The continuous improvement toolkit for product teams

OurGruuv is a collection of solutions to help empowered product teams...

... clarify expectations so folksKNOW
... power a consistent, fair, and equitable framework for folks toGROW
... encourage relevant and actionable discussions, feedback, and recognition — enable greatCONVO
... and finally align project delivery — by agreeing on, setting, and relying ourTEMPO

GruuvTheory:

Each section below highlights a major contributor to the theory of how to create and sustain a culture of continuous improvement, and drive the OurGruuv product.

Flow state, also known as being in the zone, is when we are in the optimal state of consciousness where we feel our best and perform our best.

GruuvTheory states that the highest performing teams achieve a similar phenomenon, but at the group level -- and it is our mission to uncover ways to unlock this potential for product and engineering teams.

The conditions to flow state are:

  • Knowing what to doCheck out roles in OG:KNOW
  • Knowing how to do itCheck out abilities in OG:GROW
  • Knowing how well you are doingCheck out role-ratings and milestones in OG:GROW
  • High perceived challengesOG:CONVO's help teammates and manager get alignment on what challenges are in front of them and encourages conversations and goals to meet those challenges
  • High perceived skillsOG:GROW makes clear the skills, behaviors, and knowledge needed to take on any role
  • Freedom from distractionsIf the rest of this is out of the way, your team is left with only the important work... go get your Gruuv On!
Image Credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology) Image Credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)
The highest-performing teams have one thing in common: psychological safety — the belief that you won’t be punished when you make a mistake. Studies show that psychological safety allows for moderate risk-taking, speaking your mind, creativity, and sticking your neck out without fear of having it cut off — just the types of behavior that lead to market breakthroughs.
--Harvard Business Review

Thought work is hard work. The vulnerability needed to put your work out there... the lack of 100% correctness and the need to converse about that ambiguity... the ease in which blame can be bestowed. No wonder so many teams fail.

However, your team can build a habit of trust-worthy behaviors by; building habits of continuously improving clarity, blamelessly conversing about mirror measures, and establishing habits where we encourage each other with observations and specificity.

Image Credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_safetyImage Credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_safety

Inthe wiki article on psychological safety, they list out 10 ways to meaure where you team is on the psychological safety spectrum by scoring agreement with certain statements, where higher agreement correlates strongly with increased psychological safety:

  1. On this team, I understand what is expected of me.
  2. We value outcomes more than outputs or inputs, and nobody needs to “look busy”.
  3. If I make a mistake on this team, it is never held against me.
  4. When something goes wrong, we work as a team to find the systemic cause.
  5. All members of this team feel able to bring up problems and tough issues.
  6. Members of this team never reject others for being different and nobody is left out.
  7. It is safe for me to take a risk on this team.
  8. It is easy for me to ask other members of this team for help.
  9. Nobody on this team would deliberately act in a way that undermines my efforts.
  10. Working with members of this team, my unique skills and talents are valued and utilised.OG:KNOW's roles + OG:GROW's abilities + OG:CONVO's focused conversations all contribute to having a team that has clarity and helps fosteres psychological safety

The gruuviest teams use Appreciative Inquiry, which advocates collective inquiry into the best of what is, in order to imagine what could be, followed by collective design of a desired future state that is compelling and thus encourages organic, positive, and continuous improvement.

Appreciative inquiry attempts to use ways of asking questions and envisioning the future in order to foster positive relationships and build on the present potential of a given person, organization or situation. The most common model utilizes a cycle of four processes, which focus on what it calls:

  1. DISCOVER: The identification of organizational processes that work well.
  2. DREAM: The envisioning of processes that would work well in the future.
  3. DESIGN: Planning and prioritizing processes that would work well.
  4. DESTINY (or DEPLOY): The implementation (execution) of the proposed design.

The aim is to build – or rebuild – organizations around what works, rather than trying to fix what doesn't. AI practitioners try to convey this approach as the opposite of problem solving.

