The Platforms Chief: "Protector of the Realm" and "Greatmaker"
The product team needs a chief. A great chief. A steward and protector, a guide and a field general. Every role on the team is important, but getting the right person steering the ship will differentiate whether the product team becomes an organizational gamechanger or just spends its time fixing things.
Put the Chief on Your Leadership Team
A fully-realized chief of the technology accelerator team (a.k.a. product team) is an executive team level position. Not having that voice on your leadership team is part of why your organization has been so consistently stumbling when it comes to its technology.
Flood the Zone with User Support
Is there any better investment than making sure what you’ve built is being used to its fullest potential?
Get Out From Behind Your Ticketing Queue
A couple years ago I tore up my knee playing softball. The long road back from injury included a staggering number of physical therapy appointments over the course of two years. It didn’t take long to realize that there was a serious issue with the scheduling software….
All-Stars and Jedis
Your all-stars may be right under your nose, in or around your organization already, waiting to be discovered. Most we’ve encountered are. In Star Wars before Rey was Rey or Luke was Luke, they were both kicking around dusty planets bullseyeing womprats. Someone had to spot something special in them and hand ‘em a lightsaber.
The Improver Personality
It used to be that some lucky companies would just happen to hire someone who happened to have the gumption to say, “This could be better, folks.” But can you imagine a better investment than someone who is wired to constantly improve the way everything in your organization works?
You're Hiring for the Wrong Thing
A common mistake organizations make is hiring developers. This is technology, right? That must mean we need developers. Well not really, no….
What You're Getting for an Hourly Rate
We consistently advocate for outsourcing software development. Sometimes we’ll get pushback based on the cost of retaining external developers, especially when there are enough relatively extensive development needs that the organization is receiving costly developer invoices on a regular basis. But there are several reasons the outsourcing arrangement makes more sense than hiring internally…
Clear the Haters
You're the leader. You want an organization that can compete in an ever-more demanding landscape. That functions a little bit better every day than it did the day before. Let reason win the day, and clear the path for the people on your team who are fighting for a better tomorrow.
Nobody Cares About Your Website Launch
Don’t send out an announcement about your new website. Nobody cares about your website launch. Unless…
Coverage
If a baseball team doesn’t have anyone in left field, they will consistently lose. Sure, they may handle long balls to center exceptionally, they may pitch great games, handle everything in the infield just fine. But if no one is covering left field, those fly balls will go unfielded and end up giving a significant advantage to the other team.
The Costs of Ignoring Your Problems
I get a bit antsy when I’m asked how much something will cost. It’s an important question, it deserves a solid answer. But somehow the question seems to frame things up in a misleading way….
Your Timeline is a Lie
In the realm of technology builds, timelines are most helpful if we can all admit that they are, by nature, an initial best guess.
Changing Your Mind is a Feature, Not a Bug
It’s true, changing your mind might alter budget and timelines. It may vex project managers. But the truth is that understanding evolves, and changing your mind based on the latest landscape is not a sign of negligence. It’s a sign of careful attention and thoughtfulness.
Develop Slow, Respond Fast
If you want your product to succeed, don't think the road to that is by putting every bell or whistle you could imagine. Think first of making sure the people using your product are helped every step of the way to remove roadblocks to their use. No more arms crossed disappointed looks when they're not doing it right, despite "having got the training, twice!" We have to move to a support mentality that recognizes that if the product isn't used, it's useless.