What Is John Cutler’s Impact On Product Development And Leadership?

John Cutler is a renowned voice in product development and leadership, emphasizing sustainable approaches to work. This article, brought to you by johnchen.net, dives deep into the insights of John Cutler, revealing actionable ideas for professionals seeking to elevate their strategic thinking and optimize team dynamics. It offers a comprehensive exploration of innovation, efficiency, and team empowerment.

1. Who Is John Cutler And Why Should I Care About His Work?

John Cutler is a leading expert in product development, product management, and cross-functional collaboration. John Cutler has extensive experience as a product leader and coach, John focuses on helping teams surface assumptions, foster creative problem-solving, and cultivate aligned autonomy. John’s insights, shared on johnchen.net, are invaluable for professionals aiming to improve decision-making, drive innovation, and create sustainable work environments. His work addresses the common challenges faced by managers and leaders in today’s dynamic business landscape.

John Cutler’s work is particularly relevant due to his focus on sustainable and human-centered approaches to product development. According to John Chen’s article “[The Beautiful Mess 2020]”, in [2020], [John Cutler] demonstrates the importance of acknowledging and navigating the complexities of product development, rather than seeking to eliminate them.

1.1 What Are John Cutler’s Core Principles?

John Cutler’s core principles revolve around embracing the beautiful mess of product development, fostering team autonomy, and promoting continuous learning. John’s approach emphasizes the importance of surfacing assumptions, encouraging experimentation, and making data-informed decisions.

1.2 How Does John Cutler’s Work Differ From Traditional Product Management Approaches?

John Cutler’s work distinguishes itself through its emphasis on empathy, vulnerability, and continuous adaptation. While traditional product management often focuses on rigid processes and prescriptive roadmaps, John advocates for a more flexible and human-centered approach.

2. What Is The Empty Roadmap And How Can It Help My Team?

The Empty Roadmap is an exercise developed by John Cutler to help teams surface assumptions and focus on the Opportunity. This activity encourages teams to imagine what would happen if they stopped “shipping” new features or improvements and instead focused on fixing major production issues and remaining idle.

2.1 How Does The Empty Roadmap Exercise Work?

To conduct the Empty Roadmap exercise, John Cutler advises teams to consider the following:

1. Imagine Doing Nothing: Ask the team to envision a scenario where they cease developing new features or improving existing ones, maintaining only essential operations.
2. Refer to Business Dashboards: Review key performance indicators (KPIs) and business metrics to predict how these numbers might change over time.
3. Consider External Impacts: Imagine how industry press, customer feedback, and board meetings would be affected.
4. Analyze Long-Term Effects: Discuss the potential long-term consequences, such as competitor gains, increased customer acquisition costs, and team member attrition.

2.2 What Are The Benefits Of Implementing The Empty Roadmap?

The benefits of implementing the Empty Roadmap include:

• Surfacing Assumptions: The exercise helps teams identify underlying assumptions about the impact of their work.
• Focusing on the Opportunity: It encourages a deeper understanding of the true opportunities and challenges facing the product.
• Promoting Strategic Thinking: By considering the long-term consequences of inaction, teams can make more informed strategic decisions.
• Encouraging Collaboration: The exercise promotes cross-functional collaboration and knowledge sharing within the team.

3. Why Does John Cutler Recommend Considering Three Options?

John Cutler advocates for considering three options to move conversations forward and ensure decision-making integrity. This approach encourages teams to explore multiple coherent options and document the reasons for rejecting certain paths.

3.1 How Does The Three Options Prompt Work?

The Three Options prompt involves the following steps:

1. Identify Multiple Options: Encourage the team to brainstorm at least three different ways to achieve a specific goal or address a problem.
2. Evaluate and Reject Options: Document the reasons for rejecting certain options, including the assumptions and criteria used in the decision-making process.
3. Document Assumptions: Walk through your assumptions. Describe your confidence levels. When will you revisit the current selected option?

3.2 What Are The Advantages Of Using The Three Options Approach?

The advantages of using the Three Options approach include:

• Providing Context: Explaining rejected options provides important context and conveys rigor in decision-making.
• Inspiring Confidence: Having multiple options inspires confidence that the team made an actual decision based on careful consideration.
• Promoting Creative Problem Solving: The approach encourages creative thinking and helps teams avoid settling for mediocre or desperate solutions.
• Improving OKRs: It serves as a test for Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), ensuring that the objective is not simply a task but a goal with multiple potential paths.