--Wiki article on Appreciative Inquiry

We use OurGruuv Observations to be specific about highlighting "the best of what is".

As such, all OG teams have a goal of atleast one author on each team per week so that we are constantly capturing "the best of what is".

HABIT THEORY

Champions don’t do extraordinary things,” Dungy would explain. “They do ordinary things, but they do them without thinking, too fast for the other team to react. They follow the habits they’ve learned.”
― Charles Duhigg, The Power Of Habit

Reminders
Routine
Reward
Everything we deliver is designed to impact one or more aspects of the habit lifecycle… so that you and your team build championship-level habits

= Understanding Continuous Improvement

OurGruuv Solutions:

Each section below represents one of the four main components of the OurGruuv product, including screenshots of the product itself.

A team is defined as; a number of persons associated together working towards a shared purpose/goal.

On a team there are a variety of responsibilities and outcomes that must work in unison for the team to achieve their goals. We call theseAssignments. They are the building blocks... the foundation on which strengths-based teams are built.

Knowing =
Naming, continually refining, and assigning Assignments. Teams that do this accelerate through the storming phase as well as have overall stronger performance.

Unstated expectations are resentments waiting to happen…
… while clear, assigned, and outcome-based responsibilities are critical for team flow state, continuous improvement, leading to exponential success

Image credit: Stanford University: Cardinal at Work:Manager toolkit

BEFORE OurGruuv:
Unstated expectations are resentments waiting to happen

… your teams are frustrated because of the strain caused by a sea of unstated expectations, which leaves you in a constant state of wonderingwho is responsible for what.

--or--

… your teams are frustrated because they do not get to use their indivdual strengths on a daily basis because responsibilities are overly-rigid and based on always out-of-date, irrelevant, antiquated job descriptions.

AFTER OurGruuv:
We believe that when you clearly state expectations, teammates will suprise and delight by undoubtedly exceeding them

Your teams are crushing it within the Perform phase of a team life cycle because:

  • Every teammate's can say "I use my strengths every day", because their job descriptions is…
    • … ever-green fresh, NOT set once and forgotten
    • … as unique as they are as a teammate, NOT detatched from reality (aka standardized and vague)
    • … optimized for thought-work, meaning made up of a set of outcome-based responsibilities, NOT a creativity-crushing series of assembly-line style instructions
  • The lego blocks that make up the ever-fresh, unique-to-you, outcome-based job descriptions are continuously updated/improved upon, and this is NOT be handled in an inevidable graveyard of doomed-to-fail spreadsheets and docs
  • Teams are set up for succcess because they are organized based on the right collection of strengths. This process leans on the collection of Assignments and relevant job descriptions as a vital key, and NOT be a game of "cog Tetris" where managers force folks together with no way to check the compatibility of the group
PRODUCT FEATURES:
This image shows an example job description. Using a central set of Assignments, it makes it increbily easy to always know what is expected of each teammate while also allowing each teammate's unique strengths to be highlighted.This image shows an example job description. Using a central set of Assignments, it makes it increbily easy to always know what is expected of each teammate while also allowing each teammate's unique strengths to be highlighted.
This image shows an example of a team page. By assigning who is responsible for what at the responsibility level, encourages a significantly higher level of clarity, and therefore helps teams get to the performing stage much faster.This image shows an example of a team page. By assigning who is responsible for what at the responsibility level, encourages a significantly higher level of clarity, and therefore helps teams get to the performing stage much faster.
Growing =
Clear, consistent, and fair growth framework...
… built on the specific behaviors, skills, and/or knowledge…
… your team observes through experiences, converses about frequently, and truly values.

We should measure teams by their impact on our customers...
… and we should measure individuals by their impact on their team.

BEFORE OurGruuv:
You're confused, frustrated, and discouraged about the career path for you and your teammate, which is unclear and inconsistent at best – unfair and biased at worst.

