Break process

When writing about product leadership, it’s easy to write about the process—the stuff that is easy to visualise and express. But the truth is that we only have processes to facilitate the lowest denominator of creativity in a team. We would have no processes if we had better ways to innovate as a team.

Shape Up removes much of the process; it does not even discuss how you deliver the pitches you bet on, but the truth is that the real leaps in innovation and creativity often happen when you break processes and rules.

When I lead betting tables, following the normal process of bets and cycles is the default but not the rule. Sometimes, a bet comes around that spikes a direction bigger than it intended. When that happens, we break the process, invest more time in framing the true opportunity in front of us, often in some kind of vision type and then reconnect to find out how we work towards the bigger vision.

I don't care one bit about the process. I care about the impact we create, fuck Shape Up, fuck Scrum, fuck Waterfall. If you see a way to make dents in the universe that don't need any of that, just go and do it.

If you work in an organisation with a defined process, you must make room to break that process. Otherwise, you can end up limiting your impact just to stay in the comfortable space of the known.

As product teams (product, design, engineering), we are used to working in the unknown. Still, for some reason, we get scared and crawl back into our shells of known processes whenever something questions our beliefs about how we work together. It's surprising how often product teams have stronger feelings about process and technology choices than about the products they build.

I try to foster a culture in AutoUncle where we are firm on direction but flexible on the process to get there. It’s so powerful to see how people light up when you carve the way to more freedom from the process.