Contrasting orgs run via 1:1s vs Tag-ups
Pair-wise 1:1 discussions don't work.
“I feel like our product development and feedback process is one giant game of telephone.”
That analogy resonated immediately when I heard this from another product leader who was three months into a new job.
Perhaps you’ve had the experience of working in an org like this? The only way to get things done is to go have 10 side conversations or a dozen other meetings, before the actual meeting. It’s a frustrating way to work.
In that conversation, we chatted about something we use at Coda called Tag-ups. His excitement as I described the concept made me think others might find them helpful too. So here goes.
The Problem
Let’s start with the problem — pair-wise, 1:1 discussions are poor method for a healthy product development process.
The Head of Eng has questions about the feasibility and tells the PM in a 1:1. The PM dutifully goes and investigates, and tries to explain these feasibility questions to the Design team. The Head of Design team rightfully questions the constraints. The product person goes back to the Engineering team with more questions and thoughts on how to sidestep certain constraints. One requires a big infrastructure project that only the Head of Eng can approve, the rest they can work around. Five meetings and two weeks later, there is a directional agreement on the plan. A week later, the CEO has a 1:1 with the Head of Product who disagrees with the direction entirely. Back to square one.
If you’re exhausted after reading that, you’ve probably lived through a situation like this. Sadly this type of product development is all too common. I’ve experienced it myself.
Tag-ups
Tag-ups are group 1:1s with key stakeholders.
The goal is to bring project-based discussion out of 1:1s in an informal setting. Instead, these discussions are brought into the open with the rest of the team who need the same context.
One of the most important parts is that the Heads of Eng/Prod/Design (and/or Marketing/Sales) can have an open discussion in the same forum with the rest of the team, and when necessary, the CEO as well. No games of telephone.
We used this ritual at YouTube, and have carried it to Coda since day one.
The core ideas are:
Timing: short blocks of time, normally 30 minutes
Cadence: normally weekly or bi-weekly
Audience: a cross-functional, effort based team and functional executives
Feeling: casual, any topic can arise
If it feels like a review forum, then it’s not a Tag-up.
It’s critical that you can cover whatever topics are important to the team. If they need context or help, this is the time to raise it. Tag-ups usually start with a quick check-in on goals or progress then have a topic table where anyone can add topics. These topics sometimes include short writeups, or areas for quick feedback.
When it comes to decisions, it’s not typically a decision making forum. Instead, the goal is setup larger decisions for success. That means, triaging upcoming decisions, figuring out who should be involved, adding important context, sharing early worries, and ensuring clear timelines for decisions.
Here are a few patterns that are often used in these meetings:
And here’s a more complete template for how these meetings are often run:
Learnings
This ritual tends to work well for ongoing, informal check-ins as a team. I’ve seen it regularly unblock teams, and consolidate what would be five meetings into one.
That said, we continue to adapt this ritual, so would love to hear you have any learnings on similar meetings? How do you make yours effective?
Thank you!
great stuff!