Learning to let go

Over the past 8 months, we’ve launched the new My ASICS service to help runners train for marathons and other races, and it achieved a reasonable level of success. This has been my priority project for over a year, and I have invested a lot of my experience, skills, and energy into its production. I’ve had a decisive influence on a large number of the choices we’ve made throughout the project. In many ways, the project is my baby: not only picking key vendors, but also guiding their work to a fairly advanced degree of detail.

However, the launch of this new version in January was only one step along a journey (started almost a decade ago by some of my colleagues and an innovative vendor). Since the launch, we’ve moved on to yet another step, where I must let go of many decisions, for the good of the project. On running, Mairéad has more sense and experience. On features, interface design and user experience, we’ve hired several specialists because they do a better job than me. On graphic design, Ryan has more taste.

It’s not about being passive or indifferent, but it’s about creating the conditions for a larger team of professionals to do awesome work. My strongly-held opinions haven’t vanished, but I need to be very selective about where I bring them to bear: in understanding the business context of the product, in developing the case for it internally and to the world, in fighting for resource and mindshare, in helping the team gel around a common goal, in ensuring we’re always faithful to the brand. But increasingly rarely in helping cut through tangled opinions by making product decisions myself.

What a challenging experience! Previously, I felt that consistently enforcing my opinion was my best guarantee of achieving a better product. As we were throwing away the old product and therefore starting from scratch, my job was to make something new exist out of mere ideas. That’s something I enjoy, and feel I’m pretty good at. It’s also something I believe a single enterprising person can do this quite effectively.

Now, I have to be much more selective about trusting my gut or brains, and must often overrule these to follow the recommendations of other team members. Indeed, we’re now improving what’s already here. It requires a very different instinct. Also, it’s something a team of people is perhaps better suited to achieving.

To continue pursuing the same goal (making the product a success), I must stop doing what’s worked so far (putting more of myself in the project), and start doing the opposite instead (making more room for other people). (Well, okay, perhaps the project would have been even more successful if I’d put less of me in it right from the start — but that’s academic now, obviously.)

Challenging shift, and bitter-sweet: I realize it’s also quite rewarding, because things are getting done that are much better than I’d ever have done them myself. Go team!