4. How Can I Experiment With Not On To Improve Team Processes?

Experiment With Not On is a concept introduced by John Cutler to address the common dynamic where team members feel like they are being experimented ON without clear communication or involvement. This approach focuses on ensuring that process experiments are conducted transparently and collaboratively.

4.1 What Are The Key Elements Of The Experiment With Not On Approach?

The key elements of the Experiment With Not On approach include:

1. Clearly Define the Why: Ensure that the purpose and goals of the experiment are clearly communicated and understood by all team members.
2. Invite Co-Experimenters: Involve team members as active participants and co-experimenters rather than passive subjects.
3. Establish Positive Signals: Describe the positive signals that would indicate progress and success.
4. Identify Potential Challenges: Discuss potential challenges and develop tactics to support each other through those challenges.
5. Define Pivot or Proceed Points: Establish clear criteria for deciding whether to pivot or proceed with the experiment.

4.2 What Makes The Experiment With Not On Approach Powerful And Resilient?

The Experiment With Not On approach is powerful and resilient because it:

• Enhances Buy-In: Involving team members in the experiment increases their buy-in and commitment.
• Promotes Transparency: Clear communication about the purpose and progress of the experiment builds trust and reduces resistance.
• Encourages Accountability: Establishing clear criteria for success and failure promotes accountability and informed decision-making.

5. What Does John Cutler Mean By Teach By Starting Together?

Teach by Starting Together is an approach advocated by John Cutler to foster learning and collaboration within teams. This method emphasizes the importance of involving the entire team, including less experienced members, in the early stages of an initiative.

5.1 How Does Starting Together Differ From The Small Group Approach?

Starting Together differs from the small group approach, where a smaller, more senior group does the initial work before presenting it to the team.

5.2 What Are The Benefits Of Implementing Teach By Starting Together?

The benefits of implementing Teach by Starting Together include:

• Promoting Learning: Less experienced team members gain exposure to the discovery and shaping process.
• Building Resiliency: By building product discovery skills across the board, teams become more resilient and adaptable.
• Improving Collaboration: Starting together fosters a shared understanding of the problem and encourages collaboration.
• Saving Time: In the long run, starting together can save time by ensuring that everyone is aligned and informed from the beginning.

6. Why Does John Cutler Say It’s Hard To Learn If You Already Know?

John Cutler emphasizes that “It’s hard to learn if you already know” to highlight the importance of suspending disbelief and remaining open to new ideas and perspectives. This mindset is essential for effective collaboration and continuous improvement in product development.

6.1 How Does This Concept Apply To Cross-Functional Teams?

In cross-functional teams, individuals often feel the need to prove what they know and defend their expertise. This can create a defensive environment that inhibits learning and collaboration.

6.2 What Can I Do To Cultivate Curiosity And Openness To Learning?

To cultivate curiosity and openness to learning, consider the following:

• Suspend Disbelief: Challenge your own assumptions and be willing to consider new ideas and perspectives.
• Practice Active Listening: Pay attention to what others are saying and try to understand their point of view.
• Ask Questions: Seek clarification and ask probing questions to gain a deeper understanding of the topic.
• Reflect on Your Reactions: Pay attention to your emotional responses and identify moments when your threat response kicks in.

7. What’s The Difference Between Way And Why, According To John Cutler?

John Cutler distinguishes between The Way and The Why to emphasize the importance of focusing on the problem or opportunity rather than imposing a specific tool, framework, or method. This approach promotes autonomy and encourages teams to find the best solution for their specific context.

7.1 Why Is It Important To Lead With The Why Instead Of The Way?

Leading with The Why is important because it:

• Tests the Waters: It allows you to gauge whether your teammates share your perspective and see the problem the same way.
• Encourages Collaboration: It invites others to share their ideas and perspectives on how to address the problem.
• Avoids Pigeon-holing: It prevents you from being labeled as the “framework person” and allows for more flexibility in finding solutions.

7.2 How Can I Focus On The Why In My Own Work?

To focus on The Why in your own work, consider the following:

• Start with the Opportunity: Begin by clearly defining the problem or opportunity you are trying to address.
• Speak for Yourself: Express your own needs and perspectives rather than relying on vague statements or assumptions.
• Invite Feedback: Encourage your teammates to share their thoughts and ideas on the problem.

