Disclaimer:
These are not the opinions of my employer, AWS, and the only purpose of this newsletter is to share, learn through sharing, and foster some honest discourse in the community at large.
A podcast I am listening to:
AMA with Jason Fried on Peter Attia’s The Drive - you may want to give the whole thing a listen but it is quite long. However there are many interesting sound-bites and as usual I learned a few tricks. I especially like the one of scheduling or focusing on decision-making events in the morning and leaving afternoons for the grunt work. I might try this.
The part that relates to this newsletter is here :: https://overcast.fm/+NmiSBQUo0/1:00:32
I am sure you have all been there before. Adding to a shared Google doc, attending an offsite or having one of those team lunches - the venue or tool may differ but the subject doesn’t. Everyone is gathered around their screen or the whiteboard discussing culture or core values trying to get them just right. Sometimes we will have discussions about the why which will then spiral into the how in hopes that this is more focused or more business like than simply discussing culture.
I have worked at countless small orgs and some big ones where there was more time spent on these discussions or the “creation” of culture than actual living it or applying it. The truth is you can’t create culture. Discussing it or having an offsite about it is essentially a huge waste of time. Paying lip service to the altar of culture is probably a sign that a company actually doesn’t know what culture is.
There is a better way and AWS, although is my employer, I would counter that before I took a job at AWS I was a study of their leadership principles. Before I get to those, maybe you are not an Amazon fan, you might find this doc from Netflix to be more to your liking :: https://jobs.netflix.com/culture. Both this doc and the LP’s from Amazon have quite a few things in common :: https://www.amazon.jobs/en/principles.
One of the main things you will notice is neither of these companies is trying to create culture but rather they are putting forth some rules or tenants for employees and more importantly for managers to put in place each and every day. I know folks from Netflix and they speak of this and having been at AWS for a few months now, I also can assure you we practice them daily. It’s pretty simple really and the most striking part is managers are expected to abide by them as an example to employees.
My previous experience is watching leaders talk about them or try to enforce them but not actually practice them. This is the biggest problem - if your leaders are spending more time collectively building tenants or discussing tenants than living them your company will always struggle. Culture will happen but it will suck.
My advice is to come up with some simple tenants and make sure you put them into action daily. Moreover, leaders or management must focus more intently on putting them into action daily. This is the only way culture happens. Period.
A lesson learned:
Meetings and probably most 1:1’s generally suck. As a leader your job is to make them suck less.
I am sure we have all read books and watched countless Ted videos on ways to make them better. In my new role I am pretty much 100% focused on management with a slight amount of individual contributor work. This means I am dealing with a lot of meetings and not all of them in my control.
In some customer meetings I might be on the computer presenting so in those cases I keep a small notebook to jot down any follow up items. I try to make sure after the meeting or by the close of the day to transfer the notes to my electronic tool which would either be the stuff I use for notes or if there are action items I put them in my reminders app. I am back to using free Apple stuff since it works and is simple. I make sure I cross stuff out of my notebook so that I consider the transfer done and with the reminders app I make sure there are dates if possible.
Prepping for meetings has started to be the most important thing to conquer. When it comes to 1:1s I look at my last 1:1 note to catch-up and try to preserve continuity. I also am using a tool that with some Javascript help I can see if I am late to scheduling or having the 1:1s. Prior to the 1:1, I make some notes or pre-fill the 1:1 note so that the format is consistent and the stuff to cover is ready to go. I am also trying to make 1:1’s only 30-45 mins unless they are over lunch or coffee since in those settings we may just talk a bit more.
For proper meetings that I am running, I have a note template ready to go that has people and an agenda in the note. This way I am not filling out stuff during the meeting and I come ready to roll. Goal is to focus on brevity. Also in the note template is a to-do list I can add to during the meeting. I am still trying to see if I can surface all the to-do’s from the meeting notes into one list.
Point of all this. Try and make meetings shorter, less often and with maximum effect. Everyone benefits by getting some time back and by coming away from the meeting with stuff to focus on. My goal is to keep refining and getting better at this.
Current tool :: https://www.notion.so/