You've tried one of three things... all have left you and your team feeling frustrated:

  1. The Competency Model

    These fail because they are overly vague, one-size-fits-all, and though they provide clarity into the promotion system, they are too disconnected from the reality of the ever-evolving nature of thought work to have any hope of being (let alone staying) relevant.

  2. The Tech Skills Platforms

    These fail because they are myopically focused on the pure technology skills and usually have no association to your compensation, responsibilities, or title. They are great for training, but they miss the boat on being a unifying system that captures the most important thing... how your work is experienced by your team.

  3. The Wild West Technique

    This is what we see the most of. No real defined system whatsoever.

    If your manager thinks you should be a senior... great, you are! Why? Who knows?
    Why is the other teammate not a senior? Who knows?
    Why does employee X make more when they do the same as employee Y? You've got it... who knows!?!?!
    Regardless of how well-intentioned this may seem... it will always lead to inconsistency, bias, lack of fairness, lack of trust, and ultimately resentment on any team.

AFTER OurGruuv:
You're increasingly self-assured that the good intentions of your org are backed by a growth framework that is relevant to you, continuously improving, and supports clear opportunities for growth, compensation fairness, and overall equity.

The thought-work that empowered product teams do (engineering, design, quality assurance, data analysis, product management, project management, etc) requires something different, something better.

Let's look at how those three things you've tried will go once you add OG to the mix:

  1. Abilities tailored for us, not competencies made for no one

    In our style of work, we need the uniqueness of our team, our approaches, our guiding principles to be at the center of our growth framework. Abilities (which are skills, behaviors, and knowledge) we build and continuously clarify, not stagnant and irrelevant competency libraries.

  2. What you do, not what you know

    Training apps are great. They just aren't great as the cornerstone of your growth framework. It may seem wise to award milestones based on certificates and how your team does on tests. We even encourage this for the bare minimum / earliest milestones. However, beyond that it should be about how your teammates experience your work, not what some test says.

  3. Remove bias with specificity

    In the book9 Lies about work(which influenced much of the OurGruuv:Grow offering)they tackle 9 highly believer concepts in business. One of which deals directly with rating people.

    LIE: People can reliably rate other people
    TRUTH: People can reliably rate their own experience
    (Because that's all we have)
    We believe that the only growth frameworks that matter are the ones that are specific, based on teammate experiences, and contiuously improved (used/referenced weekly and not quarterly or annually).

