Intro
1
Why now?
2
Principles
3
Method
Over the last 4 years, we've interviewed over 5000 people about how they work, including leaders from companies like Adobe, Notion, and Figma.
Several key themes have emerged about how successful teams collaborate on the internet.
The Principles
2.1
Visions and definitions over plans and deadlines.
Draft a vision that is visible to everyone on the team.
Define success and milestones with metrics.
Facilitate a process where each team member can contribute
Empower collaboration to produce a better outcome together than any one person could alone.
2.2
Writing it down over talking it out.
Always start with a document.
Use it to capture ideas and share them.
Create templates for common processes to provide structure within the team.
Tell a story with your idea.
After it's clear, make it concise.
2.3
Structure over chaos process.
Make your collaboration flow explicit.
Define roles to clarify expected contributions.
Identify deadlines to create momentum.
Provide context to keep everyone invested.
Use structure to create a trustworthy and transparent process.
2.4
Commitment over consensus.
Seeking consensus seems smart, but quickly leads to stagnation.
Allow members of the team to be heard.
Then steer the conversation towards securing commitment — especially from those who disagree.
Use the final decision to boost momentum.
2.5
Speed to feedback over extended deliberation.
Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.
Armed with a vision, transparent context, and good process, confidently push your team to move faster.
Incentivize a bias towards action.
Plan ahead to avoid fire drills.
Allow members of the team to be heard.
2.6
Iterative learning over blind achievement.
Make learning a value of your team.
Reward changes and pivots based on new insights.
Add learning agendas to your projects.
Schedule retros to determine what went well and what you need to change for next time.
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