Description
Communication is at the center of all Abilities. However it is so important that we are going to let it be represented in other Abilities while also being a specifically called out ability itself.
In the life of a member of Product & Engineering, you typically have one foot in the P&E world and one foot in the business world.
This inherently means that you are absorbing information that is both technical and business-focused. This information needs to be translated in an easy-to-understand way for any team member and/or client/partner who are not necessarily proficient in both business terms or technical terms.
We are going to look at communication across three axes:
- Effective communication
- Knowledge Sharing
- Business and Technical Translation
Inspired heavily by the CircleCI Engineering Competency Matrix and this Business and Tech Translation Ability
Milestone 1
I have observed this person showing a consistent, comfortable, continuous, and clear positive impact to a squad when wielding this ability, and therefore I would put them in situations where they can employ this ability with only a small amount of guidance
You make small contributions yourself with clear directions by following existing conventions.
| Effective Communication | Knowledge Sharing | Biz/Tech Translation |
|---|---|---|
| Communicates effectively, clearly, concisely and in an audience-oriented way, in written and verbal form. Actively listens to others and ensures they are understood. Pays attention to nonverbal communication. | Understands their area of work and shares their knowledge frequently with their teammates. | You've successfully translated updates on your squad's progress of projects in the weekly product update |
| You ask clarifying questions about anything you don't completely understand | ||
| You treat your feedback as a collaborative discussion rather than demands |
Milestone 2
I have observed this person showing a consistent, comfortable, continuous, and clear positive impact to a squad when wielding this ability, and therefore I would put them in situations where they can employ this ability, with no assistance as well as being a trusted active or passive mentor to others
You make major contributions yourself, fill in missing details, and impact some of those around you.
| Effective Communication | Knowledge Sharing | Biz/Tech Translation |
|---|---|---|
| Communicates effectively, clearly, concisely and in an audience-oriented way in written and verbal form both technical and non technical subjects, to their teammates. Actively listens to others and ensures they are understood. Pays attention to nonverbal communication. | Understands their work domain, shares their knowledge frequently with their teammates and contributes to their team's documentation. Watches out for opportunities to share knowledge and encourages others to do the same. | You've reviewed your peer's Productboard cards and provided feedback on how we can improve the Why behind a bet |
| The forum in which you communicate is appropriate... hint, the more public the better. That transparency fosters better communication and ensures everyone is being brought along. | In the communication of progress / unit of work doc (such as an epic or scope), we specify our intended value and viability desired outcome | |
| ENSURE CLARITY... so tactics like writing summaries after a meeting to ensure everyone is on the same page is a great option to use in pursuit of excellent communication | You've helped update ProductBoard with the expected potholes that a sales rep may run into when selling the feature being launched |
Milestone 3
I have observed this person showing a consistent, comfortable, continuous, and clear positive impact to multiple squads when wielding this ability, and therefore I would put them in situations where they can employ this ability as well as being considered an expert within this discipline
You consistently make the entire team more effective
| Effective Communication | Knowledge Sharing | Biz/Tech Translation |
|---|---|---|
| Is able to communicate effectively with a diverse set of teams. Fosters a culture of clear, concise, effective, audience-oriented communication across several teams, ensuring teammates actively listen to others and are understood. Actively demonstrates these behaviours. Pays attention to nonverbal communication. | Fosters a culture of documentation and knowledge sharing across several teams and their respective business stakeholders; actively demonstrates these behaviors. | Leading the charge in facilitating the review and improvement of our Weekly Product Update lesson |
| Pioneered a improved way in which we communicate our investments to squad members that showcases the value and viability desired outcome | ||
| Maybe you've done company-wide demos of new and/or upcoming functionality |
- You've taken a complex backend bug and explaining the impact in an understandable way to non-technical stakeholders
Milestone 4
I have observed this person showing a consistent, comfortable, continuous, and clear positive impact to a squad when wielding this ability, and therefore I would put them in situations where they can not only employ this ability but where they set the tone for this at the company level
You drive long-term technical investments that deliver ongoing value and provide solid foundations for future needs
| Effective Communication | Knowledge Sharing | Biz/Tech Translation |
|---|---|---|
| Is able to communicate effectively across the company. Fosters a culture of clear, concise, effective, audience-oriented communication across the company, ensuring teammates actively listen to others and are understood. Actively demonstrates these behaviours. Pays attention to nonverbal communication. | Fosters a culture of documentation and knowledge sharing across the organization; actively demonstrates these behaviors. | You've defined and promoted an improved approach to how we communicate vision and strategy to any stakeholder. |
| Creates new and better ways for the Product Team to communicate what we do, how we do it, and how it impacts the business | ||
| Executes on a State of the Squad presentation to the executive team |
Milestone 5
I have observed this person showing a consistent, comfortable, continuous, and clear positive impact to not just internal teams but the community/industry in general when wielding this ability, and they are recognized by the community/industry as an expert
- You've implemented new Business / Technical translation techniques and frameworks to meet the needs of the wider community.
