I have six kids, so I spend a lot of money at the grocery store. If you look at my end-of-year credit card summary, our preferred store is usually the number one or number two item in terms of dollars spent. There is something I look for at the grocery store, and it happens infrequently enough that I still enjoy the serendipitous moment when it does.
I have written previously about breaking scripts in interviews. I also break scripts at the grocery store. For all the decisions I make during the day, the one decision I do not want to make is whether I get paper or plastic bags.
When the checkout person asks me: “Paper or plastic bags?” I always look at them and firmly and confidently reply: “Yes!”
This creates a moment of confusion. This is not a typical answer they expect to hear. Once they have processed my reply, they usually look for clarification. I am more than happy to explain in detail.
For all the decisions I make in my day, the kind of bags used to convey my groceries from the store to the house is not one of them. It makes no difference to me whether they are paper or plastic. The bagger has a much deeper relationship with the bags than I do since they will be (hopefully expertly) bagging groceries all day.
After I explain my lack of preference, someone will usually make a decision on their own. Sometimes they are pleased by the freedom and acknowledgment that this is in their wheelhouse. Sometimes they are irritated that they needed to stop daydreaming for about thirty seconds and think.
The more veteran grocery bagger will realize I have a cart filled with food for approximately one week for several people and will know that their life as a bagger will be easier if they choose plastic. Some grocery baggers feel an obligation to use paper bags because they feel like they are doing good work for Mother Earth.
As someone who buys a used-car-worth of groceries each year, the thing that I look for the most at the grocery store is the recognition from one of the checkers that I do not wish to make this decision.
On more than one occasion, the cashier will recognize me and give their bagger a heads up that they can choose the bags. I cannot explain how joyful this moment is.
There is something professionally interesting in this stupid-sounding story. I will do my best now to make it feel like I just did not murder forty-five seconds of your day.
I have previously talked about delaying decisions. I think that it is equally important to delegate them. If you follow me on Tweeter, some subset of my five minutes of internet fame is consumed by my pinned tweet. One of the benefits of this once-or-twice-a-week exercise is making sure I consciously avoid making decisions that other people ought to make on their own.
I once interviewed with a company looking for a mobile vice president of engineering. Multiple people in the interview asked me what engine I would choose for future mobile games and why would that be Unity. I deliberately did not answer that question. Conversations like engine choice require an in-depth conversation with your best engineers. Technical leaders who make unilateral decisions like engine choice wreak havoc on their organization from top to bottom, especially if that decision is ill-informed. I have watched lots of engineering leaders die on this hill.
The company in question declined to move forward after these conversations, and I believe that my inability to just say: “Unity” as the one-word answer to their question was why. I even explained in great detail that their best engineer, the person who had me interview for that job, is probably the person I would want to talk to the most about this decision. This is not just because this person gives GDC talks on engine choices, but also because they are going to be the person who is going to live with the consequences of that decision for the longest.
There are some decisions you cannot delegate and there are some decisions you must. There are also some decisions you cannot delegate, which you also choose because you want to teach a very important lesson to someone you are trying to grow into a leadership role.
That last kind of delegation is the best. I am more than happy to empower someone to make a significant decision, and I also give them some information so it is, at the very least, an informed decision.
Speaking of decisions, every week, you all make a decision not to buy something I share with you via Amazon-affiliate links. If you read my blog regularly, you should buy this book: “Trillion Dollar Coach”. I am reading it now, and it is really awesome. It will be the best decision someone else made for you today.
See you all next week.
