AND I NEED THIS... WHY?
Sometimes our desire to get along with each other, or just a lack of visibility into another person's situation, makes it difficult to reach quick decisions or challenge decisions we disagree with. You might feel like you're letting your team down by escalating a problem. But not doing so can leave you frustrated, affect the morale and velocity of your team, and may be detrimental to your products and customers. This play aimsto establish a culture where people see the value of clean escalation, and resolve issues within 3-5 days (where practical).
Here's an example scenario:
Two product teams have been working together to roll out a new feature.They have a few open decisions, primarily around information density and documentation use cases. They started talking through options several weeks ago, but haven't made a decision. Why? They don't have enough data.
Then they receive a strong signal from a small but passionate group of users. They make a good-faith effort to align on 3 must-have requirements.They resolve most of the items on the list, with the help of some user testing. But they still have one open item to resolve.
When the team can't agree on this last item, it is escalated tothe product manager. The clear next step is to escalate to the VP of Product Management, but they don't need to – all the items are closed within a week.
The team's biggest lesson? Decisions are hard when data is imperfect, but it's important to make a call and commit fast. Even if there's some dissent.
WHO SHOULD BE INVOLVED?
Team members driving the issue and their managers, or the nearest decision-maker connected to all parties involved.
