Who’s at the wheel of your product team as they go down the road together? — Trust and conversation make for a better journey. Imagine that you’re driving to L.A. from Vancouver, BC with your team for a long weekend. To maximize the adventure, you agree that it’s best to drive straight through rather than breaking up the 20+ hr drive over multiple days. This means that some of you will sleep while someone…

If you want to reduce friction and uncertainty, you’re not going to get there by standing still. — Being hungry is not enough. Paul walks into a diner and has a seat. Maxwell, a server, approaches. Paul doesn’t look at the menu or ask about the special. Paul: I’m hungry. Will you bring me some food? Maxwell: Is there anything specific that you had in mind? Paul: I’m sure you can figure it…

Get everyone individually aligned and engaged before the kickoff. — You can easily add this to your workshop prep that boosts effectiveness when workshop day arrives. Below I’ll share the core practice and then provide some steps below as a short guide. Priming The approach is simple. Inform colleagues about the goal, the flow, and the purpose of the workshop and…

Operating from a place of trust unlocks personal growth and stronger working relationships. — Chris, no matter how successful you’ve been at crafting process at another company, what you accomplished has never been done before with this collection of people. - A wise colleague For the purposes of this article, I want to focus on interpersonal communication. How we work together. What is “Trust and Adjust”?

Seeds, alone cannot grow. Ideas are no different. They need energy, nutrients, time, and the right conditions in order to sprout. — Who doesn’t like when their ideas grow into a thing that others experience? Products, music, books, food, etc. It’s awesome and builds confidence…but there’s a flip side to that outcome. Frustration and confusion. For years I’ve noticed that some of my ideas at work were well received in the moment…

Walk through it. I just want to share a quick story about a 20min conversation I had yesterday where Design Thinking came up at my local coffee haunt and where it ended up. I’m guessing that some of you have had similar experiences–I’m sharing this because I love talking to people outside my…

Product design + strategy at .eco Before we get started, a side note for anyone doing this type of work. Uncertainty is a always an interesting place to arrive at, professionally. I tend to believe in a perspective that you could simply state as “believing in yourself”. Lame eh? I know, but I’m serious. Having enough…