- You speak at conferences/meet-ups about this very subject
- You publishes articles/posts about best practices of how Product can communicate with all the stakeholders of the business
Configuration Health
- ✅ Associated with 18 roles
- ✅ Has been referenced in 26 pieces of public recognition
- ℹ️ Fewer than five people (4) achieved a milestone on this ability. To ensure anonymity, analysis will only appear after at least five people have milestones.
- ⛔️ Last updated: about 2 years ago
- ℹ️ Last conversed about: over 3 years ago
Role & Position Requirements
- Builder Task Shapersmust be milestone 2+
- Data Analystsmust be milestone 2+
- Documentation Writersmust be milestone 2+
- In App Guide Adminsmust be milestone 2+
- Incident Communications Leadsmust be milestone 1+
- Insights To Opportunity Alchemistsmust be milestone 3+
- Lab/Cab/Pab Custodiansmust be milestone 1+
- Launch Coordinator – Ops & Csmust be milestone 2+
- Operations Reliability Agentsmust be milestone 2+
- Opportunity Tree Caretakersmust be milestone 2+
- People Managersmust be milestone 2+
- Self Serve Scientistsmust be milestone 2+
- Sorcerex Of Truthsmust be milestone 2+
- Squad Orbitersmust be milestone 2+
- Technical Account Managersmust be milestone 2+
- Technical Partner Managersmust be milestone 2+
- Tier 3 Agentsmust be milestone 1+
- Tier 5 Agentsmust be milestone 2+
Examples / Observations
Observation created about 2 years agohttps://www.loom.com/share/8d67e2cac5734136848fda0517ce31c8
- Clear... we know exactly what is going on... why it is going on... and what's next
- Concise... no fluff, just packed with the absolute things you need to know... exactly how communication to stakeholders should be!!!
- Complete... https://careerplug.slack.com/archives/C01UT24GPLJ/p1692194402910879 this post has the value props for both things, the timeline for what to expect, and in the video you addressed some of the top potholes/questions folks will have 🤩
This is how it is done!!!
Observation created over 2 years agoFeaturing:Ross R.Paul S.David Y.Bernardo A.(3) Keep GrowingPrinciple #4 - We continuously improve how we workCommunicationhttps://careerplug.slack.com/archives/C02TTUL80A1/p1689878190755409
Continuous Improvement of how we work.
I love it when I see folks iterate on how we work, and the benefits of it are as clear as they are with this iteration the tech leads made.
- Using Slack's Canvas as a way to drive more transparency = ❤️
- Having concise, easy-to-consume, well organized notes from a meeting is transparency at the highest level I'm aware of. It shows incredible communication, collaboration, and sets a high water mark for how all teams/meetings should be run. In my L10s we usually take notes in Asana, but we don't post them in a place where folks can see / consume them. Also, Canvas allows for threads and conversations to continue, where Asana doesn't do a great job of this. I'm going to add this as a headline to every L10 I'm in and see if they want to switch to posting our notes in a more transparent / collaboration friendly way!!!
