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There is no doubt that change can be hard. Learning new ways of working… figuring out new tools and processes… maybe even teaming up with different people… all while STILL trying to get all the work done! It’s a lot. In fact, it can be overwhelming and exhausting. When I look back at the times I’ve had to navigate big changes, personal or professional – I can say that I’ve been the most successful when I fall back on the values I have come to believe in. What is it that I believe in?
Why, I’m so glad you asked that question!
People solve problems – not process and tools
I value individuals and interactions over process and tools. Processes and tools may be helpful to bring the right people together – but ultimately people working together make valuable things.
When we go through change – our instinct may lead us to focus more on the tool than on the problem we’re trying to solve.
Tools and processes are intended to take things off of our plate so we can work together to solve the most important problems for users.
Periodically I’ll ask myself, “Where am I spending more time; figuring out tools and processes, or working with people to solve user problems?” If the answer is figuring out tools, then I’ll make an adjustment.
Good documentation doesn’t fix problems for our users
I value working solutions over comprehensive documentation. I hear pushback about this value all the time, so let me clarify something… documentation IS important. It helps us clarify boundaries and rules, tells us what customers and users are looking for, and helps us understand (and maybe even later fix) what we’ve built.
Users don’t care if our documentation is ready… they want the problem fixed.
I ask myself – “What relief can I give our users RIGHT NOW, even if it’s just a little bit better… and why couldn’t I do that right now?” More times than not – a little relief now, and then a little more later is far better than relief much later. You can (and should) square up the paperwork either while you’re solving the problem, or right after… but having a working solution in place will almost always trump getting the paperwork right in the long run!
Focus on the customer and you won’t go wrong
I value customer-focused collaboration over silos and hierarchy. We all serve the customer in some way or another. We are all either picking up the phone to talk to them, showing up to their house to install new equipment (or resolving a problem), helping customers learn about the great products and services we have to offer… OR we are serving the people who do those things.
Regardless of what our role is, or which team we’re on – our mission is to serve the customers, or to serve the people who do serve the customers.
As I work through my day, I ask myself “Is what I’m doing today going to make life better or worse for our customers (or the people serving our customers)?” If the answer is no- well I’ve got some reassessing and reprioritizing to do!
We can always find ways to be better
I value iterative improvement over settling for status quo. No change is ever perfect… and if we DO try and wait for the perfect plan to change… well we’ll never get there.
That’s why this particular value is really helpful. You see, we can (and should) always find something to improve, whether in our product, in the way we work, or in with the skills that we bring to the table. By understanding our end goals (how we want product, teams or self to be) enables us to find small things that we can improve along the way.
By regularly reflecting, reviewing data, and understanding our goals – we can identify small things to try to help us get a small step closer to that goal on a regular basis.
Periodically I will ask myself, “What can I do differently now, to help me (us) improve the way we work together? If I do this thing, how will I know if it’s actually helping?” Then I do that small thing, and look to see if I got the results I was hoping for. if I didn’t – I try something else!
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