Obsessing about velocity in a product organisation

My team knows how much I obsess with velocity. Everything can be done faster. Not because I want things quicker but because of what Sam says.

You can only speed up rate of iteration if you are inherently obsessed with velocity.

Velocity about everything. Discovering. Deciding. Building. Shipping. Learning. Correcting.

Velocity everywhere. Product. Operations. Marketing. People. Finance.

Velocity every single day. Monday mornings. Friday afternoons. Summer-“office is empty”-days. Winter-“it’s Christmas time”-week.

Velocity at every level. CEO evangelizing strategy. Leadership empowering teams. Management executing against metrics. Contributors implementing solutions.

And rate of iteration isn’t just product iteration. It’s iteration wherever you can iterate. You should be maniacally fast at improving:

Your organisational design
Your management team
Your values guiding decisions
Your input metrics measuring success
Your compensation ranges
Your area strategy and roadmap
Your hiring and performance review process
Your “typical” rituals across teams

Creating a culture of “obsession on velocity” will result in people being uncomfortable with a status quo that has been there for too long. The recipe is simple:

Make leaders constantly ask “how can we do this faster?”, and stretch people beyond reasonable. You might not get it, but you’ll build the muscle. Eventually your team will surprise you with their velocity.