Managing Growing Pains: Thinking Big When You're Small

My talk from RailsConf 2016, on managing a small team and growing a small business.

Transcript

1. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold MANAGING GROWING PAINS
3. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold MANAGING GROWING PAINS
4. BIG thinking when you’re small ) (
8. #BUSINESS!
11. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold BUT REALLY…
14. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold HUSTLE / \
16. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold STEAL
17. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold JOBS TO BE DONE What job is the user hiring the product to do?
18. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold 666
19. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold SIX YEARS SIX MONTHS SIX WEEKS CURRENT
 WORLDVIEW CURRENT
 PRIORITIES CURRENT
 ACTIONS
20. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold SIX YEARS SIX MONTHS SIX WEEKS CHANGING THE USERS’ LIFE CHANGING THE USERS’ BEHAVIOR CHANGING THE USERS’ ABILITY 666 + JOBS
21. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold “FUN” DAY (technical debt isn’t always that fun)
22. secret
23. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold PRIORITIES 1. THINGS WE BELIEVE IN 2. ITERATING RECENT PRODUCT 3. USER RESEARCH + FEEDBACK 4. SCALING + GROWTH 5. QUALITY + STABILITY
24. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold SELL
25. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold …TO CLIENTS It’s more like consulting someone who you want to buy your product.
26. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold …TO OUR TEAM Express your vision so much it becomes annoying to your team. Remind them about the total product, not just the software.
27. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold BE WRONG
28. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold CHOOSE YOUR LOSSES
29. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold MICRO vs MACRO
30. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold EXPERIMENT + FAIL in the small arcs.
31. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold BE RESOLUTE in the large arc.
32. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold SAY NO
33. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold TOO MANY GOOD IDEAS Your team is smart, and good ideas are everywhere.
34. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold WHAT’S BEING PAID FOR?
35. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold WHAT SUPPORTS THE VISION? Think about the total system, and think about the next brick in the road.
36. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold SAY YES
37. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold SO MANY GOOD IDEAS! Your team is smart, and good ideas are everywhere.
38. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold WHAT’S BEING PAID FOR?
39. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold WHAT SUPPORTS THE VISION? Think about the total system, and think about the next brick in the road.
40. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold CHANGE
41. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold HAPPILY DISSATISFIED
42. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold BETTER
43. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold STYLE GUIDES …are really the product.
44. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold DEFINE PROCESSES WHEN YOU FAIL DRYM: Don’t Repeat Your Mistakes
45. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold POST-MORTEM Objectively blame the sales team.
46. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold / ∆ +
47. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold GROW
48. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold MORE SLOWLY than you want to.
49. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold
50. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold BETTER DONE OK than done great by someone you have to lay off later.
51. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold FIND YOUR EVEREST
52. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold FIND YOUR EVEREST
53. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold OKRs OBJECTIVE: company provided goal KEY RESULTS: Team generated activities that let THEM achieve the goal
54. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold SO REMEMBER: 1. BE RELENTLESS IN PURSUING YOUR VISION 2. BE ANNOYING IN TALKING ABOUT YOUR VISION 3. BE SYSTEMATIC IN COMPLETING YOUR VISION 4. CHOOSE YOUR BATTLES, DON’T BE AFRAID TO LOSE 5. CHANGE OFTEN, GROW SLOWLY
55. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold Q+A
56. Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold THANKS! Managing Growing Pains #railsgrowingpains @jonarnold