That hunger for perfection – whether for the sake of yourself, your team or your customer - should never stop.īut before you start you need to get your own (product) house in order. Whether just starting out or years into a career, you should constantly be demanding the best of yourself and the people on the journey with you. The dream of being “practically perfect” should be a mantra for anyone in the product world to live by. How else can we expect to become “practically perfect”? If you’re really going to meet the needs of your customers, you’ll need a team that’s made up of people who approach things in different ways, ask the question “why is it like this?” and drive actual change. It’s been said time and time again, but diverse teams really do bring diverse thinking – and a constant mix of ideas, approaches and challenges are what keep design teams fresh. Banks, perhaps one of cinema’s most famous suffragettes, and a welcome reminder that the world cannot be built by one type of person alone: “though we adore men individually, we agree that as a group they’re rather stupid”. And whilst a lot of those goals are business-driven, it’s important to see the value of the lighter stuff too – in my experience the teams that form life-friendships and make time for a work-life balance and “treats” are those that really thrive.

The best, most productive teams are crystal clear in what they want to achieve, aligned in their goals and uncompromising on the detail no matter how small. What they lay out in that first letter is a clear set of expectations, demands and standards – a crucial starting point for product teams when approaching new work. “You must be kind and must be witty, very sweet and fairly pretty Take Jane and Michael as they first set off on their mission to find the perfect Nanny: They may be right, but there’s a certain all-singing all-dancing Nanny that manages to get surprisingly close.īefore you start grabbing your umbrellas and setting for the skies – there’s actually a lot of smart thinking in the story of Mary Poppins that has real relevance in the product and design world. It’s a challenge that leaders have scratched their heads over for years how do you create a world-class team that drives fantastic results whilst maintaining a strong sense of culture and belonging? Ask most people, and they’ll either tell you to follow some well written book or consultant proposal, or they’ll claim there’s no real magic formula to building great teams.

Lets go fly a kite mary poppins