May/090
Product Vision, Any Vision?
Organizations usually have a vision, but as you might already know, it does not motivate everybody.
In situation like this a product vision can come to help you out. A vision that has been created with the product team. If they truly believe in it, the team will feel like they are really creating something that matters, something great – and that is the whole point of a vision!
People have got stuck to the idea that organization vision is the only vision you can have!
Realize this and you can create visions that really matters: product vision, team vision… you name it. As long as the people are truly behind it, it is one of the most powerful tool you have ever known.
May/091
Characteristics of a good organization
For the past two years I’v been reading and researching to get an answer to what are characteristics of a really good organization. I admit, that is not a long time, some people have used tens of years studying what is a good organization. But, based on my experience a good organization has the following characteristics:
- Learning Organization
- All the five disciplines of it. We need to be able to learn all the time in rapidly changing world. Also we need to be able to cooperate with other people, to work as a team. Have a shared vision in everything we do.
- Direct Use Of Power
- Everybody today writes only about collaborative management, but come on, really, you can’t always satisfy everybody! And even if you could, you’d missed the right time to take the action.
- Not Direct Use Of Power
- The opposite the direct use of power, this is a pop nowadays. And yes, you’ll need a lot of this skill, but you should not forget the direct use either. You’ll need to find the right balance.. as we agile guys would say, find good-enough balance (nobody is perfect).
With this kind of features organization is able to a) act rapidly b) keep up their expertize c) have a common dream which motivates (almost) everybody d) come along with different people and cultures. Conclusion is, one word, leadership.
May/090
Reality Check – Keep It Simple & Clear
Challenge in management is to keep everybody up-to-date on what we are doing and why. One great way to get a clear picture is to do reality check regularly and keep it visible for everyone. Reality check means answering to a couple of question:
Why are we doing this?
- If you can’t answer to this, then you have a problem. Check that your project is aligned with the organization’s vision & strategy.
What is our goal?
- Define what is your goal. For example, our goal is to create a product X which will have the Y – features. Do not forget SMART for defining project goal (Specific, Measurable, Agreed-upon, Realistic, Time-framed).
What is our vision?
- Define your dream – what is your long term goal. For example, our product will be used by 2 million people in 5 years.
What is our strategy?
- How are we going to do all this? What is your advantage? Where do you focus on?
Remember that you can add even more questions in there to help you to get even better picture of what the heck are you doing. Keep these visible for everyone. Everybody who sees it should understand what you are doing and why. Simple, but powerful.