Lightweight Processes

Clear, lightweight processes help to reduce cognitive load in product teams.

Imagine you run into a friend and want to solve a problem together. You might start with an exciting story, describe why you want to do what you want and have different ideas of how to solve it, but you wouldn’t go down the rabbit hole of breaking down all the tasks you need to do and how long it takes and their effort. 

All those details bore them. They will think you are already stressed before you start, focusing too much on small things or losing sight of the big picture. We’re guilty of every single time we do this as product managers with our teams. 

What is the fundamental thing you solve by having complex processes? None.

Why do we use past processes that arguably worked in another context for building other products with other teams?

Because our team worked with similar methods, and they are used to these methods. Yet, these reused processes do not ensure the success of your product.

What works: Lightweight processes. Ask yourself what makes your processes terrific and who cares for the time you and your team spend solving a problem. 

When framing a business opportunity, you deal with uncertainty and many opinions. Our main job at this stage as product managers is to increase the certainty around it through product discovery.

Not to ETA a project or initiative. The better you can capture the problem and its possible solutions, the easier it will be to answer time-related questions. 

Running effective product discovery is key to reduce uncertainty around initiatives.

Even when time can be irrelevant for building successful products, time-to-market is critical for validating your hypotheses. And your business partners have a considerable interest in this timing.

However, it is impossible to predict precisely when things will be done, and you and your team should acknowledge that. 

They should be able to form an idea about when results can be expected, and you should be able to communicate them. 

The more effective product discovery you do, the higher certainty you will have about when to expect outcomes.

How to do it: You can stop doing whatever you have used until now that required long grooming sessions and detailed to-the-wire specifications. Just remove everything that is not needed. 

For instance, you can run the First Principles or the Five Whys assessment, eliminating unnecessary things that increase overthinking and sometimes overdoing. You might have a lot of I-do-not-know answers.  

Sit down with your team and reflect about:

• Why do you need estimations?
• What value does it have to have all your ceremonies and ad-hoc meetings?
• How much load and time do you spend locked in discussions without solving anything?
• How much energy-draining are your current processes? 
• Is your team open to trying new approaches? 

Whatever processes you’ve implemented after this, write them down. Read it aloud. Be honest. Discuss it with the team.

Between the lines: This works for every team. Regardless of the problems you are trying to solve. Your business partners want to know when you can see the results, not how you solve a problem. 

The bottom line: Processes are there to enable teams to solve problems, not become problems. If you feel your team can improve and have less burden from your current processes, stop and try again. Everyone will be happier.