8. How Can Learning Backlogs Improve My Team’s Research Efforts?

Learning Backlogs are a tool advocated by John Cutler to help teams sequence and focus their research efforts. By creating a list of questions and prioritizing them based on their importance and uncertainty, teams can ensure that they are addressing the most critical knowledge gaps.

8.1 How Do I Create A Learning Backlog?

To create a Learning Backlog:

1. Brainstorm Questions: Start by brainstorming a list of questions related to your current effort or an upcoming initiative.
2. Provide Context: For each question, provide additional context, such as why it is important and what the impact of reducing uncertainty would be.
3. Sequence Questions: Prioritize the questions based on their importance and the level of uncertainty.
4. Track Progress: Create a board to track progress on answering the questions and limit research-in-progress.

8.2 What Are The Benefits Of Using A Learning Backlog?

The benefits of using a Learning Backlog include:

• Sequencing Questions: It helps teams prioritize and sequence their research efforts.
• Focusing Efforts: It ensures that teams are focusing on the most important questions and avoiding analysis paralysis.
• Improving Collaboration: It promotes collaboration and shared understanding within the team.

9. What Are Product Initiative Reviews And How Can They Benefit My Organization?

Product Initiative Reviews are a practice advocated by John Cutler to encourage teams to reflect on their work and share their learnings with the broader organization. These reviews provide an opportunity to assess the impact of product initiatives, identify challenges, and promote transparency.

9.1 What Should Be Included In A Product Initiative Review?

A Product Initiative Review should include:

1. Outcome Assessment: What happened? What did you learn?
2. Challenge Acknowledgment: Make sure to admit your challenges, and give a balanced assessment.
3. Vulnerability: Don’t play the blame game. Don’t do success theater.

9.2 What Are The Advantages Of Conducting Product Initiative Reviews?

The advantages of conducting Product Initiative Reviews include:

• Promoting Learning: Reviews provide an opportunity to reflect on what worked and what didn’t, fostering continuous improvement.
• Improving Transparency: Sharing learnings with the organization promotes transparency and knowledge sharing.
• Building Trust: By admitting challenges and giving balanced assessments, teams build trust and credibility.

10. What Are Some Of John Cutler’s MVP And Experiment Tips?

John Cutler offers several tips for conducting effective experiments and Minimum Viable Products (MVPs). These tips focus on learning early and often, reducing batch sizes, and partnering with others to de-bias and challenge assumptions.

10.1 What Are Some Key Considerations For Running Effective Experiments?

Key considerations for running effective experiments include:

1. Learn Early and Often: Strive to release things early and often to gather feedback and iterate.
2. Reduce Batch Size: Focus on reducing the size of batches and doing less at once.
3. Partner: Collaborate with others to de-bias, challenge assumptions, and hold each other accountable.
4. Take Experiments Seriously: Be diligent about framing MVPs and experiments. How will you measure this effort? How will you reflect on progress?
5. Kill Your MVPs: Focus on creating a throwaway vehicle for learning that does not create dependencies or promises.

10.2 How Can I Ensure That Experiments Lead To Meaningful Learning?

To ensure that experiments lead to meaningful learning:

• Frame the Experiment: Clearly define the goals, hypotheses, and success metrics for the experiment.
• Incorporate Learning: Ensure that there is a plan to incorporate the learnings from the experiment into future work.
• Avoid Side-Channels: Try to elevate experiments to first-class visible work and involve teammates.

11. Why Does John Cutler Compare Tools To Hammers And Nails?

John Cutler uses the analogy of hammers and nails to illustrate how the tools we know can bias us to solve problems in particular ways. This bias can lead to overlooking other potential solutions and diminishing the contributions of other disciplines.

11.1 How Can I Avoid The Hammer And Nail Problem?

To avoid the hammer and nail problem:

• Recognize Your Biases: Acknowledge that the tools and expertise you have may influence how you perceive and approach problems.
• Seek Diverse Perspectives: Actively seek input from others with different backgrounds and expertise.
• Build Awareness: Brainstorm how the other disciplines can contribute. How can you use your craft to learn from others, and make their work shine?

