KellyJansen

  • How to refresh your brain when you find yourself slowly dying from staring at a screen all day

    “I can’t handle staring at a screen all day anymore.”

    “I feel like my brain is turning to mush just staring at the screen.”

    Feel like you’re wasting away physically and mentally at your desk all day? Here’s something I’ve tried that refreshed my brain, body, and put me in a better place:

    Get up and walk around the block once an hour. Don’t look at your phone during your walk.

    No, yeah, I know. It sounds like every advice you’ve ever heard. Stay with me.

    I found myself watching a YouTube video, where a guy decided to run around his one-mile block once an hour for 24 hours and complete household tasks in between runs. Crazy, but also inspirational.

    I knew I couldn’t approach his level of fitness, but I could walk around my block once an hour. It takes 7ish minutes if I go fast, and about 10 if I go slowly. I decided to try going each hour on the hour at work. I figured, if (at worst) someone has to wait 10 minutes for me to reply to them, they’ll survive.

    This turned out to be a very transformative experiment.

    At first, I was still worried that people would notice my absence. They did not.

    I thought I’d get bored walking the same circle 8 times a day. I did not. In fact, I started to tune into the rhythms of my neighborhood. When the rabbits came out to eat, when school buses arrived and departed, when certain neighbors sat on their porch, or mowed their lawn, or gardened. Each time I’d notice something different about someone’s house, or how a flower was in fuller bloom than the previous day, or the leaves on that tree were now starting to turn.

    I thought my spouse would think I was crazy. He may have. But eventually he ended up joining me for many of my walks. This was a fantastic development. We were able to chat about work, stress, leisure, everything. Several times a day. It gave us micro bonding moments that we wouldn’t have had otherwise.

    I thought I’d feel guilty, taking this time for myself while “on the clock”. In fact, it helped me perform better. I could puzzle out situations while feeling the brisk breeze. Putting the brain in a new environment, especially away from screens, especially while doing physical activity, helps it find more creative avenues for approaching problems.

    Did I always walk every hour on the hour? Of course not. I had meetings, or it was bone-chillingly cold, or I forgot, or I did household chores instead. But even getting out, say, 3 times was worthwhile. Even 2 times. Even once.

    My circumstances have changed and it’s not as simple for me to do this habit right now (anyone got tips on sneaking past a toddler without triggering a tantrum?) but I’d recommend it to anyone to try.

    Do a one day ‘marathon’. Each hour, get up and walk around the block. Notice what you see. Notice how you feel. Notice whether anyone cares. (Don’t worry, they won’t.) If you enjoy it, try again. See if it doesn’t unmush your brain.

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  • 4 options to handle stakeholder requests that only benefit them

    Sooner or later, a stakeholder will ask you to build something that appears to have no benefit to end users. Or tiny benefit to a small fraction of users. What are your options when faced with an ask that could waste your team’s time and resources? And for which—when it fails—you will ultimately be held accountable? Here’s a few ideas:

    1. Help them create a business case for their ask

    Start by assuming that you don’t have the full picture, and that their ask actually will increase business value. By walking through their thoughts on why this feature is important to the business now, who it is meant to serve, and what your stakeholder’s ideas on success metrics might be, you can create a mutual understanding of the problem trying to be solved and fill them in on information they might be lacking as to the complexity or resources required.

    Through these conversations, you may be able to suggest a better solution, or even change your own mind on the value of the initial proposal. As a bonus, you will have documented an expected outcome and can then circle back with the stakeholder after release to talk about whether the outcome was achieved.

    2. Create a framework for submitting and evaluating requests

    This option has more work up front, and requires some behavior training, but depending on your situation could be a worthwhile undertaking.

    Here you create a form (Google Form, Typeform, or whatever system you like to use) where the stakeholder documents:

    • The reason behind the ask
    • Metrics indicating its potential impact
    • Markets the request will serve
    • Expected success outcomes
    • Level of priority
    • Desired release timeframe

    and any other information you find helpful. Creating this form, and reminding requesters to use it, gives you the benefit of collecting all requests in a single spot where they can easily be compared with one another. The act of filling in the form requires the stakeholder to think more holistically about their idea (perhaps abandoning it along the way?).

    3. Ask them how to reprioritize work that is currently underway

    You know what the active pipeline looks like, so ask the stakeholder how they would like to reprioritize the work being done in order to accommodate their request. Remind them which users are impacted by the work being done now, so that they can weigh it against the userbase they are trying to serve.

    Best case: they reprioritize sensibly or determine that their ask isn’t so important.

    Worst case: they halt everything to create this new feature, but at least you are no longer the one responsible for the change in timelines!

    4. Thanks for the suggestion, we’ll add it to the backlog

    Look, this is risky and not a great option. But sometimes, it’s the only way. If a stakeholder won’t engage with you in a reasonable manner, despite numerous good-faith attempts, you might have to pull this one out. Soften it by adding that you’ll revisit its priority regularly based on user feedback. Hopefully they’ll go away feeling satisfied, and forget all about their request, or not bring it up for some time. When they do, ask them again where they’d prioritize it against other things on the roadmap. And be careful not to use this too often, or it’ll lose its effectiveness.

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  • How to deal with anxiety around what you don’t know as a Product Owner

    It’s a hefty weight to own the decision making for a product. Anxious thoughts might prod you when:

    • An important scenario was missed in your requirements
    • You have to change your plan because of a technical challenge that surfaced
    • Your scope just increased because of business rules you were unaware of 
    • You’re not sure what the next step in the project is

    Essentially, anxiety rears its ugly head each time you bump into what you don’t know.

    Sometimes you might wonder “Am I dumb for not understanding that?” “Do all product owners feel this anxiety?”, and I can assure you, you’re not alone. POs work in a world of ambiguity. The one constant is things changing since your last meeting.

    The good news is: your anxiety is a tool you can use.

    While anxious thoughts can make you feel upset, they’re often just your mind alerting you to take action. Your brain wants to turn ambiguity into clarity. And to get clarity, you need to talk to people. To get a restful mind, you need to take action.

    Try this the next time you notice an anxious thought around a project:

    1. Write down the thought

    Putting it on paper makes it real, and sometimes shows how silly it is in the first place. Psychology has shown writing down anxious thoughts can help relieve them.

    2. Go talk to someone 

    Anyone. Don’t get hung up on who, just go with the person that feels like the most sensible choice given what you’re stuck on. Let them know you feel like you’re missing something. Don’t be afraid to humble yourself, you’re not supposed to know everything and people love to have the opportunity to help. 

    Conversations bring clarity. You’ll likely find out:

    • More about what you don’t know
    • Who else you need to talk to
    • What else you need to research
    • A new resource to check out
    • Or that other people don’t know either, so no need to be anxious!

    We all feel anxious. Let’s use it as a reminder to start the next conversation. 

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