Resources for leading through ongoing ambiguity
As part of SF Design Week, the Lyft Design team and I put together a talk and hosted a panel about Leading through Ongoing Ambiguity. As we live through incredible ambiguity, how do we bring out the best in ourselves, our teams, and the business? We shared tools on navigating burnout, creating safety, and managing ambiguity in our work. We then facilitated a panel of talented Lyft Design colleagues: Aastha Bhargava, Jess Bullock, Julie Celia, and Rafae Aziz. They shared how they’ve navigated hard, ambiguous problems and how they offered support during hard moments to teammates or direct reports.
During the talk, I talked about my top four steps to managing ambiguity at the product level:
- Define the user problem/pain
- Ruthlessly prioritize that problem against the biggest, unsolved user pains and our business goals
- Build shared understanding with cross-functional partners to reaffirm the roadmap and course-correct on future milestones
- Mitigate top project risks and address uncertainty head-on
If you weren’t able to attend the session or view the recording, here are most of the tools and processes I used, which I hope you find as helpful as I did. Happy reading!
Tools and processes
My monthly coaching and leveling process (templates included)
User Story Mapping (book)
Risks and Mitigations exercises
How to write user problem statements
Books
The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Amelia Nagoski and Emily Nagoski
Big Feelings: How to Be Okay When Things Are Not Okay by Liz Fosslien and Mollie West Duffy
Eleven Rings by Phil Jackson