11.2 How Can I Promote Better Awareness Of How Other Disciplines Can Contribute?

You can advocate for a team that works together, developers describe designers as wanting to do “ivory tower design”.
Just knowing we will tend to see our craft at the center of the universe is a start. Ask yourself, “can I build better awareness of how the other disciplines can contribute? How can I use my craft to learn from others, and make their work shine? How can I view our roles as more overlapping?”

12. How Can I Deal With A Know-It-All CEO, According To John Cutler?

John Cutler advises decoupling decision-making approach from visualizing bets and reflecting on outcomes to deal with a know-it-all CEO. This approach involves creating a mechanism for describing bets, reflecting on those bets, and tracing work to company strategy, regardless of who is making the decisions.

12.1 What Is The Safest Approach To Engage A CEO-Who-Knows-Everything?

A safer approach is advocating for making bets visible , connecting the “tree” of bets , and doing decision reviews.

12.2 Why Is Decoupling Decision Making From Visualizing Bets Important?

Decoupling decision-making from visualizing bets is important because it:

1. Facilitates Learning: Allows the team to learn from outcomes and adjust their approach accordingly.
2. Promotes Transparency: Provides visibility into the decision-making process and the rationale behind it.
3. Builds Trust: Fosters trust and collaboration by involving team members in the process.

13. How Can We Limit Promises In Progress During Hectic Times, As Suggested By John Cutler?

John Cutler advises limiting promises in progress, change in progress, and work in progress during hectic times. This approach helps to reduce anxiety, promote sustainability, and leave bandwidth for care and community.

13.1 Why Is Limiting Promises Important During Challenging Times?

Limiting promises is important during challenging times because it:

• Reduces Stress: Helps to reduce stress and anxiety by focusing on fewer tasks.
• Promotes Focus: Allows the team to focus on the most important priorities.
• Increases Sustainability: Supports sustainability and routine by minimizing cognitive dissonance and tension.

13.2 What Are Some Practical Steps To Limit Promises In Progress?

Practical steps to limit promises in progress include:

• Work Smaller: Break down large tasks into smaller, more manageable chunks.
• Leave Slack: Ensure that there is plenty of slack in the system to accommodate unexpected challenges.
• Limit Planning Inventory: Reduce the amount of planning and focus on execution.
• Be More Deliberate: Focus on being more deliberate and supportive in all interactions.

14. How Does John Cutler Suggest We Pick The “Best” Idea In Brainstorming Sessions?

John Cutler suggests organizing a team activity to design a judging/ranking guide before brainstorming solutions. This guide should outline how the team will pick the “best” idea and should be accessible and avoid insider language.

14.1 What Should Be Included In A Judging/Ranking Guide?

A judging/ranking guide should include:

1. Specific Impact: Probability or confidence range that the idea will increase some specific impact.
2. Strategic Alignment: Degree of alignment with a specific strategic pillar.
3. Learning Potential: Likelihood that the idea will help learn more about a specific learning goal.
4. Incremental Approach: Ability to approach incrementally versus in one large batch.

14.2 What Should Be Avoided When Designing A Judging/Ranking Guide?

Avoid weighting here. Whoops…that doesn’t look right…that should be 4.2 not 4.1! How do settle these two items tied at 92.1??? Wait, the CEO wants us to do that one…should we add a column called CEO DESIRABILITY?

15. How Does John Cutler Suggest We Connect Work Across Different Time-Scales?

John Cutler suggests using a system of 1s and 3s to connect work across different time-scales. This system involves linking every 1-3 hour bet to a 1-3 day bet, every 1-3 day bet to a 1-3 week bet, and so on, all the way up to 1-3 years and 1-3 decades.

15.1 How Does The 1s And 3s System Work?

The 1s and 3s system involves:

1. Defining Time-Scales: Establishing a series of time-scales ranging from 1-3 hours to 1-3 decades.
2. Connecting Bets: Ensuring that every bet at each time-scale is connected to a bet at the next higher time-scale.
3. Tracing Work: Making it possible for team members to trace their work chunks all the way up to the company’s long-term bets.

15.2 What Does John Cutler Call The Messy Middle?

Teams bump into a “messy middle” problem. Work in the near term is clear (people come into work and want something to do). Work in the long-term fits on a slide in an executive’s deck. Turns out making slides is easy.

It is the messy middle bets/missions in the 1-3 month and 1-3 quarter range that are far less coherent.

