How To Win Friends & Influence Decisions (Julie Zhuo) | Lenny & Friends Summit 2024

Introduction and Initial Challenge

• The goal of the discussion is to explore how to win friends and influence decisions, with a focus on a five-step process to achieve better outcomes in prioritization decisions (21s).
• As a design leader, the initial thought was that the job was to influence others through storytelling, but this proved to be a continuous challenge even as a founder (37s).
• The audience is asked to participate in a prioritization question, with three options: an INF rewrite, redesigning the onboarding experience, or adding a new feature with gen AI (1m20s).
• The options are put to a vote, with some audience members favoring the INF rewrite, others the onboarding experience redesign, and a few the gen AI feature (1m53s).

The Prioritization Problem and Proposed Solution

• The discussion highlights the difficulty of prioritization decisions due to numerous variables and questions, and the need for a good process to achieve better outcomes (2m42s).
• The proposed solution is a five-step process, starting with Step One: drawing a circle, which involves choosing where to draw the boundaries of the decision-making process (3m31s).
• The concept of drawing a circle is illustrated with a story about choosing alliances, emphasizing that the circle can be drawn around oneself or more broadly to include others (3m45s).
• The key idea is to consider whether to focus on convincing others of one's idea or to draw the circle more broadly to include others in the decision-making process (4m26s).
• To influence decisions, it's essential to draw a circle around yourself and others, creating a sense of unity and shared goals, and to start conversations with a focus on common objectives, such as making a great product that customers love (5m13s).
• This mentality helps to shift the focus from individual perspectives to collective success, making it easier to work together and find solutions (5m51s).

Step One: Drawing the Circle

• The proposed solution is a five-step process, starting with Step One: drawing a circle, which involves choosing where to draw the boundaries of the decision-making process (3m31s).
• The concept of drawing a circle is illustrated with a story about choosing alliances, emphasizing that the circle can be drawn around oneself or more broadly to include others (3m45s).
• The key idea is to consider whether to focus on convincing others of one's idea or to draw the circle more broadly to include others in the decision-making process (4m26s).
• To influence decisions, it's essential to draw a circle around yourself and others, creating a sense of unity and shared goals, and to start conversations with a focus on common objectives, such as making a great product that customers love (5m13s).
• This mentality helps to shift the focus from individual perspectives to collective success, making it easier to work together and find solutions (5m51s).

Step Two: Assuming Everyone Sees the Truth

• The second step is to assume that everyone is seeing the truth, but from different perspectives, as illustrated by the parable of the Five Blind Men and the elephant, where each blind man has a unique understanding of the elephant based on their individual experiences (6m13s).
• In disagreements, it's often the case that each person is seeing some version of the truth, but not the whole truth, and it's essential to bring these different perspectives together to achieve a cohesive understanding (7m42s).
• Different roles and experiences can lead to varying perspectives, and it's the job of product leaders to hold these different perspectives and see the truth encapsulated in each discipline (8m21s).
• This challenge is not limited to product managers or leaders, but also applies to teams with different optimization goals, such as growth and retention versus revenue, which can sometimes be at odds (8m36s).
• When discussing different perspectives, it's essential to acknowledge that everyone sees a version of the truth, and it's our job to put these versions together towards the greater good (9m12s).
• Acknowledging the valuable insights each person brings to the table helps them feel heard and see everyone else's perspective (9m51s).

Uncovering Individual Truths and Asking Powerful Questions

• To uncover where each person sees the truth, it's helpful to ask powerful questions, such as "what would have to be true for us to believe that we should do feature A or B?" (10m37s).
• Another way to ask this question is "if you're advocating for B, what would convince you that A is actually better for the goal we both aligned on?" (11m0s).
• When deciding which project to prioritize, it's essential to consider the potential consequences of not addressing a particular issue, such as customer churn or poor performance (11m32s).
• Discussing extreme examples can help bring everyone along and put the prioritization question on the table, allowing people to work together to find the best balance (12m20s).

Considering Potential Consequences and Specific Circumstances

• When deciding which project to prioritize, it's essential to consider the potential consequences of not addressing a particular issue, such as customer churn or poor performance (11m32s).
• Discussing extreme examples can help bring everyone along and put the prioritization question on the table, allowing people to work together to find the best balance (12m20s).
• When evaluating the importance of a project, such as redesigning onboarding, it's crucial to consider the specific circumstances, such as whether a lot of new users will be added, and whether the project would matter in that scenario (12m47s).
• When deciding on a course of action, it's essential to consider scenarios where reasonable people would agree on the best decision, such as when the product has product-market fit but new users are not understanding how to get value out of it, or when a new technology makes it significantly better to deliver the value proposition (13m1s).

Turning Problems into Data Questions and Gathering Evidence

• In these scenarios, it's crucial to turn the problem into a data question to determine if the situation is indeed as perceived, and to gather evidence to support the decision (13m46s).
• Asking specific questions such as "How can we know it's really true that the degraded performance is going to cause a lot of our customers to turn?" or "What evidence do we have that this new idea is going to be really well received in the market?" can help in gathering evidence (14m3s).
• Data can be any information that provides context to the questions, including quantitative data, customer feedback, sales insights, or internal surveys (15m0s).
• Gathering evidence can help in understanding whether the situation is indeed as perceived, and in making informed decisions, such as in the case of degraded performance, onboarding, or employee satisfaction (15m26s).
• In the case of degraded performance, questions to ask include "Has our performance been getting worse?" and "Have we seen that correlate with churn in the customer base?" (15m35s).
• For onboarding, good questions to ask include "Are we really adding a lot of new users in the next quarter?" and "What is the current retention and what's good retention look like for our app in the marketplace?" (16m32s).
• Understanding the current situation, including the number of users, expected user growth, and employee satisfaction, can provide evidence to support or refute the perceived scenario (16m10s).

