Diversity Impact

Diverse Teams Have Greater Customer Empathy

This article outlines the steps taken to build a better mass-market product for an audience of older users. These steps included using personas, advocating for inclusive design principles, and implementing diverse friendly hiring practices. Ultimately, these changes resulted in a more accessible product and helped attract great talent to the team. The article emphasizes the importance of diverse teams in empathizing with diverse audiences and building better products.

(Re)building product teams: insights from recent recruitment

The hospitality industry was one of the hardest hit during the 2020 lockdowns, and the effects are still being felt today. This has caused a decrease in trust and an increase in high-risk employment. The hospitality tech industry has also been affected, making it difficult to find the right product managers. After months of searching, the author was able to build a team of seven diverse individuals by the end of 2021. The author learned the importance of diversity, transparency, and setting the right expectations throughout the recruitment process. The author is now looking for six more product managers and more senior talent to lead the team.

Building Diverse and Inclusive Teams

Diversity and inclusion are essential for individual and organizational success, but how do we build a diverse and inclusive team? A holistic approach is needed, from defining and implementing culture to employee lifecycle, hiring, onboarding, fair compensation, feedback, and measuring progress. Additionally, intersectionality should be taken into account, and everyone should be better allies for underrepresented groups.

Improving Communication Between Remote Teams

When SugarCRM's remote and onsite teams were having communication and trust issues, the team lead took action to bridge the gap. He held weekly team meetings, encouraged more travel between the two main offices, and encouraged constructive venting. This allowed the teams to work together better and to understand what was happening in the company. He also encouraged discussions and a consensus-based approach to management.

How to increase your team’s diversity

This article discusses the difficulty of making a team diverse after it has already been established. It explains the steps taken to increase diversity, such as implementing a diversity slate system inspired by the Rooney Rule, and reaching out to minority groups through conferences and sponsorships. The article emphasizes the importance of being mindful of who is hired when first setting up a team, as it pays off in the long run. As a result of these efforts, 55% of the team's recruits are now women.

Using a Compelling Narrative to Influence Leaders and Investors

This article discusses the importance of presenting a clear and compelling narrative when attempting to influence senior product leadership, angel investors, and VCs. The author shares their experience of not presenting a clear narrative when discussing the Facebook photos strategy to Mark Zuckerberg and the lessons they learned from it. They also provide a template of an 8 slide presentation that they have found to be successful in influencing strategic thinkers. The article emphasizes the importance of understanding the root assumptions and creating a narrative that is aligned with the needs of the organization in order to be successful in influencing leadership teams.