PRODUCT FEATURES:
FAQ / Glossary
  • Assignmentsare the lego blocks that allow individuals and teams to sanely assign responsibilities and outcomes. These are nouns.
    Assignments contain abilities.
  • Abilitiesare the tools we value/recognize (skills, behaviors, and knowledge). They are the tools you need to complete those role responsiblities. These are verbs.
    Abilities have up to 5 milestones.
  • Milestonesare the measure of how others have experienced you weilding an ability. For instance if "Decomposing & Sequencing work" was an ability of ours, the milestones would likely look something like this:
    1. Milestone 1 = We ask these teammates to help kickoff projects that only impact a few memebers of a team
    2. Milestone 2 = We ask these teammates to help kickoff projects that impact their entire team, and has consequences up to a sprint
    3. Milestone 3 = We ask these teammates to help kickoff projects that impact multiple teams, and has consequences up to a quarter
    4. Milestone 4 = We ask these teammates to help kickoff projects that impact the entire department, and has consequences up to a couple of years
    5. Milestone 5 = We ask these teammates to help kickoff any and all projects and help coordinate these projects across departments
    A steady progression... with more trust to weild this ability the higher the milestone.
The question of "how do I advocate for my career and the progression thereof?" should be met with clear answers. This shows a map of how each and every teammate can become eligible for the next step in their career! Fairness, clarity, consistency, all simplified.The question of "how do I advocate for my career and the progression thereof?" should be met with clear answers. This shows a map of how each and every teammate can become eligible for the next step in their career! Fairness, clarity, consistency, all simplified.
"The best people are not well-rounded... Quite the opposite, in fact - the best people are spiky, and in their lovingly honed spikiness they find their biggest contribution, their fastest growth, and ultimately, their greatest joy." - 9 lies about work. We love that quote because it is so true. This figure shows how your teammates can each visualize their spikyness!"The best people are not well-rounded... Quite the opposite, in fact - the best people are spiky, and in their lovingly honed spikiness they find their biggest contribution, their fastest growth, and ultimately, their greatest joy." - 9 lies about work. We love that quote because it is so true. This figure shows how your teammates can each visualize their spikyness!
Teams should organize based on the needs of the team (as defined by roles and abilities) and the strengths of the invidiuals (also as defined by the roles and milestones of each potential teammate). Shown here is a map of the abilities needed for a team and the highest milestone of each teammate. This way it is clear to us where we will likely need to focus as a team. At OG we love when spiky people join forces to create well-rounded teams.Teams should organize based on the needs of the team (as defined by roles and abilities) and the strengths of the invidiuals (also as defined by the roles and milestones of each potential teammate). Shown here is a map of the abilities needed for a team and the highest milestone of each teammate. This way it is clear to us where we will likely need to focus as a team. At OG we love when spiky people join forces to create well-rounded teams.
Conv'ing =
Specific, relevant, and actionable feedback and recognition based on observations and built for everyone…
… Paired with focused and ongoing conversations
… all in order to build the habits exceptional teams have... the habits of appreciative inquiry, psycological safety, and continuous improvement
Specific + Relevatant = Actionable & Meaningful:Feedback and recognition that is generic might feel good for a second, but it is valueless in the long run. On the other hand there is a better way. It starts by having feedback and/or recognition based on a specificObservation, references the shared set ofRoles, Abilities, and/or Values, and is cataloged and organized as a part of not only the auther and recipient's story, but also directly visible and associated with the roles, abilities, and values referenced.
If we build a habit of asking ourselves and writing down "the best of what is", it will help up imagine what could be. Marry that with psychological safety and we can then collectively design a desired future state that is compelling and thus encourages organic, positive, and continuous improvement.
This is the key to great teams sustaining and ever improving expotential success... while having a great time doing it.
Focused = Actionable & Meaningful:Conversations are good. Conversations that stay focused on the most important things are better. OG Convos seek to replace infrequent reviews with continuous conversations about the roles a teammate wants to improve, milestones they want to reach, and values they want to concentrate on.
PRODUCT FEATURES:
Building the habit of telling out team's story is not a management responsibility... it is not something we should do once a year or even once a quarter. We get to control who tells our story... us! We control how frequently we tell our story... often and consistently! This does not just happen... it is a habit. This page shows how your team is doing with their public recognition.Building the habit of telling out team's story is not a management responsibility... it is not something we should do once a year or even once a quarter. We get to control who tells our story... us! We control how frequently we tell our story... often and consistently! This does not just happen... it is a habit. This page shows how your team is doing with their public recognition.
