Listening With Intention
Whenever we had to figure out any sort of directional question, I would call up a bunch of people and listen. Not always for what they said, sometimes for what they didn't say. This is a skill I learned from my old boss for how to run off the record reference calls. This practice helped us figure out what use cases made sense for us to sell. This skill became our superpower as we navigated how to build a happy community of entirely remote Odettians working asynchronously. Rumors circulate like festering wounds in anonymous digital platforms and the antidote must be and is intentional listening. The most universal truth is that your team wants to be heard.