Frameworks that Actually Work

0:00 [Music] So this idea of packaging so like okay something works now go and make this happen across the company. We want more teams to work like your teams. So in the latter half of my product leadership career, every once in a while I would get this kind of suggestion from my manager or my leadership, right? Hey, we like this. Can we get this done across the PM team? So one thing I realized is that it's not that process or framework is somehow inherently bad. It's not that. Again, we have too much of this kind of binary thinking also fueled by social media of like either I'm on this side or on that side. Do you realize there are so many options in between that you are ignoring? I don't think process or framework is somehow an inherently bad thing. It's just that people misunderstand what is a good process or what is a good framework. So let's take a framework. There are frameworks galore and somehow it's been exacerbated by some companies expecting PMs these days in their interview process of well the answer was good but they did not present a framework so we're going to fail this person which is ridiculous but you know that's the state of the industry in some places but what is a good framework I actually spent quite a bit of time thinking about just that question what is a good framework as I was getting guidance from my leadership that we want this kind of strategic competence. So at Stripe, one specific guidance I got is like your team produces really compelling product strategies.

1:41 We want to see that from more teams. We want to see that from more PMs. Can you go solve this problem? I was like, cool. I find the problem very interesting and I want to do it because I want the entire company to benefit. Then I'm also like wait this is a really hard thing I'm signing up for. So that's why I then had to think very hard about how am I going to enable this. That's when I understood what is a good framework.

2:05 What I understood is a good framework packages the intuition of someone who is world class at that given thing. So good frameworks are basically packaged intuition. Can I just make everybody in the world have the same intuition as the product rates? Can I make everyone in the world have Marty's intuition? Right? No, I cannot. However, if instead of starting with the objective of let me present an amazing impressive framework, which is where all the fault is. That's what people start with. Let me create a framework that look impressive, let me create a framework that looks comprehensive, let me create a framework that gets me approval. It's that approach versus the approach of how does this intuition actually function? Can we decompose this intuition? Right? And if it sounds very fuzzy, it's kind of not because say you are world class at something. I would say start with that. Say you are world class at giving feedback like amazing feedback in UX reviews. I've worked with some people who are just excellent at it. Excellent.

3:24 You're world class at it. Now you want to train others to be, you know, much better than they are. Look within. Look inside. Try to evaluate how you're thinking, what you're thinking, why you are thinking what you're thinking. Now, what I just said seems very simple. It is incredibly hard to do. But again, why are you getting paid the big bucks if you're not willing to do the hard things and you're not going to get the answer on the same day?

3:55 Whereas I can create an octagonal framework with eight colors with opposing vertices and call them some name and then create a backronym and say this is my framework launch on LinkedIn 5,000 likes. The problem is it doesn't work versus if I actually do the work of reverse engineering this intuition of someone who's world class at it and then package it in a framework. Now what happens is it is practical and it's implementable. Now is following that framework going to make everyone in the world world class like Marty at that thing? No, it's not.

4:32 But it is going to substantially raise their capability very quickly which is what you want. So again in the latter half of my leadership career as I started doing this I found a tremendous success with it. So I just wanted to call that out on that point of scaling. Yes frameworks can be useful but you have to devise them the right way. [Music]