đ When Broken Becomes Normal Or All About Change
What do you do when you realize the things that were broken are suddenly normal? How do you successfully create change as Technical Program Managers?
There are two moments in a job where one is the most honest about things - the first week on the job, and the last week on the job.
All of us walk into a new gig with a healthy sense of curiosity, excitement and fresh perspective. Everything seems foreign, weird, confusing, exciting, so we tend to ask questions.
Why does planning take so long?
Why do we always ask for more headcount?
Doesnât it feel like we over subscribe to the work to be done?
Why does everything need to be reviewed with execs in a formal fashion?
Why donât we use a single tool instead of so many spreadsheets and slide decks?
Do we have to run everything up the flag pole?
Why isnât this automated?
I am confused, why is execs and managers in a room not a leadership meeting but a working session?
Most often the response to the questioning goes like âthis is just how we have always done it. Oh, you're new, just give it time and this will not seem so messed up to youâ or something like that.
Slowly but surely, what at first seemed broken becomes normal. Congratulations, you have assimilated. The next time you will question things, truly question them, is when you have handed in your notice and are on a speaking-your-truth spree because no fear of repercussions, am I right; what are they gonna do, fire you, ha!
Change is hard. No surprise or secret there. As Technical Program Managers, our ability to effect and create change is an exercise in diplomacy.
Why diplomacy? Successful change requires all stakeholders (leadership, front-line, everyone) to be bought into the âwhyâ of the change. Most often, TPMs get stuck on the âwhatâ to change and this is where much of the hate for processes comes from for Engineering.
What without a Why is not grounded in any reality yet this is how change often takes shape at organizations. To understand why change is needed you must create an environment of blameless retrospection, psychological safety to voice opinions that may not be popular, empowerment to make change, change initiative owners, and above all, trust from leadership.
One effective approach to getting people to buy into the why is keeping people focused and oriented on facts. Channel opinions and suss out the facts from them can help drive the conversation to productive ends.
How do you deal with brokenness and implementing change at your organization as Technical Program Managers?
Until next time đđ˝.
-Aadil
P.S. - I have not written a post in a long-time and part of that has been time and energy in both my professional and personal life. I was promoted to Director of Program Management at Nike last November and this July I quit Nike to join Humane as Sr Engineering Program Manager. I decided that now is the best time to play the startup game and so far, it has been an amazing experience. For the first time in my career, I have the opportunity to build program structures from scratch and apply learnings I have built over a decade working at places like Blackberry, Apple, Google, and Nike; big places where change was always hard.
I hope I can share my experience and new found wisdom in a more consistent cadence for this newsletter as my journey at Humane progresses.
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