Examples of Data Gathering and Evidence

• In the case of degraded performance, questions to ask include "Has our performance been getting worse?" and "Have we seen that correlate with churn in the customer base?" (15m35s).
• For onboarding, good questions to ask include "Are we really adding a lot of new users in the next quarter?" and "What is the current retention and what's good retention look like for our app in the marketplace?" (16m32s).
• Understanding the current situation, including the number of users, expected user growth, and employee satisfaction, can provide evidence to support or refute the perceived scenario (16m10s).
• Onboarding is a crucial aspect of product experience, as manually walking users through a product can significantly increase its usage, making a strong case for onboarding as a key lever (16m55s).
• Adding differentiated AI can also enhance the product experience, and quick experiments or prototyping can help determine its effectiveness in improving the value proposition (17m10s).
• Gathering insights from customers, such as through customer research or talking to smart customer custodians, can provide valuable feedback on potential solutions and help identify areas for improvement (17m27s).
• Market research can also provide insights into competitors' strategies and help identify potential gaps or areas where the company may fall behind (17m38s).

The Leap of Faith and Moving to a People Question

• Despite the importance of gathering data and insights, decisions often require a leap of faith, and certainty is rarely achievable (18m1s).
• When faced with disagreement, it's essential to move the conversation up a level and make it a people question, focusing on who is the best person to make the call (18m45s).
• The best person to make the call is often someone with the right combination of context and skill, and as a product leader, it's possible to nominate this person, who may not always be the same person making every decision (19m57s).
• Nominating the right person to make the call can be a powerful way to ensure that decisions are made by those with the necessary expertise and context, and can help distribute decision-making responsibilities effectively (20m12s).
• To make the best decisions, it's essential to identify who is the best person to make a particular decision, and that person should be clear-headed, calm, and unbiased (20m56s).
• When making decisions, it's crucial to consider the customer experience and nominate a person to make the call, ensuring everyone feels like they can share in the decision-making process (20m32s).

Nominating the Right Decision-Maker

• The best person to make the call is often someone with the right combination of context and skill, and as a product leader, it's possible to nominate this person, who may not always be the same person making every decision (19m57s).
• Nominating the right person to make the call can be a powerful way to ensure that decisions are made by those with the necessary expertise and context, and can help distribute decision-making responsibilities effectively (20m12s).
• To make the best decisions, it's essential to identify who is the best person to make a particular decision, and that person should be clear-headed, calm, and unbiased (20m56s).
• When making decisions, it's crucial to consider the customer experience and nominate a person to make the call, ensuring everyone feels like they can share in the decision-making process (20m32s).
• It's okay to nominate yourself to make a decision, but it's essential to make sure everyone feels included in the process to drive the best outcomes for the team (21m24s).

Documenting Decisions and Reviewing Outcomes

• Even with a thorough decision-making process, it's possible to make the wrong call, and it's essential to document the decision-making process, including who made the decision and why (22m16s).
• After making a decision, it's crucial to review the outcome over time, whether it's one month, three months, or a year later, to learn from the decision and identify areas for improvement (22m40s).
• Reviewing past decisions can help identify what was learned about customers, the product, and the levers that drive success, as well as whether the team is measuring things in the right way (23m35s).
• It's essential to refine the understanding of what success looks like over time, as metric goals can change, and what may seem like a growth problem may actually be a retention problem (24m12s).
• Documenting decisions and outcomes can help identify patterns and areas for improvement, and it's essential to have a practice of reviewing past decisions to learn from them (23m3s).

The People Problem and the Quality of Judgment

• To influence decisions, it's essential to understand the people problem and the people dynamics involved, as thinking about influence is ultimately about the quality of each person's individual judgment (25m27s).
• When making decisions, there are multiple layers to consider, including what we learn about the way we measure success, how we make decisions, and the quality of each person's individual judgment (24m48s).
• The decision-making process can be improved by coming together, doing better product reviews, and improving the decision-making process, which may involve spending more time gathering evidence or moving faster (25m4s).
• To evaluate the quality of individual judgment, it's crucial to keep track of decisions and their outcomes, reflecting on them to identify biases and areas for improvement (25m56s).

The Concept of "Moo" and Broader Context

• A key concept in evaluating decisions is the idea of "moo," or nothingness, which refers to the idea that the true answer may be greater and vaster than the original question posed (27m2s).
• When prioritizing decisions, it's essential to consider the broader context and potential outcomes, as the question being asked may be too narrow, and the best answer may involve sequencing or discovering new ideas (27m26s).
• A story from Facebook's history illustrates the importance of tasking a small group of people to solve a specific problem, such as the growth problem, and coming up with innovative solutions through testing and iteration (28m23s).

Recap and the Facebook Example

• To recap, the process of influencing decisions involves drawing a circle, assuming that everyone sees parts of the truth, gathering evidence, turning it into a data question, and continually watching replays to learn and improve (26m23s).
• A process was uncovered at Facebook that led to a culture of growth, making the company more data-informed and developing a framework that turned into a set of practices adopted by every team, which remains a core part of the company's identity today (28m57s).

The True Gift and Optimizing for a Positive Work Experience

• The gift that keeps on giving is not solving specific problems, but rather the relationships, learnings, people, and wisdom gained along the way, which are forever and rare (29m40s).
• Figuring out how to work well with others and enjoy the process is the truest gift, making it possible to wake up every morning excited to come into work and solve problems with people you like (29m54s).
• The goal should be to optimize for a positive work experience, rather than feeling like it's a fight every day (30m5s).
• Thousands of decisions will be made, but it's the relationships and learnings that will last, making them the most important aspects to focus on (29m34s).