My team's operating principles
As my team grows, and as I become more distant from my products, the more important become operating principles.ย
Principles are mental guidelines that help make a decision. They expose the underlying foundation that aligns everyone operating under the same roof. When youโre further away from your products, your only way to coach, provide feedback, and guide others on their own decisions is through principles.
Here are the 8 principles my team follows:
๐จ๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ๐ถ๐๐ฒ, ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐น๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ - we believe the best way to achieve overall customer, stakeholder, and team happiness is through careful management of expectations, bundled with overdelivering on our promises.
๐๐ณ ๐ถ๐โ๐ ๐ฎ "๐ ๐ฎ๐๐ฏ๐ฒ", ๐ถ๐โ๐ ๐ฎ "๐ก๐ผ" - we believe achieving the best outcomes comes from decisions with strong internal YES's. If there is doubt, we either act quickly to reduce uncertainty, or we reject the decision.
๐๐ผ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐
๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด - we believe everyone's best work is done when the context is clear. Before every request, message or conversation, providing context is the number one priority.
๐๐ผ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ ๐น๐ฎ๐๐ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ - we believe solving a problem through code, without thinking otherwise, is often more expensive than not. Can we do it without a push release?
๐ ๐ฎ๐ด๐ถ๐ฐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐๐ฎ๐ถ๐น๐ - we believe the best experience isnโt the most complete, but the one that cares for the right details, delivered as if it was a magic trick.
๐ก๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐บ๐ฒ, ๐ถ๐ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป "๐ฎ๐๐" ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ผ๐ณ "๐" ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ "๐บ๐ฒ" - we believe alignment is a compounding force, and assumptions lead to misalignment. If we have a cheap, quick way to not assume, we always clear it out.
๐๐๐๐ ๐ฒ๐ป๐ผ๐๐ด๐ต ๐ถ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ - we believe Pareto was right, and 80% of the value comes from the right 20% of effort. So we do just enough. If we do enough times โjust enoughโ, we deliver more than enough.
๐ฉ๐ถ๐ผ๐น๐ฒ๐ป๐๐น๐ ๐ฒ๐
๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฑ โ๐ป๐ผ๐โ ๐ถ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ป๐น๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ - we believe General Patton was half right: violently executed now is the best option. But for us โa perfect plan next weekโ is not a choice, because a perfect plan rises by learning from todayโs execution.
When is "something" a principle? When you find yourself repeating the same thing over and over to explain why you โdecided this wayโ. If youโre coming back to it, maybe itโs a foundation of how think.
Finding your own operating principles is a game-changer.