This figure shows how each teammate will be able to manage their observations... be it private feedback or public recognition.This figure shows how each teammate will be able to manage their observations... be it private feedback or public recognition.
This shows how you make your observations relevant. Every role, ability, and value defined can be associated to an observation.This shows how you make your observations relevant. Every role, ability, and value defined can be associated to an observation.
This shows how you make your observations known. Not only can you attach how this made you feel, but you can share in a slack channel or in a DM with just the recipients (and their managers if you choose). This allows observations to not just be for recognition. It is proven that we need a 3:1 - 6:1 ratio of positive recognition to constructive feedback. Observations is great to help you manage this ratio.This shows how you make your observations known. Not only can you attach how this made you feel, but you can share in a slack channel or in a DM with just the recipients (and their managers if you choose). This allows observations to not just be for recognition. It is proven that we need a 3:1 - 6:1 ratio of positive recognition to constructive feedback. Observations is great to help you manage this ratio.
After you create a public recognition style observation, it will show up in Slack for the rest of your teammates to be able to cheer!After you create a public recognition style observation, it will show up in Slack for the rest of your teammates to be able to cheer!
One of the biggest advantages of OGOs (OurGruuv Observations) over normal slack or verbal shout outs is the fact that the observation stays a part of the team story forever. This shows how on the centralized value for the team, the observations referenced are directly attached.One of the biggest advantages of OGOs (OurGruuv Observations) over normal slack or verbal shout outs is the fact that the observation stays a part of the team story forever. This shows how on the centralized value for the team, the observations referenced are directly attached.
Focused Conversations are often time-bound... with a beginning, middle, and end. Since these conversations are important, having automatic reminders is vital.Focused Conversations are often time-bound... with a beginning, middle, and end. Since these conversations are important, having automatic reminders is vital.
Conversations based on goals are the richest. OurGruuv allows you to set goals for roles, milestone attainment, and even S.M.A.R.T. goals!Conversations based on goals are the richest. OurGruuv allows you to set goals for roles, milestone attainment, and even S.M.A.R.T. goals!
Another conversation power-up OurGruuv offers is a conversatation-starting survey of what roles the teammate should tackle as well as what milestones the teammate is currently at. Both the temmate and the manager fills out this survey (neither can see the other until they are both done) and this helps ensure alignment!Another conversation power-up OurGruuv offers is a conversatation-starting survey of what roles the teammate should tackle as well as what milestones the teammate is currently at. Both the temmate and the manager fills out this survey (neither can see the other until they are both done) and this helps ensure alignment!
Replace the-feeling-of-being-judged inducing, often-forgotten, not relevant to what your team values (roles and abilities), and constantly out-dated spreadsheet-powered quarterly reviews. We now have continuous growth management with OurGruuv conversations!Replace the-feeling-of-being-judged inducing, often-forgotten, not relevant to what your team values (roles and abilities), and constantly out-dated spreadsheet-powered quarterly reviews. We now have continuous growth management with OurGruuv conversations!
We are actively working on the Tempo part of the product (If you useClubhousefor your project management, we may be able to turn these features on for you). However, if you are like me and have the following beliefs, you are going to love it:
  • Project Management hygiene (stories reflect reality, meaning they are in the correct state and have the proper details) is a habit that great teams have
  • If the proper details are in one source of truth, the one place where they have to be, the Project Management system, we can automate things like change logs, therefore reducing the wasteful double entry into multiple disparate systems.
  • Story Cycle Time is one of the most powerful team health metrics available.
  • Review ratios, work-in-progress limits, and volatility calculations are phenomenal tools that can be used to help everyone stay aligned.
PRODUCT FEATURES (PREVIEW):
We believe that our daily check-ins should be based almost exclusively on the state of our project management system. Here we can make clear agreements and measure our overall reliability. BS vague saily standp software is the worst thing a team can do... either go wild west and do nothing or have eveyrone type it in or go with a synchronous meeting standup... however, we believe a PM tool-based checkin is better than both of those options a team ritual that encourages better PM hygiene.We believe that our daily check-ins should be based almost exclusively on the state of our project management system. Here we can make clear agreements and measure our overall reliability. BS vague saily standp software is the worst thing a team can do... either go wild west and do nothing or have eveyrone type it in or go with a synchronous meeting standup... however, we believe a PM tool-based checkin is better than both of those options a team ritual that encourages better PM hygiene.
