Some more concrete points follow, but overall the most important piece of advice is to alternate deeply working on something and sharing it for feedback and alignment (View Highlight)
One-pagers concisely (in literally a single page) frame in opportunity that could be pursued. The opportunity could be an unmet customer need, a business objective, or even a technical or usability need.
One-pagers could have different sections, what we've landed on at RevenueCat is the following:
• Context and (customer) problem
• Why (now)
• Potential measures of success
• Assumptions and risks
• Solution options (View Highlight)
Interview snapshots are an idea I've taken from Teresa Torres’ fantastic book “Continuous Discovery Habits”. They summarize the key takeaways from a conversation with a customer in a visual way. It looks like this (in contrast to the original template, we've omitted the customer journey because it's a bit trickier to put it together quickly, creating additional friction to sharing a snapshot (View Highlight)
When should you revert so synchronous interaction then? Whenever you require high bandwidth discussion. High bandwidth here means a discussion in which there is rapid back and forth and exchange of complex ideas (View Highlight)
a corollary to the previous point, 1:1 interactions are ones where I would more often recommend a synchronous meeting than for team meetings. There are several reasons for this: firstly, team meetings are hardly high bandwidth for everyone – most often, there is only a subset of participants actively engaged at any given point in time. Frequently, at any given point in time, one person is broadcasting to the rest of the audience, and broadcasting is something that can be done asynchronously quite effectively. Secondly, globally distributed teams make scheduling team meetings extra hard, whereas for 1:1 meetings it’s often much easier to find a time that works for both participants. Lastly, the added benefit of synchronous interaction is the ability to read non-verbal cues, which is again much easier in a video call with one person than trying to discern facial expressions of 10 tiny Zoom pictures in a team meeting. (View Highlight)
Trying to be “there” for all of it is a surefire path to burnout. So make sure to disconnect in a way that works for you, and use the flexibility of asynchronous work to your advantage. Talk a long lunch walk. Go to exercise classes in the middle of the day. Spend time with your family. Disable notifications when you’re not currently working and/or don’t install work apps on your phone. (View Highlight)
