They won me over in 7 days
It was September end, we had three months to the launch. Things were looking alright, there was one problem though, a big one: no adserver, the brain of our MRM platform. The Adserver team was just came together a few days ago, there was not a single line of code written. I didn't think we would have an adserver to launch, I was really worried. On top of that, China's national holiday was around the corner, the office was supposed to close for the whole week from Oct 1st to 7th...
Di came and told me the team wanted to give up their holiday week to work on Adserver. I didn't think it was going to help, however, there was no better idea.
Starting from the first day, or maybe the first couple of hours, I realized something different. They were coding and testing it pretty much as fast as Jon, Mike and I could design it! I would have long conference calls with Jon and Mike in the morning, figuring out how the features should look like, explain to them at the lunch, by the lunch time of next day, they would have coded and tested the features, and ready for the next batch. I remember I was so excited and couldn't help trembling on the phone with Jon and Doug: geniuses, I have never seen any team can beat that in my life...
I took them out to dinner at the end of the holiday, we went to 大董烤鸭店, a very good peking duck place, btw. I thanked them for their effort, and I knew, at that moment, that we not only would have an adserver, it is also going to be the best one.
Do you watch NBA? Basketball is pretty much the only sport that I watch. I used to get nervous when there were a few minutes left in the game, because a game can be changed in a matter of minutes. Until I started to watch NBA, then I realize a game can be totally changed with in a second or a fraction of second. It is matter of who is playing the game.
I used to count my development units in month, or in quarter, this team taught me that my time should be counted in day or in week. It is a matter of who is playing the game.
They won me over in 7 days, totally. More importantly, I know, from then on, that there is nothing this team can not conquer.
Di came and told me the team wanted to give up their holiday week to work on Adserver. I didn't think it was going to help, however, there was no better idea.
Starting from the first day, or maybe the first couple of hours, I realized something different. They were coding and testing it pretty much as fast as Jon, Mike and I could design it! I would have long conference calls with Jon and Mike in the morning, figuring out how the features should look like, explain to them at the lunch, by the lunch time of next day, they would have coded and tested the features, and ready for the next batch. I remember I was so excited and couldn't help trembling on the phone with Jon and Doug: geniuses, I have never seen any team can beat that in my life...
I took them out to dinner at the end of the holiday, we went to 大董烤鸭店, a very good peking duck place, btw. I thanked them for their effort, and I knew, at that moment, that we not only would have an adserver, it is also going to be the best one.
Do you watch NBA? Basketball is pretty much the only sport that I watch. I used to get nervous when there were a few minutes left in the game, because a game can be changed in a matter of minutes. Until I started to watch NBA, then I realize a game can be totally changed with in a second or a fraction of second. It is matter of who is playing the game.
I used to count my development units in month, or in quarter, this team taught me that my time should be counted in day or in week. It is a matter of who is playing the game.
They won me over in 7 days, totally. More importantly, I know, from then on, that there is nothing this team can not conquer.
It's amazing what a highly motivated engineering team can accomplish in a short period of time. The trick is how to motivate people so they are open to new ideas and don't need a lot of hand holding--so they can "run with it". I'm wondering how you did that. Money isn't really the answer. My experience has been that engineers are truly motivated when they get a chance to prove themselves or get a chance to create a visionary new product. Perhaps it was a little of both in this case?
Pav
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Yes, I have always been amazed by what a motivated team can do. It is also very important that you get the right people on the team. Steve told me that he was once asked:"how is it like to work with a team remotely?", and he answered:"Just like with a local team, what really matters are the people. It's much more important WHO they are - not WHERE they are."
Indeed, it is MUCH MORE IMPORTANT WHO THEY ARE, NOT WHERE THEY ARE. Again, it is a matter of who is playing the game.
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