Most project management tools have great APIs but shitty reporting... OG aims to bring a level of visualization to the data within the PM tool. This is meant to help align on the reality and not just "gut feeling". We do NOT believe in managing by velocity, but as a part of a healthy continuous growth framework, having hard data to look at is a helpful conversation starter.Most project management tools have great APIs but shitty reporting... OG aims to bring a level of visualization to the data within the PM tool. This is meant to help align on the reality and not just "gut feeling". We do NOT believe in managing by velocity, but as a part of a healthy continuous growth framework, having hard data to look at is a helpful conversation starter.
Mirror measures, or measures that reflect reality and are conversation starters... that is the essence of OG Tempo. It should not be used to beat people with, but it should be used to highlight what is going well, be a canary in the cole mine when things are slipping, and non-personal way for us to discuss the difference. This shows an early version of how story actor ratios and story cycle net promoter score works.Mirror measures, or measures that reflect reality and are conversation starters... that is the essence of OG Tempo. It should not be used to beat people with, but it should be used to highlight what is going well, be a canary in the cole mine when things are slipping, and non-personal way for us to discuss the difference. This shows an early version of how story actor ratios and story cycle net promoter score works.
No one should be judged by velocity. This is pure truth. However, low volatility, and having conversations about how much we were able to get done is critical to a healthy team. Psychological Safety is a prerequisite of this however. Without everyone feeling safe, data like this being exposed, will result in a blame culture. Psychological safety + Mirror measures + Habit of team accountability = recipe for greatness.No one should be judged by velocity. This is pure truth. However, low volatility, and having conversations about how much we were able to get done is critical to a healthy team. Psychological Safety is a prerequisite of this however. Without everyone feeling safe, data like this being exposed, will result in a blame culture. Psychological safety + Mirror measures + Habit of team accountability = recipe for greatness.
This is another Mirror Measure. Your team sets the thresholds you are aiming for in each phase of your workflow. Then you are graded against your own expectations. This can highlight when things are going off the rails, which is sometimes ok. But it also sets a tone and clarity around what great is on your team. So it gives folks something to aim for.This is another Mirror Measure. Your team sets the thresholds you are aiming for in each phase of your workflow. Then you are graded against your own expectations. This can highlight when things are going off the rails, which is sometimes ok. But it also sets a tone and clarity around what great is on your team. So it gives folks something to aim for.
This is yet another Mirror Measure. As stated earlier, velocity is a horrifyingly bad measure. However, volatility is a pretty good indicator of health. There is also the amazing side benefit of low volatility, which is a higher level of forecastability. Which can be very useful in estimation.This is yet another Mirror Measure. As stated earlier, velocity is a horrifyingly bad measure. However, volatility is a pretty good indicator of health. There is also the amazing side benefit of low volatility, which is a higher level of forecastability. Which can be very useful in estimation.
Establishing a bunch of KPIs is pointless if no one ever looks at them. So a vital part of OG:Tempo is the Slack integration. This showcases a weekly message (that gets updated hourly) that shows how a team is doing across multiple KPIs (including vital but non-project-management measures such as role assignment and observation creation)Establishing a bunch of KPIs is pointless if no one ever looks at them. So a vital part of OG:Tempo is the Slack integration. This showcases a weekly message (that gets updated hourly) that shows how a team is doing across multiple KPIs (including vital but non-project-management measures such as role assignment and observation creation)
Establishing a bunch of KPIs is pointless if no one ever looks at them. So a vital part of OG:Tempo is the Slack integration. This showcases a daily thread message posted within the weekly tempo message (both get updated hourly) that shows how a team is doing across multiple KPIs (specifically focused on work-in-progress stories... self-imposed WIP limits are great!)Establishing a bunch of KPIs is pointless if no one ever looks at them. So a vital part of OG:Tempo is the Slack integration. This showcases a daily thread message posted within the weekly tempo message (both get updated hourly) that shows how a team is doing across multiple KPIs (specifically focused on work-in-progress stories... self-imposed WIP limits are great!)
= Achieving Continuous Improvement
Get your Gruuv on!
Based on strengths-based organizational design philosophy that uses outcome-based roles as the lego blocks by which to build a unique and always-fresh job description for each teammate
Taking the open source model and learning from and iterate on the best growth frameworks that have been created and shared... and never want our teammates wondering "what's next for me here", "I wonder how I'm doing", or "how do we decide who to give more responsibility to"
Including, but not limited to, quarterly goal discussions, anonymous conversations, specific feedback, and observation-based recognition inspired by appreciative inquiry
Including, but not limited to, project management hygeine strategies such as a relevant daily check-in, cycle time analysis, and a deep slack integration
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