Description
You collaborate with grace and enthusiasm, representative of our company values.
Collaboration is at the center of delivering value via software. Product development / continuous value delivery is a team sport. Therefore this, the Collaboration Ability, may be the most important Ability of them all.
We will be assessing collaboration across two vectors.
- What happened
- was a decision made that resulted in progress toward the goal
- How do folks feel after
- would the team involved strongly agree "I felt heard, we didn't get stuck, and the decision that was made is safe enough to try and I either support it or I disagree but am committed to it"?
Do you...
- ... get agreements (unstated expectations are resentments waiting to happen... to avoid this, we get agreements)
- ... participate in and even facilitate tough discussions in a manner in which everyone feels heard, but progress is still made
- ... exemplify work-together-win-together in that you highlight what's working
If so, you have proven to be a strong collaborator, and these milestones will come natural to you.
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
- When working with others, you treat collaboration as a discussion rather than demands if folks have differing opinions.
- You ask clarifying questions about anything you don't completely understand.
- You engage, bring your whole self and offer opinions when collaborating
- You listen to all opinions when making decisions
- When asked, everyone in a meeting with you says "they are fully engaged... the meeting is better having them in it"
- Nearly never caught secretly multi-tasking 😉
It is very rare when someone on an initiative with you says you hindered the team's ability to have the folks involved say "I felt heard, we didn't get stuck, and the decision that was made is safe enough to try and I either support it or I disagree but am committed to it". Stated another way... you are not experienced as a blocker to collaboration.
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're thorough when you review others' work.
- Your suggestions are phrased in a way that stays true to our company values but is still business and user-goal oriented (ex: less debate over pixel perfect, more debate over value)
- Your feedback is clear, thorough, and sometimes includes edge cases.
- You help identify a decision maker when the best decision isn’t clear and backed by everyone collaborating
About half of the time you are involved with an initiative you are helping facilitate and the folks involved say "I felt heard, we didn't get stuck, and the decision that was made is safe enough to try and I either support it or I disagree but am committed to it".
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 offer resources when reviewing others' work when it helps illustrate your suggestion.
- You use collaboration as an opportunity to teach teammates about the app and more general platform considerations.
- You're sensitive to the level of experience of the person you're working with and tailor your explanations accordingly.
- You anticipate questions and proactively document anything that won't be obvious to stakeholders.
- Your feedback is clear, thorough, and includes edge cases.
- You proactively reach out to team members to solve problems together before moving forward.
The majority of the time you are involved with an initiative you are helping facilitate and the folks involved say "I felt heard, we didn't get stuck, and the decision that was made is safe enough to try and I either support it or I disagree but am committed to it... and <you> was a big reason why".
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 influence executive-level members in the organization to change what it means to collaborate
- You guide and coach other members of the community on how to better collaborate
- You inspire others' work to be better with resources, questions, and challenging their assumptions
- You create a safe, positive culture with your expectations and behavior.
- You create standards and expectations around collaboration.
- You seek to improve and create moments of collaboration at a strategic level, closing the gap between engineering and other disciplines.
Folks seek you out to find out how they can get the result of folks involved with initiatives saying "I felt heard, we didn't get stuck, and the decision that was made is safe enough to try and I either support it or I disagree but am committed to it... and <you> was a big reason why... I can't wait for the next decision... I'm confident regardless of what was decided, it will end in a similar result".
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 are published and folks use your collaboration techniques within their organizations to get a greater chance of success in their projects.
Configuration Health
- ✅ Associated with 20 roles
- ✅ Has been referenced in 16 pieces of public recognition
- ℹ️ Fewer than five people (3) achieved a milestone on this ability. To ensure anonymity, analysis will only appear after at least five people have milestones.
- ⛔️ Last updated: over 2 years ago
- ℹ️ Never conversed about
Role & Position Requirements
- Builder Task Shapersmust be milestone 2+
- Code Reviewersmust be milestone 2+
- Data Analystsmust be milestone 2+
- Forward Progress Facilitatorsmust be milestone 3+
- In App Guide Adminsmust be milestone 2+
- Lab/Cab/Pab Custodiansmust be milestone 1+
- Launch Coordinator – Ops & Csmust be milestone 2+
- Launch Coordinator – Sales & Marketingsmust be milestone 2+
- Opportunity Tree Caretakersmust be milestone 1+
- Post Launch Built In Quality Guardsmust be milestone 1+
- Product Teammatesmust be milestone 1+
- Self Serve Scientistsmust be milestone 2+
- Sorcerex Of Truthsmust be milestone 2+
- Squad Orbitersmust be milestone 2+
- Stakeholder Insight Excavatorsmust be milestone 1+
- Technical Account Managersmust be milestone 1+
- Technical Partner Managersmust be milestone 3+
- Test Automation Architectsmust be milestone 1+
- Tiger Team Membersmust be milestone 1+
- Value Shapersmust be milestone 2+
Examples / Observations
Observation created over 1 year agoFeaturing:Brittany A.(4) Work Together, Win TogetherPrinciple #4 - We continuously improve how we workCollaborationStakeholder / feedback managementValue Shaperhttps://careerplug.slack.com/archives/C010D2AQA0Z/p1707774919895089
The best embrace feedback. The best embrace collaboration. The best embrace transparency.