The topics that y'all discussed were great as well. Many of them had clear observations => feelings. Some lacked a clear unmet need and a specific request, but that is totally ok. Observations are the MOST IMPORTANT part of good issue solving, candor, transparency, collaboration, teamwork, feedback giving, etc. So y'all are doing the best part and I'm sure if I were in the meeting I'd have heard the unmet needs and requests.
Love this... keep going... keep growing!!
Observation created over 2 years agoHere is what I love about this... it is WTWT personified.
- Acknowledge that things could be better
- It is the worst when you say "hey I have a problem" and those that could help say "Just do this". It shows a lack of communication skills and/or empathy.
- Give a solution that WORKS...
- ... not a work around (we should all hate that phrase). The Schedule Now as a way to see what availability you actually have IMO is an excellent "Pro-tip". Rebrand workaround with pro-tip and everyone looks at this differently.
- Don't just say, show
- Making a demo video in this scenario makes everything so much more clear!
Excellent all around!
P.S. Only thing I'd love to have seen is this get logged as a ProductBoard insight. No Slot Available is going to solve this one scenario, yes... and it is PHENOMENAL that we showed that and linked the FigJam (I'd like to link to PB, but that is too nit-picky 😂)... but, the emotional need to know what the applicant will see IMO is still a worthy one to consider. So, logging this in PB would have made this flawless. But, technically speaking that is the job of a trio member. Just putting it here for those that see this and want my full analysis 😂
Observation created over 2 years agoFeaturing:Daniel E.(4) Work Together, Win TogetherCollaborationCommunicationPost-launch--Built-in-quality GuardI challenged the Onboard Squad to be crystal clear with the help they need from Implementation with their rock this quarter. It is a big deal because we are likely asking them to change their rock to help us with ours. 😬
I was expecting a one-page write up going over the basics. But the homie Daniel said "nah... here is a fully fleshed out video series with accompanying assets to ensure there is extreme alignment"!
❤️ - The GSheet, because it makes the goal extremely clear
❤️ - The demo videos, because it makes it real easy for ANYONE with access to come in and helpDaniel, this was excellent... making WTWT a breeze with this type of preparation.
WELL DONE 1️⃣ 2️⃣ 3️⃣ 👏🏾 ✨🙌🏾✨
The full message below so others will have an example of great preparation
Sup Implementation! Onboard squad here asking yall for help with getting 584 Accounts have at least one new hire complete the the basic Onboard process by EOQ. To do that we need your help with updating all the state tax forms and helping us create an out of the box onboarding task set that we can share with our beta partners.
Project numero uno is updating all the state tax forms. So that no account of the 584 is blocked from using them with their new hires. Here is a video with more detail. Here is the State Form Excel we are working from.
Here are a few training videos for the project above
Project numero dos is creating an out if the box onboarding task list using our current task list tool in the platform. We know that partners are looking to ramp up their new hires as quickly as possible while helping them connect with their team culture. Clint, Ashley J, and Natalie have been collaborating on what this out of the box solution could look like (check it out here). We need your help creating this in our platform using the tools we have already. Here is a video with more detail. Ill be adding more training videos of this side of the platform. Stay tuned!
Observation created over 2 years agoThe observation
- We saw a need (which is a display of empathy and kindness as well a a great use of one of the many systems we have in place to be able to sense the state of the world) 🙌🏾
- We said to ourself “there has to be a better way”... but instead of spinning our wheels we sought out cross departmental collaboration 😍
- Because of our SUSU we decided to execute on our autonomy and do a thing... communicating excellently what and why we are doing the thing 😎
- Not to mention the thing we are doing will have a direct impact on client value, operational efficiency, and given the association to Premium it'll have an impact on "works for the business"/viability 🪄
- Not to mention it didn't really have any negative impact on the other priorities 🤯
- Finally... it actually shipped!!! 🎉
When I say "we" or "our" I mean, you, Brittany!!!
Talk about a drop-the-mic moment before a vacation 😎
This was excellent... from the top to the bottom... excellent.
Conversations about Communication
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