Real Estate Experience12 months

Event-based Travel Booking Platform8 months and counting

no flow, not in the zone, no mojo, that lovin’ feeling lost.

in what way?

- feeling exasperated, defeated, powerless

- unable to see the big picture

- losing our connection with each other and our product

what if we set our focus differently?

how?

- acknowledge reality

- choose to spend our energy on the things within our control

step one: what does success mean to us?

ACTUAL TRELLO BOARD

Define what happiness/success/good work means for your team.

step two: how can we more actively work towards success?

RE-ENACTMENT

Set aside consistent time to bring ideas to the floor.

step three: experiment

ACTUAL TRELLO BOARD

Pick a problem, agree on the tactic, timebox and give it a try.

some experiments succeeded.

learning lunches

How can we explore topics of interest and inspiration together?

pomodoro

Can we increase productivity while decreasing ratholing?

some not so much.

no complaining

What if we didn’t complain for a month? Okay for a week? A day?

some were in between.

four tens

How far can we take flex time and still function as a team?

tidiness

Would a neater workspace affect our mindset or work?

what did we learn?

We are not just making software.

hay - thanks.

appendix

“When every aspiration is frustrated, a person still must seek a meaningful goal around which to organize the self.

Then, even though that person is objectively a slave, subjectively he is free.”

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow

“Human beings have an innate inner drive to be autonomous, self-determined, and connected to one

another.

And when that drive is liberated, people achieve more and live richer lives.”

Daniel Pink, Drive

“Giving people more control over what they do and how they do it increases their happiness, engagement, and sense of fulfillment.”

“The important thing about little bets is that they’re bite-sized. You try one. It takes a few months at most. It either succeeds or fails, but either way you get

important feedback to guide your next steps.

Cal Newport, So Good They Can’t Ignore You

“Visible mess helps distract us from the true source of the disorder.”

Marie Kondo, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up