It is so incredibly hard, especially in Product where everyone believes their ideas are the best ideas. And this fact stops most from getting feedback, from collaborating, from exhibiting transparency.
B is NOT most.
I can honestly say, this is one of the best messages I've ever seen in my 20 year career.
✅ - Early... so folks know that their voices matter
✅ - Focused on outcomes... so folks know we aren't choosing the "coolest idea", we are going to bet on the thing that helps us achieve the outcome
✅ - Proactive... notice this is in the HX channel!!!
✅ - Cross-functional... B is a TECH LEAD. Usually you'd see this from design or product management. I'm CERTAIN the full Pre-Hire Trio discussed this (and if after posting this I get that confirmation, I'll attach them to this OGO)... but seeing a tech lead truly get in the discovery and shaping is AMAZING!!LFG!!!
Observation created over 2 years agohttps://careerplug.atlassian.net/browse/CP-3975
I'm the PM for Core at the moment. Chris is not yet the designer for Core.
There are design iterations happening on the comms/invite drawers (using the bottom area for nudges).
Core hit a roadblock and needed a design iteration. Then the magic happened...
- Chris offered to help
- Chris not only did a design...
- ... but Chris created the Jira ticket, and not just a ticket with a link to Figma in it...
- ... a ticket with a simple and clear explanation of why and everything else anyone would need to pick it up and start hammering at it
- I then had some feedback about it, and not only did I feel heard but...
- ... he iterated on the design and we both now believe it is better for it
Communication, process awareness, task enablement... this is collaboration personified!
Observation created over 2 years agohttps://careerplug.slack.com/archives/C01R2GCH1T8/p1683063952685359
That simple design had a lot of elements worth shouting out. Many of which are unfortunately not added to our Growth Framework yet 😔, but gonna shout 'em out anyway.
This is all about Collaboration. How Low-fi/fat-marker-sketching/wireframing lead to better collaboration:
- Helps with collaboration.
- No one is worried about talking bad about about your baby, because your baby is a sketch 😂. It is clear that you are not done. It is clear you are inviting us to the table EARLY. It is clear what type of feedback you are looking for...
- Speaking on the type of feedback… it focuses the feedback!
- As you know T, it drives me up a F()*(^$%)ing wall when we are talking about the particulars of visual design when the UX is fluctuating greatly. This inoculates us from that! Why? Can’t talk about colors, button sizes, or fonts when everything is fat markered. :snoop-nod:
- If it isn’t faster, it gives faster vibes
- We are NOT about being right the first time. I REPEAT...... We are NOT about being right the first time.
- ... That is a losing endeavor. We are about getting continuously better through relentless iteration. Low-fi, even if it is slightly slower for you, gives the iteration vibes we need. Lowers the bar to get initial ideas out there and blend them with your teammates, which though uncomfortable, will undoubtedly create a stronger solution in the end.
Also, this "sharing before ready" shows confidence and builds psychological safety for others to follow suit. Raising the bar for what we deem great collaboration.
I also dig the forward thinking nature of capturing more information, tho I'd like to have had you explain why those elements were there. I intuited it... but being explicit is great in design review/collaboration scenarios.
Good stuff!!!!
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 about 3 years agohttps://careerplug.slack.com/archives/C01SG5UDH7E/p1660753177339599
“If we have data, let’s look at data. If all we have are opinions, let’s go with mine.”
― Jim BarksdaleWithout data, you're just another person with an opinion.
― Deming
I love it when these quotes show up as true in daily product work!
Engage was debating whether or not the next iteration should include the ability to modify the job title. Then AW came swooping in with amazing data to help answer the question!
I did a little more digging on the usage for adding job title: It looks like about 55% of users are adding job title after creating a new user. Perhaps because it’s at the top of the current Add New User form and maybe they think it’s a required field. Only ~9% of users are editing the job title when editing an existing user. This is making me feel less strongly that this is something to worry about now.
She offered both sides of the argument giving reasons along the way. This is collaboration. This is the way to use data for decision making.
Conversations about Collaboration
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