Age of Product’s Food for Thought of February 5th, 2017—shared with 6,508 peers—focuses on team building, how to provide feedback to hardly bearable teammates, and why radical candor is good for business and your soul. Be warned, though, transparency has a dark side, too.
We also dive deep into how the best product teams evolve beyond Agile and Lean, how to utilize guerilla research to create excellent products, and what anti-patterns to avoid if you are pursuing a career in product management.
Last but not least: We discuss patterns and ethics of how today’s technology seeks to manipulate us.
[bctt tweet="Food For Thought #77: Team Building, Feedback, Guerilla Research, Career Limiting Steps, UX 2017"]Agile & Team Building
: Feedback for Teams
Christina Wodtke shares from her ‘effective feedback’ class on how to deal with annoying teammates, people that are not pulling their weight, or someone with terrible communication skills.
(via Harvard Business Review): If Your Team Agrees on Everything, Working Together Is Pointless
Liane Davey suggests three techniques to change people’s mindset about dissent. As the saying goes: “Where all think alike, no one thinks very much.”
: Dealing with Dysfunctional Behavior Styles
Andy Cleff lists concrete steps how to deal with the “brilliant a**hole” on your team.
(via McKinsey & Company): The dark side of transparency
Julian Birkinshaw, professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at the London Business School, points at that transparency is vital, but it has a dark side, and it takes real skill to get the balance right.
(via 33voices): How Radical Candor Transforms Company Culture
Kim, Russ, and Jenna discuss how radical candor changes organizations, strategies to cultivate a feedback driven culture, and how praise and criticism directly influence individual and company success.
Product & Lean
: Beyond Lean and Agile
Marty Cagan believes that the best product teams are already beyond ‘agile’ and ‘lean' – tackling risk upfront, collaboratively designing product, and solving problems not merely building features.
(via Mind The Product): How Guerrilla Research Can Improve Your Product
Monal Chokshi, Head of UX Research @Lyft, explains what guerrilla research is, and how it fits alongside your other product development practices.
(via Atlassian): 5 things I learned about product (and people) management this year
Brian Swift reflects on not leaving the office, solving the wrong problem, overlooking hidden costs, and other career-limiting steps for product managers.
: The Bad Product Fallacy: Don't confuse "I don't like it" with "That's a bad product and it'll fail"
Andrew Chen shares his observations on the common roots of the ‘bad product fallacy’.
(via User Testing Blog): 2017 UX and User Research Industry Survey Report
User Testing provides the 4th annual UX and User Research Industry Survey, based on answers from 2,238 professionals.
The Essential Read
(via Re/code): How technology is designed to addict us
Kara Swisher interviews in this podcast ‘Time Well Spent’ founder Tristan Harris, who wants techies to think about the consequences of their design choices.