I’ve had a couple of classes since I last posted. We’ve been building on everything we’ve
learned, practicing and in theory getting better. I’m finding that practice
makes less bad.
One of the games we played and will eventually have to perform
is called “Story Story Die”. We stand in
a semi-circle on stage, an audience member gives us a story title (like the “man
in the ducts”) and then we start telling a story. We have to tell the story in the same voice
as each other and we can’t repeat what the last person says. Oh and the instructor points to who speaks
next. You could get out two sentences or
two words before it switches to someone else.
If you pause too long, repeat what was said, fumble, etc. – the audience
can yell “die”. You then die and slink
off the stage while the remaining team members continue on. Repeat. We’ve not done this in front of an audience
yet…but nothing like failing while 75 people yell “die” at you.
There are 7 people in my class…7 folks who’ve never met each
other, who are doing something that’s outside most of our comfort zones. We’re
being asked to do ridiculous things and trying not to worry about looking like
an idiot in front of each other. The
concept of trust has come up – in fact we’re going out drinking together to
help build trust and gel better. We also
succeed and fail as a team – it’s not about one team member looking any better than
the other.
Since we’ve talked about trust and teamwork in class, it
seems to be coming up all the time in my day job. I have a friend that would call that Perceptual
Vigilance (I could have named this article Trust – but that would have been
boring). Trust seems to be built (and
lost) in the seemingly smaller decisions that are happening continually. To build trust, you have to give trust. To do
that you have to ensure that everyone feels ownership and as part of the
success of the solution.
As product managers we’re ultimately responsible for the
success/failure of the product. As part
of that ownership comes “great responsibility”.
In many cases we can override the recommendations of an area expert. While in the moment those decisions feel like
instinct – but in reality are based on knowledge of our customers. If we allow ourselves
we can micromanage the product and the team.
One of the challenges I have – is when do you let go and share ownership.
There can be more the one right answer. At
what point do you just let it go, let the team member’s decision stand and see
what happens. It typically depends on the risk of the decision (which might not
even be quantifiable). But whichever
route you go –if the outcome is less than ideal – the product manager still
needs to take ownership of that decision.
I might not know when to let go –
but I do know that we need to share in the ownership to instill trust and be overall
more effective as a team.