Think small and think systemic
How to make the right thing more convenient than all the other options
Starting Monday (it’s always Monday - or Jan 1st) , everything is going to change.
You’ll work out more often.
You’ll eat healthy.
You’ll call your parents more frequently.
You’ll remember to water your plants.
Those are worthy pursuits, and they are also completely unspecific.
How much is more often?
What does healthy mean for you?
What is more frequently?
And what exactly do your plants actually need?
You’ve set up yourself to be disappointed - at yourself and your life choices.
Big sweeping changes are overrated (including a lot of company reorgs).
Instead, think small and think systemic.
What are the small things you can do today that will make tomorrow’s desired behaviour more likely?
How can you make doing the right thing more convenient than doing the less desirable thing?
Scheduling your workouts into your calendar (as meetings) increases the odds that you’ll actually do those workouts.
Hiding the kids’ gummy bears on top of the fridge makes it more convenient to grab an apple.
Putting a reminder into your calendar to call your mom increases the likelihood you won’t forget.
And may I introduce you into the magic of Planta, the app that allows me to keep 42 plants alive when I thought I was a cactus person!
Thinking small and systemic in product management
You are hopefully already invested into thinking about about usability of your product.
How often do you think about the usability of your processes though?
Are your scrum rituals a slog that people gratefully forget or skip?
Do you have to fight for those daily stand-ups to start (and end) on time?
How frictionless is the work between your product/design team and the engineering org?
The problem is not the framework. The issue aren’t the people, or their attitude.
There’s friction where there should be none. Doing the right thing is just too damn hard and humans have a limited amount of willpower to overcome the friction.
So, think small! How can you make the right thing easier? How can you facilitate the correct behaviour so it becomes a no-brainer that’s easier done than ignored?
The questions isn’t “Why didn’t you do that thing?”
The question is “What would need to happen for that thing to be the logical thing to do?”