The Power of Catalyzing Events
“Where there is no vision, the people perish” – The Book of Proverbs
“I feel like we’re moving too slowly.”
“I don’t know if my development team is performing as well as they could be.”
One of the most frequent conversations I have with founders is trying to understand if they’re getting what they’re paying for with their development team. Software development is, at times, this dark art where it feels like nothing is really happening. It can be excruciating to try and make sense of whether or not you’re making progress.
Enter the Catalyzing Event
If this is where you find yourself, you need to define an event in the near future that creates the proper amount of urgency for everyone on the team. It can be as short as two weeks away, or even a month, but it needs to be something everyone can feel.
When I was the CTO at Bandwidth, we had a phone call with our largest customer where we agreed to build a completely new product for them and have it ready in about a month. We were quite literally starting from zero. I remember hanging up and gasping for air. How would we possibly pull it off?
I made it clear to the team how important this was, and how much business was on the line, and that I had full confidence we could pull it off, though I’m not sure I actually believed it at the time.
About a month later, we delivered the product on time and working, and it led eventually to a massive contract that would change the direction of the company.
Your catalyzing event could be something like what I described, or it could be a funding cliff where the company’s livelihood is at stake, but painting a clear picture of where the company needs to be in a short amount of time creates a sense of purpose and energy that’s hard to replicate.
People Rise to Your Expectations
I was chatting recently with a CEO who had just returned from a major industry event where he had presented his product. The event had provided an opportunity for him to do a live demo in front of thousands of potential customers, but five weeks prior the product was nowhere near where it needed to be.
He met with the team and they defined exactly what had to be done for the demo. It seemed impossible when they laid it all out, but sure enough, they got everything done that needed to be done and the event was a major success.
His comment was “It was so much fun. Everyone rallied and did whatever they had to do to get this done. I have to wonder where we’d be if we’d done something like this sooner!”
I’ve seen this OVER AND OVER AND OVER.
The fact is people want to know their work matters, that they’re making an impact. If they’re toiling away on some boring roadmap just for the sake of having work to do, and not understanding why they’re doing what they’re doing, you won’t get the results you’re after.
However if you can consistently provide targets to shoot at that are meaningful for the company and stretch the team, you’ll be surprised just how much can get done in a short amount of time.
Just Remember
It’s OK to have long term plans, but having interim events that give the team focus and clarity will significantly increase the pace of work and energy around your project.
Keep the windows very short, like the examples I provided above, to create finish lines and chances to win.
Your Assignment
If you sense your development team is drifting, pick a date in the not-too-distant future and set a hard target:
- We’re going to take our product live in two weeks
- I’m presenting to a major prospect in three weeks and they’re going to want to see X
- I’m presenting at such and such pitch competition in a month. We have to have the following 5 things locked down before then.
- You get the general idea…
Create the event and then march toward it every day like your very lives depend on it. Don’t settle for slow.