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How to run a "Venting Session"

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How to run a "Venting Session"

The best way to get closer to your stakeholders and bring some peace of mind to your PM life

Andre Albuquerque
Jul 4, 2022
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How to run a "Venting Session"

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Your product will always feel incomplete. Your stakeholders will always complaint โ€œ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜บ ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ฏโ€™๐˜ต ๐˜ช๐˜ต ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ซ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด?โ€. New feature releases will be shortly celebrated, only to be shadowed by โ€œ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ค๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ฌ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜Ÿ, ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ฏโ€™๐˜ต ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณโ€. Your PM life will resume itself to frustration and a feeling of failure. But thereโ€™s actually a way to deal with it.

I call it the โ€œVenting Sessionโ€.

In every company Iโ€™ve been through, the most common feedback I get from stakeholders is โ€œ๐˜ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏโ€™๐˜ต ๐˜ง๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฅ๐˜ถ๐˜ค๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆโ€ mixed with โ€œ๐˜ซ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜ด๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ฌ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ค๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ, ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถโ€™๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆโ€.

What gets people anxious is not the fact that the product is missing feature A, B or C. Itโ€™s the uncertainty whether a) the product team knows itโ€™s missing, and b) when, and if, it ever gets into the roadmap.ย 

To deal with this, I run a meeting where stakeholders are invited to freely vent their frustrations towards the product team. Itโ€™s not personal. Itโ€™s not about you. Itโ€™s about what they feel when dealing with customers.ย 

Hereโ€™s how to run one:

[1] ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ž๐Ÿ ๐ฉ๐š๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐œ๐ข๐ฉ๐š๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ. Before starting a venting session, explain everyone the rules of the game. Let frustrations out. Focus on the product, not the builders. Challenge the process. Donโ€™t sugar coat it. Bring customer data or examples, not opinions.

[2] ๐†๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐ข๐ญ ๐ž๐ง๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐ž. Donโ€™t rush this, otherwise it will feel like a favor or a โ€œletโ€™s just get over thisโ€.ย Itโ€™s a different setup, so a certain reset is necessary. People need to go through their own feelings about the product.

[3] ๐†๐ž๐ญ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž๐จ๐ง๐ž ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฅ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ , ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž๐จ๐ง๐ž ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฌ๐ž ๐ญ๐š๐ค๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ง๐จ๐ญ๐ž๐ฌ. Nobody likes to be talking to someone writing on a computer. Theyโ€™ll get defensive or feel youโ€™re ignoring them. Get one person simply listening, making eye contact, offering feedback. Someone else takes the notes.

[4] ๐„๐ง๐œ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐š๐ ๐ž ๐œ๐š๐ง๐๐จ๐ซ: ๐ญ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ค๐ž ๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ. If you feel someone is pulling back, hesitant because it feels hard, be the one pushing for it. Make them feel safe about saying it. Again: itโ€™s not personal or about you. Itโ€™s about understanding what success looks like for both sides.ย 

[5] ๐ƒ๐จ๐งโ€™๐ญ ๐›๐ž๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž ๐๐ž๐Ÿ๐ž๐ง๐ฌ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž. As a PM youโ€™re used to defending yourself, the team or your decisions. Not here. Youโ€™ll hear some tough stuff, and most are justified. Understand most stakeholders lack a 360ยบ view of the business, or your understanding of limited resources. But theyโ€™re the ones listening to customers scream. Itโ€™s ok.

Sometimes getting stuff out of your chest is the best remedy to move forward.

Thanks for reading Albuquerqueโ€™s Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

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How to run a "Venting Session"

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