“Just build it faster” says the stressed stakeholder. “We just need to add this feature” says the skint founder. “Can’t we just…” says the tired designer, “Just do it” says the giant corporation.
I’ve heard these phrases lots of times, it’s frustrating, and it’s easy to be angry at the person saying them. I’ve said them too, I won’t lie, nobody is perfect, except that hero you’ve not met yet.
I don’t think I need to say this, but I will just in case, saying things like this makes people stressed, it makes them frustrated, it makes them feel unrecognised, it makes them feel angry too. You really should try to stop it, that’s the bad news, and the hardest part, please work on it.
The good news is that you’re probably an expert in something, you probably know a lot about the problem that made you use the J-word. Even better news is that the people you’re speaking to are also experts, an expert in something different. Together, as a group you are incredibly knowledgeable about different sides of this problem, you’re basically ‘The Avengers’ of the tech industry — please don’t make many, many, many OK movies about your exploits though, please.
Take a break, then work on it together, speak to one another with openness, empathy and honesty, bring all your expert opinions together, lead by example, and work something out that lets everyone be the expert that they are.
Deep in my core is the urge to end this with a really tight and actionable list of things you can do next, but I just don’t think there is one, interpret the paragraph above the way you want to, or don’t.
Just do it.