16. How Does John Cutler Suggest We Handle The Mythical Past Effort Syndrome?

John Cutler suggests focusing on supporting an environment where a new, compelling narrative can emerge instead of trying to change people’s narratives of past events. The new, compelling narrative needs to be written along with your teammates, so a better story could be written.

16.1 What Causes The Mythical Past Effort Syndrome?

The mysterious part of this, in my experience, is that people seem to have amnesia about what happened:

• The CEO cleared the decks so the team could focus.
• Everyone involved committed to a daily meeting and worked to remove blockers immediately.
• The team had direct access to customers. The team was able to chose its stack and tools.
• It was early in the company’s history, and there was no shortage of “low hanging fruit” to address. The company was selling to a single, early-adopter persona.
• Work did just get done , but the team cut corners that they later had to address. The effort was not sustainable.

16.2 How Can You Support An Environment Where A New, Compelling Narrative Can Emerge?

Starve the problem, and the tired old stories, by supporting something better and healthier. Along with your teammates, write a better story.

17. How Does John Cutler View The Boring Bits In Helping A Product Team Do Meaningful Work?

John Cutler views The Boring Bits the small but necessary actions that create the right conditions to have great output. It also goes under-appreciated, and in some cases ridiculed and diminished.

17.1 What Are Examples Of The Boring Bits?

Cleaning up meeting notes. Putting in the time to run a great activity. Sending a link to the one-pager folder two days in advance of the workshopping session. Doing the pre-read and taking good notes. Re-taping the physical kanban board to reflect the new working agreements. Running a meaningful offsite. Writing the weekly recap.

17.2 How Do You Build The Trust Of Your Team To Take The Leap and Give The Boring Bits An Honest Shot Before Nixing The Experiment?

• Commit the time required to make something a habit.
• Frame it as an experiment.
• Limit change in progress.
• Be willing to walk away if it doesn’t work. Engage your team in detecting whether something doesn’t work. Engage your team in designing the experiment.
• Be crystal clear when you expect a dip…a period of “this sucks”.
• Lead by example. Don’t be the first to bail. Do your part. Take the notes. Run the meeting. Write the follow ups.

18. How Does John Cutler Compare Measuring To Learn vs. Measuring To Conform?

John Cutler tries to remind teams that if you’re 100% certain about something, there’s a risk you are in a commodity business. However, you want to be measuring to learn. Not to incentivize, justify, and manage.

18.1 What Questions Can Be Asked To Determine Where The Team Is At?

Chat about the differences between measuring to learn and measuring to incentivize, justify, and manage. Are you making the distinction clear?

19. What Metaphors Does John Cutler Use To Spark A Conversation And What Question Examples Does He Provide?

John Cutler uses a simple activity where he use’s common (but salient) objects, activities, and ideas to spark a conversation. Importantly, don’t pick things that are only positive, or only negative. For each item, He provides some example tensions and alternative explanations. He also gives some question examples.

19.1 What Metaphors Does John Cutler Use?

Walls: Support and divide.

Seedlings: Protect and nurture.

Freight Trains: Not if, but when. But why?

Gardening: Weeding and pruning.

19.2 What Question Examples Does John Cutler Provide?

What efforts must we protect?

Where do they serve us?

Where must we do more gardening?

20. What Do Initiatives Have, According To John Cutler?

Initiatives have Drivers, Constraints, and Floats. Drivers “drive” the effort. Constraints constrain. And floats are levers that you are free to move. The basic idea is to minimize the number of drivers, minimize the number of constraints, and increase the number of floats.

20.1 What Should A Team Have Knowledge Of When An Initiative Is Implemented?

• Knowing when a driver, constraint, or float actually exists!
• Knowing when certain constraints will actually matter.
• Knowing how to narrow drivers.

20.2 What Should Be Asked To Have The Right Knowledge?

For your current effort, what are the drivers, constraints, and floats? Can you narrow and sharpen your drivers, reduce constraints, and find new floats?

21. What Should Be Done To Understand The Nuances In Product Development?

Pose this question to your team:

What must you eventually know about this work to make good decisions at the right cadence?

Whenever I ask this question, I am blown away by the context people need to make great decisions. It helps break down walls. You start to understand their calculus. This post is actually related to my last post on drivers, constraints, and floats. As we gain experience, we are able to elicit more meaningful drivers.

