Pivots sucks, do them more

Happy Friday,

In a perfect world, things work out the way we wish they did. You might know someone who has a life like that. Unfortunately, most of us aren't that person, and things don't go the way we want.

We get some choices when things go poorly. One choice is to just keep doing the same, hoping the failure was dumb luck. Another is to refine what you're doing. Finally, you can pivot to something different.

Pivoting sucks, but we should probably do it more.

In case the concept of pivoting isn't well-known, I'm borrowing it from the product management space. A pivot is a significant change in product direction. Textbook examples include finding out your product has no market, so you pivot the product or the market you target to create a fit.

Groupon is an example of a pivot. It started off as a social activism app, I think, and pivoted to group deals.

Even in the product space, pivoting is often discussed but rarely executed.

Most of the time, folks would prefer to continue on, refine, and hope things go their way. Even when there is no evidence that it is helping.

I'm that way too.

To pivot, you have to take one impossible step: admit you were wrong.

Startups struggle to pivot because their founders aren't ready to accept they're wrong. Leaders don't pivot on their product or direction because they'd have to admit they were wrong. We don't pivot in life because we'd have to admit we were wrong.

I'm dealing with two pivots, and it sucks. The first is in my consulting work, and the other is in my startup work.

In the consulting space, I've spent a lot of time producing content in hopes of attracting buyers and building a brand. It never happened, and there is no evidence it will. So I've admitted I was wrong, and I'm doing something else.

In the startup space, I was wrong about who some of my early users may be, so I have to pivot my approach entirely. This sucks because of how much time I've sunk into my past attempts.

Pivoting is really hard, but there is an obvious benefit to it. Pivoting is part of growth and learning. Pivoting is about focusing on taking steps towards the future rather than stagnating in the present. Pivoting is about taking responsibility and realizing you have the ability to make a different choice.

So, is there an area of your life you should consider a pivot in?

Sincerely,

Ryan

Lies Our Engineering Metrics Tell Us

On the 21st, I held my webinar, "Lies Our Engineering Metrics Tell Us," and you can watch the replay here.

The webinar covers several well-known engineering metrics and why they mislead us, what's going on behind the scenes with them, and I close by introducing a technique called "Signal Mapping" that will help you develop your skills in leading with data.

Opportunities

• Esther Derby and I are offering a unique workshop that will equip leadership teams to master the use of data in their leadership. Reply back to let me know you're interested.
• Interested in a walkthrough of how I do multi-agent software development? Let me know.
• Did you know the way I launch teams and projects has been used by folks all over the country? If you want to start your next project off in the best way possible, even avoiding 5 months of "Norming". Learn more here.
• Do you know a director, VP, or CTO who has teams that need to show rapid improvement? They might be stuck, or struggling to manage a backlog of work that grows too fast, or losing their capacity to quality and churn. An introduction is the lifeblood of my business.