Tradition, history and ritual markers

My wife, Karla, starts grad school today.¹ Yesterday, her school held a matriculation ceremony, welcoming the new students and kicking off the school year. It got me thinking about tradition, history, and ritual markers.

Product Managers are change agents; built into our bones is a drive to change ‘what is’ into ‘what could be’.²

And, because of who we are, it’s easy for us to underestimate the value of tradition, the value of celebrating what came before, the value of taking a beat to mark a milestone.

The thing to remember is that, for many, change is quite hard. It might be easier for the PMs, designers, or engineers who is creating the future, just like how you’re less likely to get carsick when you’re the one driving. But, for most of the team, all this change is happening around them, and the only times they really hear about it are at company all hands meetings.³  

Tradition, history, and markers can help with that feeling. We can use it as a cultural structure that creates stability amidst the swirl. By reminding ourselves of what has come before, how we navigated it, and how we survived it, we can replace fear with confidence in the face of the next challenge. And by demarcating when one period ends and the next begins, we help everyone digest what was and join in the pursuit of what’s next.⁴

1. Honor the past before pivoting to the future. It offers closure that respects what was. Then, do a big kickoff of the new initiative.

2. Celebrate every major launch with a memento. I remember my first day walking into Amazon in 2006 and seeing laminated launch posters up on the walls, autographed by each member of the team that built it.

3. Do retros. Create a safe space for people to share what was frustrating and annoying. Unpack the lessons learned and process the feelings. Agile / scrum teams have been doing this for 20 years, and I’d encourage others to try it, too, at your next offsite or all hands.

4. Create an oral tradition. “Do you remember when…” stories are great, not only to help new folks know the history, but because they often represent formative moments in the company culture.

“Change management” is often talked about as procedural, something to be program managed. And it is. But it’s also cultural, psychological, and emotional.

The Workshop

This is a newsletter-only section where I share a half-baked idea in hopes that y’all who are smarter than me can work it out with me.

A stray thought: what made Michelle Obama’s speech last week at the DNC so much better than the rest? What can we, as people leaders, learn from it? To me, there was a naming of, and connection to, how people feel and how people want to feel. It’s easy for us to get bogged down in how much there is to say about projects and plans, and it’s a reminder that what really makes all that effective is acknowledging how people feel and painting a vision for them of how they might feel in the future.

Andy Jassy (CEO of Amazon) posted saying that LLMs made upgrading their Java software to the latest version a task that took hours instead of 50 days, saving them 4500 developer-years of work. My first thought was how bad this was for the big consulting firms who make tons of money doing the thankless work of upgrading old systems.

The arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov highlights the challenges of running a tech company that is international and therefore subject to conflicting country-specific laws and cultural norms. The US has the First Amendment; European countries don’t. Different countries have different criteria for what is required to order an arrest. I don’t defend Durov — it seems like Telegram is used to facilitate all kinds of illegal activity, including money laundering and child pornography. I’m just pointing out that politics and tech are more connected every day.

1  She’s studying to become a clinical mental health therapist after a career in tech (starting in support, then as a PM, then as a chief of staff). I couldn’t be more proud of her and excited for her!

2  I once took the Hogan personality assessment for work and learned I’m in the 4th percentile for valuing “tradition”. As in, 96% of respondents valued it more than me.

3  I think every PM can relate to the fact that we both 1) seem to be sharing updates constantly, and 2) no one seems to remember any of it.

4  I get it — there’s so much to do! And, what’s coming is exciting! That bias for action and the ability to inspire your team about the future is what makes us good at what we do.