The next thing you can try is to start with the Why of your questions. What decision will your question inform? This seems so simple, but people forget to do this all the time.

22. What Is Success Theater According To John Cutler?

How do you beat it? How do we stop the Success Theater?

The way to “beat” success theater is not to battle it head on. Instead, you need to plant and grow a better narrative. A genuine alternative. New connections and roots will form, and the better story (or stories) will steal the oxygen and energy from the old way.
Change works like this often. We go where we look. If we spend all of our team getting angry about X, we’ll naturally crash into X and get stuck on X. So maybe the thought for this week: Are you getting dragged down by what you are trying to stop?

23. What Should Weigh Heavily On Your Mind According To John Cutler?

We were talking about the best way to pitch a new initiative. I prefer to start with an opportunity, or an agreement to explore an opportunity. She shared that as a woman of color in tech she was often “pushed” to pitch solutions to gain credibility (even if she preferred an opportunity first approach).
Addressing that is weighing heavily on my mind this week.

24. How Can The Believes Of The Team Have Helpful Conversations?

The y-axis describes the level of convergence around the belief. The x-axis describes whether that convergence is beneficial (right) or detrimental (left). Placing beliefs on the matrix is very subjective and that is the point.

There’s also an interesting dynamic at play:

Areas of agreement, over time, may become stale. Once you agree to challenge that convergence, the team is thrust into a period of uncertainty. But the uncertainty/divergence is valuable. At a certain point, you realize that convergence is necessary. Which ushers in the move to convergence and supporting an area of agreement. A company tends to have just a handful of ideas/beliefs that remain in the upper right.
To bootstrap the activity, make some notes about frequently communicated beliefs. Ask the team to place those beliefs on the matrix.

25. How Does John Cutler View Goals Based On Persistent Models vs. Point-In-Time?

There is a big difference between persistent models and work (or goal) related models. OKRs, for example, are a work related model. Work related models involve a specific time-span (e.g. a quarter). The team attempts to achieve The Goal by end-of-quarter.

Meanwhile, a north star metric and related inputs persist for as long as the strategy holds (often 1-3 years ) . The constellation of metrics serves as a belief map, driver diagram, or causal relationship diagram. It explains our mental model for how value is created and/or preserved in our product/system.
So in my coaching, I have started to spend a lot more time with teams on exploring persistent models, and a lot less time on initiative goal setting. Why? Once you have the foundation set, initiative goals are a lot easier and intuitive (and safer, and more effective).
In your work, how do you balance the use of both types of models?

26. What Phrases Are Kryptonite According To John Cutler?

When you hear…

• We just need to execute
• We just need to right people in the right roles
• Bring solutions not problems
• When everyone is responsible, no one is responsible
• That is a low maturity team

…do you find yourself nodding or cringing? Why?

27. What Are Incentives For Running A Feature Factory According To John Cutler?

Here’s one of the key incentives for running a feature factory (especially in B2B):

Shipping shiny new features is easier than fixing underlying product issues.

We equate innovation to the new, not to improving the existing. Even when improving the existing is harder and more challenging in many cases.
Rather, it is about opting for the path of least resistance. It is also about optics and incentives. We want and incentivize visible wins. And new stuff is easier.

28. What Does Real-World, Cross-Functional Teams Look Like?

They did real work. In the real world. They kept track of how they worked, and shared that information. I translated it into this simple graphic:
Notice the periods of collaboration interspersed with individual work. Notice the mixed parallelization and the serialization of tasks. Notice the arc — divergence at first, then convergence, and frequent integration throughout.

The critical point is that this team is figuring out how they want to work AND figuring out the best way to work given the nature of the problem/opportunity.

29. What Question Does Tanner McGrath Have For Teams According To John Cutler?

Here’s a question from my Amplitude coworker Tanner McGrath:

Are you shipping faster than you learn, or learning faster than you ship?

Before you read on, ponder this question for a moment. What is going on at your company? Why?

30. According To John Cutler, What Is Dissolving and What Are People Slipping Into?

Thinking about recent events and work burnout, two questions come to mind. First, how can we use healthy forcing functions to prevent deep burnout? Second, how do some ways of working have the opposite effect and increase risk of burnout?
Are the forcing functions doing their job? Or making things worse? Are people paying attention, or slipping into increasing levels of dissociation and numbness?

