It is Q3 of 2024. I’m VP Product at a 100 person company. I’m actively and directly involved in the day-to-day of many of the squads; as well as having recurring skip-levels [1]. This level of direct involvement is leading to near 60 hour work weeks (and some teammates feeling the “mistrust”). My manager has given me some incredible and thought-provoking feedback. She challenged me to think about if I need to be as involved as I am with the teams and non-direct-reports.

Why am I directly involved in so much?

Is this a result of the trust level I have with the team?!… Maybe [2].

I’m a man of systems and rubrics, so I set out to find a way to think about this, and it boiled down to two axes…

What are you interacting about?

In the highest of trust relationships, you’ll be conversing about Outcomes… the change in the world that you both want to see.

However, if the results you seek aren’t coming to fruition, it is reasonable to think about the output that is delivered. If the output isn’t being delivered at the effectiveness you believe will set us up to hit the outcomes, it is reasonable to think about the activities that lead to the output.

The goal is to identify what in the SYSTEM is broken. Not what in the people are broken.

What type of interaction is it?

In the highest of trust relationships, it’ll be a collaboration. Where two pros are working together to diagnose and prescribe the next activity, output, or outcome that will lead to the world we are trying to create. Partnership.

On the other hand, if intervention is required, something has happened along the way [3].

Conclusion / Next Steps

I’m actively evaluating every recurring meeting I have and asking myself (and sometimes the other[s] in the meeting) which of these 9 boxes are we operating within.

My hope is that this’ll help us identify systemic changes that lead to greater results, more autonomy, and more nice-to-have collaboration about outcomes 🤩.

Let’s see what happens!

[1] I did a break down of how I spend my time:

• 1:1s (5 w/ direct, 3 recurring “skip level”, 2 non-Product) = ~ 10 hr / week
• L10s (director, function, & specific squad based L10s) = ~ 12 hrs / week
• Other recurring meetings = ~ 5 hrs / week
• IC work (non-recurring meetings) = ~ 3 hrs / week
• My job (org design, strategy, & coaching) = ~20 hr / week
• Dealing with the unexpected = ~ 10 hrs / week

[2] A friend of mine sent me this Paul Graham article and even though I’m not sure how I feel about Paul Graham, the article is thought-provoking. Is a more “involved” model a feature and not a bug?! A potentially dangerous, but interesting thought.

[3] Of course some managers are micro-managers and some managers lead with “you’ve got to earn trust”. I aspire to not be a micro-manager and I pride myself on giving trust by default (maybe to a fault 😬). This assumes you aspire to misson-control and not command-and-control and you are trust giver not a trust earner.