Motivating and supporting a product team when things get difficult

The days are short and the nights grow long, so gather around as I tell you a tale of ghosts of christmas past…

Not that long ago I found myself working on one of those ‘crunch’ projects, with a very tight deadline to meet at a time of the year when people are naturally thinking of slowing down and taking time off to spend with friends and families.

I’m not a Scrum Lead, but that was the de facto role I found myself in, aswell as the more comfortable place of being the UX Lead. It was a very ‘cross-functional’ team…

The added challenges were that people were coming in and out of the team on a regular basis, and this was fully remote with people distributed overseas and across the UK.

But when things feel like they might be getting away from you, how do you stay focused on workflow and objectives while making sure your team is motivated and happy?

How do you get to a point where people will willingly give up a bit of their own free time for the cause, to work on things they have minimal experience in and to say ‘I’m happy to give that a go’?

Well here’s a few things we did that worked pretty well.

Make it fun
Stand-ups were about the work first and foremost, we would walk the board and do the usual - but we would always include a few laughs. A daft catchphrase here, a team ‘meme’ there. Set the day up nicely - despite the business of making a product being serious, not everything about the day to day process has to be.

Communicate and be there for each other
We were doing some things most of us hadn’t done before, so it was vital that people felt they were equipped to have a go and fully supported in their efforts. A great opportunity for learning and development ‘in the wild’, but one which meant we had to ensure we were available for each other at very short notice and ready to answer questions.

A space to gather - and to let off steam
We introduced something I called a ‘group hug’ for the team to come together at the end of every day. This was an optional ‘drop-in’ to talk about anything, with a focus on building camaraderie and team spirit. Share your concerns, call someone out for great work, talk about an idea, have a rant, bring a beer (or whatever) if you like. Some of those you’d say were ‘standard issue’ Scrum ceremonies, albeit with a twist. Others might be ‘stylistic’ choices, adaptations and 'remixes' on how to create really inclusive & supportive environment with the right team dynamics.

Whatever they were they seemed to work pretty well, we managed to create that (sometimes elusive) 'team spirit'. People showed up for each other, got stuck in and committed to the cause - most often with a smile on their faces.

A resilient and motivated team is a successful one
So in the face of looming deadlines and heightened stress, remember that a resilient and motivated product team is capable of overcoming any challenge. Keep people excited, be creative about how you motivate them and ensure you fully support them. Cultivate that culture of collaboration, celebrate the small victories, and remind your team of the collective impact they are making.