Team Meetings

Product Team Monthly Call

Why

Getting to see each other all in one place at the same time, even if only online, lets people get to be around each other, learn from each other, and hear other perspectives. We’re real people! …terrific people too. This is a small space to spend some time around each other as a group. We’re mostly trying to learn more about each other, celebrate recent successes, and cover the occasional big news or team-wide changes. It’s mostly about being together to smile a bit.

When

Roughly the first Tuesday (or Wednesday, for New Zealand teammates) of each month.

Who is there

The whole Product Team.

Who facilitates it

Maybe you! We’ll have a rotation of teammates leading the call. It doesn’t mean you give a 2-hour speech at your teammates. It just means you help out with some basic logistics and guide us through the loose segments so it’s not chaos.

How to facilitate it

Preparations

1. About 2 weeks before the call, open the Product Team Call document and:
   1. Add a new date token for “question of the month”.
   2. Randomize the list of teammate names.
   3. Put the name of whoever ended up first on the randomized list as the question of the month person.
   4. Notify that person via Slack that they should think up a question and add it to the doc any time prior to the call. Special note: If we have a new teammate, they give to be first and set the question. Just modify the list to make it so.
   5. The last randomized person on the list will be in charge of “activity of the month” (anything small and fun we can all do together. Past activities have included GeoGuessr, Gartic Phone, and Kahoot trivia).
   6. Notify that person via Slack that they should find such an activity and be prepared to lead it for us all.
2. Create a new Google Drawings board in the team meeting folder.
   1. Make the file accessible for all teammates
   2. Link it in the agenda under “Celebrations and good fun stuff”
   3. Send a message to the whole team in Slack so they know the board is available and can start putting fun things on it, and also that the agenda is open now for team-wide or org information to add.
   4. 3 days before the call, remind everyone in Slack to enter stuff on the board.

Running the call on the day-of

1. Start the call on time (mostly). We can’t sit around forever, but this is mostly a fun thing, so it’s ok if people are just chatting for a couple minutes while waiting for stragglers.
2. Say hello and all that.
3. Move the group from one section to the next. This is mostly just being the person to recognize we’ve completed one thing and calling on the person for the next part.
4. Keep an eye on time. If something is taking too long, nudge them to wrap it up.
5. Do the question of the month activity.
   1. Sometimes people get the order mixed up. Be prepared to nudge people if needed.
6. Move to the regular agenda. If there are special items, someone’s name should be on it already.
7. Do the Celebrations board.
8. Ask for someone to mark the cards as you call them out. Enough people seem to take joy in this, and it’ll be a thing all on its own!
9. Note which card you’re looking at, read it, and ask if anyone (or the author) wants to add more. Sometimes it’s quick stuff, sometimes it’s big fun things everyone wants to spend more time on. Cool.
10. Pass the mic to the activity of the month person.
11. Fin! (It’s ok if we finish early. We need to try hard not to finish late; it’s evening for some teammates!).

Product Team Social Time

People appreciate social time, so we will use this weekly time to connect with each other rather than share updates. It is a perfect place to discuss a (non) technical issue you are encountering and ask for support from colleagues.

The Product Team Social Time is optional, but highly encouraged. You can choose the schedule that works best for you (2 calls on Mondays 10AM GMT and 9PM GMT).

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What if I’m alone in the product social time?

A: You don’t need to wait for more than 5 or 10 minutes if no one else shows up.

Q: How frequently should I go to the product social time?

A: You are not required to join this call, but it is highly encouraged as we’d like teammates to connect not only via Slack or GitHub.

Q: Is the product social time considered as part of my performance review?

A: No, it is not considered a part of the performance review.