Summary
Product managers and designers have something in common. We are all in the coherence business. We need to make sense of things long enough to make progress. We express this in different ways, which can often cause conflict and misunderstanding, but the underlying need remains the same. In this talk John Cutler will explore what alignment really means in the context of complex unpredictable work, where we are constantly dancing between different levels of abstraction, frames, and perspectives.
Key Insights
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The pursuit of alignment can lead to overwhelming complexity.
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Design leaders now face a challenging environment with increased uncertainty and reduced organizational support.
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Attempts to define terms and achieve agreement on goals may be counterproductive.
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A shift from being a glue person to becoming a catalyst for collaboration is necessary.
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Enabling constraints can guide effective decision-making without stifling creativity.
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Storytelling can foster understanding and engagement among teams more effectively than strict alignment.
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Recognizing that simplicity in communication does not always yield beneficial outcomes is crucial.
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The pressure on design leaders to present information simplistically can lead to meaningful discussions being overlooked.
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Ambiguity can be a positive force in fostering innovation and adaptability within teams.
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Personal journeys and reflections can inform and inspire more flexible design thinking.
Notable Quotes
"The information architects among you will relate to this problem."
"I've been noticing something out there among my fellow community members, is that it's heavy out there."
"There's a tension right now that I'm sensing out there in the community."
"I think we're at the limit of executive information processing."
"I realized that if you remove all the signal, if we were to print this picture and then try to go back to that house, we would never be able to."
"What's that one thing that's gonna crack open this conversation?"
"It's much more valuable for us to tell stories or create narrative structures that teams can find their own meaning in."
"Our work is complex. There's lots of lines going into each other and that's the reality of our work."
"We need to hold some things constant, otherwise your brain will explode."
"The goal here is to how to do it in ways that are also friendly to yourself and friendly to your teams."
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