Clarion Coughlan, Justin Blass & Kelsey White
Kelsey formally wrote the strategy for her Site Reliability group in the past two weeks. She used a strategy framework loosely based on ”Good Strategy, Bad Strategy”. She's also finalized the prioritization structure for Incident Management at her company. Finally, she has begun having conversations with the SR leadership team about cost optimization for the observability product suite. Observability is expensive, so she'd like to correlate product usage against infrastructure costs to make informed ROI product decisions.
Justin's been wrapping up quarterly check-ins and goal-setting with all his people. While a busy time, he finds it super meaningful to discuss people's work experience and look together for the places where they do more of the work they love that's also good for the business. He's been musing on the role of feedback (especially with user experience) and enjoyed the thinking offered here.
Clarion is continuing to enjoy contracting at a smart and successful startup. She relished two significant wins in product operations. Following extensive customer interviews and research, a pivotal decision was made not to pursue a particular feature due to an inability to justify the investment. This move reflected a commitment to making strategic decisions that mattered. Notably, the team transitioned from quarterly planning to a more adaptable continuous planning approach. What's noteworthy is how the startup’s CEO employed the Product Roadmap and Engineering Kanban Board, using concrete product artifacts instead of the customary marketing slide deck for quarterly presentations. It’s so satisfying working for a company that embraces great product practices! The article Clarion wants to share this week isn’t related to work. It’s a philosophical piece called “Admitting what is obvious”.