If you’re striving to make products and services that your customers will love, then you’ll need a customer-driven organization. As companies transform their businesses to meet the demands of the digital age, they find themselves grappling with uniquely human challenges. Organizational knowledge becomes siloed, employees move to safeguard their expertise, and customer data creates polarization and infighting between teams. All of these challenges widen the distance between the people who make your products and the customers who use them.
To meet today’s challenges, companies need to do more than build processes for customer-driven products. They need to create a customer-driven culture.
With the help of his friend and mentor Monty Hammontree, Travis Lowdermilk takes readers through the cultural transformation of the Developer Division at Microsoft. This book shows readers how to "hack" their culture and reduce the distance between them and their customers’ needs. It’s a uniquely personal story that’s told amidst a cultural revolution at one of the largest software companies in the world.
This story acts as your guide. You’ll learn how to:
• Establish a Common Language: Help employees change their thinking and actions
• Build Bridges, Not Walls: Treat product building as a team sport
• Encourage Learning Versus Knowing: Help your team understand their customers
• Build Leaders That Build Your Culture: Showcase star employees to inspire others
• Meet Teams Where They Are: Make it easy for teams to to adopt vital behavior changes
• Make Data Relatable: Move beyond numbers and focus on empathizing with customers
Author(s): Travis Lowdermilk, Monty Hammontree
Edition: 1
Publisher: O'Reilly Media
Year: 2020
Language: English
Commentary: Vector PDF
Pages: 210
City: Sebastopol, CA
Tags: Management; User Experience; User-Centered Design; Innovations; Team Management
Copyright
Table of Contents
How This Book Came to Be: A Note from Travis
Preface
The Hypothesis Progression Framework
Who Is This Book For?
How Will This Book Help Me?
How Is This Book Organized?
What If I Don’t Work at a Company Like Microsoft?
Should I Read The Customer-Driven Playbook First?
What If I’m Not a Manager or in a Leadership Role?
O’Reilly Online Learning
How to Contact Us
Chapter 1. Building a Foundation for Change
About the Developer Division at Microsoft
The Culture Room
The Foundations of Transformation
What Is a Customer-Driven Culture?
Live Share: An Example of the Customer-Driven Approach
The Three Vital Behaviors of Culture Change
Hacking Your Culture
Pursuing Purpose
Diversity and Inclusion
Fight and Unite
Zero Distance
Chapter 2. Establish a Common Language
How Language Binds Us Together
Change the Language
Use Language to Change the Thinking
Use Language to Change the Actions
Use Language to Change the Values
Consider a Language of Positivity
Agents of Change: Monique and Jerry Sternin
Use the Hypotheses for Exploring Cultural Initiatives
Be Mindful of Everyday Language
Applying the Hack
Chapter 3. Build Bridges, Not Walls
Giving Away Your Expertise
Who Owns the Voice of the Customer?
Sharing Knowledge in DevDiv
Build Great Products by Improving Both Sides of the Glass
Agents of Change: Carmen Medina
Pushing for Transparency
The Value of a Generalist
Cross-Pollinators
Finding Match Quality
Applying the Hack
Chapter 4. Encourage Learning Versus Knowing
Agents of Change: Margo
The Importance of Acknowledging Mistakes
Celebrate Learning, Not Failure
Example Scenario: Learning versus Failure
Lead with Questions, Not Answers
Be a Multiplier
Creating the Space to Learn
Break the Script
Yes, and…
Applying the Hack
Chapter 5. Build Leaders That Build Your Culture
Model, Coach, Care
Agents of Change: Julia Liuson
Celebrating the Vital Behaviors
Scripting the Vital Behaviors
Do Less, Then Obsess
Demonstrate Your Values Through Belonging Cues
Example Scenario: Adriana’s First Day
The Importance of Belonging Cues
How Belonging Cues Influence Your Organization
Take Advantage of Key Moments
An Example of How DevDiv Scripts Belonging Cues
Rethinking How We Interview New Candidates
Epiphany 1: Our Interview Questions Didn’t Reflect Our Values
Epiphany 2: Not Everyone Does Their Best Work in Fast-Paced, High-Pressure Situations
Epiphany 3: The Best Way to See How Someone Works Is to Work with Them
Applying the Hack
Chapter 6. Meet Teams Where They Are
Agents of Change: Dr. Wiwat Rojanapithayakorn
Be Passionately Pragmatic
Encouraging Pride of Ownership
Autonomy and Mastery
Just-in-Time Coaching
Find the Quickest Pathways to Learn
Empathize with Your Enemies
Agents of Change: Volpi Foods
Melting the “Frozen Middle”
Use Their Energy and Push for Positivity
Redirecting Behavior
Make Change Digestible
Types of Radicals
Embrace Existing Tools
Meet Your Customers Where They Are
Applying the Hack
Chapter 7. Make Data Relatable
Agents of Change: Rescuing the Wild Boars Football Team
The Power of Story on the Brain
Inspiring Others to Action
The Impact Ladder
How Stories Affect Our Brains
The Patterns of a Great Story
Simplicity
Unexpectedness
Concreteness
Credibility
Emotions
Using Metaphors to Make Your Ideas Accessible
Don’t Just Tell Them, Show Them
Consider the Medium
Vivid Stories Are Directly Proportional to Vivid Interviews
Applying the Hack
Chapter 8. Measuring Change
“Multiplier Metrics” Versus “Diminisher Metrics”
Objectives and Key Results
Metrics and Customer Feedback
Gathering Employee Feedback
The Cultural Heartbeat
Measure the Vital Behaviors
Measure Employee Moments
Applying the Hack
Chapter 9. In Conclusion
The Three Vital Behaviors
Hack #1: Establish a Common Language
Hack #2: Build Bridges, Not Walls
Hack #3: Encourage Learning versus Knowing
Hack #4: Build Leaders That Build Your Culture
Hack #5: Meet Teams Where They Are
Hack #6 Make Data Relatable
Thank You
References
Photo Credit
Appendix A. Appendix
Books You Should Read
Useful Maxims
Hack #1: Use a Common Language
Hack #2: Build Bridges, Not Walls
Hack #3: Encourage Learning versus Knowing
Hack #4: Build Leaders That Build Your Culture
Hack #5: Meet Teams Where They Are
Hack #6: Make Data Relatable
Index
About the Authors
