Are You in Control?

“This is a story about control
My control
Control of what I say
Control of what I do
And this time I’m gonna do it my way
I hope you enjoy this as much as I do
Are we ready? I am
Cause it’s all about control
And I’ve got lots of it”  – Janet Jackson

When technology startup founders think about control, it almost always is in the context of control of the company itself. Who owns what portion of the company, who has what title, and so on. What often gets overlooked, particularly as it pertains to technology, is control of the processes and tools that go into building the product.

When we talk about control in the context of building your product, we’re talking about a working knowledge of all of the moving parts sufficient to understand if you are on or off track, not a choke-hold on the company. As Seth Godin wrote recently “When we’re in the room, it’s really difficult to sit back and let other people do their work, because we know we can make it better, we know the stakes are incredibly high, we know that we care more than anyone else. More often than not, we give in to temptation and wrest away control. And often, we make things better. In the short run.”

That’s not the kind of control we’re after.

So, where’s the balance between the healthy kind of control, where you know what’s going on and are confident in the people and processes around you, and the paranoia that’s so easy to succumb to as Godin described?

In almost every case, the issue boils down to the fear of looking dumb or inadequate as a leader. It is through this fear that we (intentionally or unintentionally) cede control of our product, and often times put the company at risk.

Fear is Lethal

Fear of looking dumb is a powerful de-motivator. Steven Pressfield would call this The Resistance. Because you don’t fully understand the development process, and because most people are naturally conflict-averse, you avoid asking questions so as to not feel inferior.

Developers are also really good at making you feel dumb. Many developers treat untechnical people as the unwashed, and look down upon them with disdain. There can be lots of eye rolling, or comments like “This is really technical, you probably wouldn’t understand.”

They have their own meetings and don’t invite you. They use tools to do their work that you’ve never seen or used. They speak a language you don’t understand.

Each wall that goes up is chipping away at your control, all because you’re afraid of how you might look.

Hopefully by now, if you’ve been reading this blog for long enough, you’ve realized that there’s no reason to feel dumb or inadequate, or to presume that you can’t understand what’s going on. Building technology is just like anything else. You can learn what you need to learn if you’re willing to put in the time.

“But I Don’t Have the Time!”

Being too busy to take control of your product is fear masquerading as busyness. You are of course very busy selling, marketing and all the other things required to get the company going. However, you’re spending a larger chunk of the company’s time / money / resources on your product than just about anything else. If you consider yourself a steward of the resources given to your company to succeed, isn’t making sure those resources are spent wisely one of your top priorities?

Taking Control

Here’s a minimum list of items that you as a founder should control or have full awareness of:

  • Administrator access to all source code repositories
  • Administrator access to all hosting and service providers
  • Administrator access to all 3rd party services in use in your product
  • Where the application is logging any errors or issues
  • Administrator access to all of your project management tools
  • Full working knowledge of how to turn on and off access in each of the above items
  • How the team manages day to day workflow
  • Who is working on what parts of the application
  • Cross-domain sharing to avoid concentration of knowledge as much as possible

Just Remember

Control, as I define it, is not you being the big bad boss. It is the knowledge and understanding required for you to make confident decisions about the who and what of your product.

Don’t let yourself get bullied out of conversations or a working knowledge of this key part of your company by fear of looking dumb. As you take control of the process, the mystical nature of development will fade to black, and you will truly own your product and company.

Your Assignment

In what areas of your company have you ceded control to others, to the point that it makes you nervous about someone leaving or you needing to fire someone? Be honest with yourself about why you’re avoiding truly owning these areas and take decisive, small steps to retake control.

Here’s a few practical tips:

  • Sit in on meetings or planning sessions where you’re the most out of touch
  • Make it your goal to ask at least one question in these meetings that you wouldn’t have asked last week
  • Schedule one on ones with key employees to have them walk you through how they do their job every day, and ask questions
  • Explore these areas on your as you have time
  • Read everything you can find on these areas

If you feel fear, that’s the first sign that you’re into an area where you need to re-assert yourself.