31. What Are The 3 Stages Successful Change In Organizations Goes Through?

• Localized, safe to fail experiments
• Experiments to see if scaling is possible and/or desirable
• Full blown programs with the requisite support

You might need to go back a step, reassess your approach, or stop the effort altogether. Each transition is a liminal state of sorts…the nature of the work and approach changes. There’s no room for egos and people intent on owning the change narrative.

32. What Does It Mean To Have A Human-Centered Metric?

Custom metrics connected to the humans getting value from your product — and how they are getting value from your product — are much more compelling.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with “standard” KPIs and metrics. But using them in isolation or as a primary indicator of success/progress is a missed opportunity. Our key product bet manifests in the metric, and that transparency is powerful.

33. What Principle Did Joshua Arnold Share In 2018?

In my own experience doing this over the years I have found that it is the opposite of the Anna Karenina principle. Unhappy teams and organizations are often very similar, while happy/successful teams and organizations can be quite different!

His point resonated with me.

34. How Can I Help Teams Design Internally-Focused, Non-Product Experiments?

Teams are running experiments to counter burnout and to adapt to remote-work. Hopefully, this activity can help your team design better experiments.
That teams either 1) don’t really think through their experiments or 2) are overly biased to certain types of experiments.
Pick a problem or observation.
Read and discuss the dimensions described below. For each dimension, brainstorm example experiments representing the “extremes”. These don’t need to be real. Have fun.
Optionally (as demonstrated with L+ and R+), chat about how the extremes could be considered positive.
Return to the problem or observation. Ask individuals to brainstorm 1-3 candidate experiments to address that problem or observation.
Ask team members to individually describe each candidate experiment using the ranges below.
As a group, discuss each experiment, and where each team member placed each experiment.
Finally, ask team members to dot vote on the best-fit experiment (for the given context). Discuss ranking. Ideally, pick an experiment to try.

35. What Basic Prioritization Questions Should Be Asked?

• How valuable is this opportunity?
• Can we experiment to learn and de-risk?
• How long will this take?
• Is a solution possible?
• Do we know how to solve it?

In this example, I have high confidence that the opportunity is valuable. I have a similar level of confidence that the effort is friendly to experimentation. I have a range for how long it will take as I am confident that a solution is possible, I haven’t given the solution any thought.

36. What Mirror The Incentives In Place?

It backs up the idea of individual developers as mountain movers if left alone. It supports stereotypes of developers as anti-social and disinterested in collaboration. And it supports the idea of manager as individual caretaker vs. team supporter.

37. How Does The Large-Scale Retrospectives Surfacing Key Issues and Narratives?

So by being over-reliance on “normal” feedback mechanisms can be the company drift further and further into siloed communication.

The risk is that this dynamic crops up:
…which is not what we want to see happen.

38. What Two Values Are Acknowledged In Product According To John Cutler?

In product, we make all sorts of assumptions. We have beliefs about:

• why people buy (or don’t buy) our product
• what causes people to give us more (or less) money
• the size of the market now, and in the near/long term
• differentiation, the competition, and technology trends
• expected shifts in consumer habits
• timing, timing, timing
• why people work at our company
• styles of management and styles of leadership
• quality, technical debt, architecture,
• and more (much more)

39. List Several Fill-In-The-Blanks That Encourage Team Members To Consider Polarities and Tensions.

• How do we preserve ____ while at the same time ___ ?
• How do we enable without adversely impacting our ability to ?
• How do we enable some teams to without adversely impacting other teams and their ability to ?

40. What Tips Does John Cutler Give On Sustainable Change Agency?

1. Coworkers may be very concerned and supportive in private, but that doesn’t mean they can (or will) take risks publicly. And you need to be OK with this. Take strength from their private support, but realize they may not be able to help.
2. People like to solve their own problems! We all do. So when someone (you) comes around and says “oh that’s easy, do this!” that may be welcome…or may be unwelcome. Try not to steal their joy of figuring it out. Harness that! Maybe you’ll learn from them.
3. Change is always happening. It just might not be change you like (or how you like the change to happen). This is important because by observing how change does actually happen, we can fine-tune our approach. It tells us what the system values and why some people make progress.

41. When Teams Are In Limbo, What Four Aspects Need To Be Analyzed?

Is the strategy implicit or explicit?