Frame job

I have spent a long time building software. I have also spent a long time managing software teams. Much of my career was spent in very early-stage startups that were usually two to five years ahead of the consumer marketplace, sometimes more. As a result of all of that experience, I have often been asked to become a technical advisor.

Over the course of a decade, the way that I have delivered advice and the way it has been received has changed. I learned that getting emotionally disconnected from the outcome of these projects is important. Sometimes, you are asked to provide feedback and advice so a business leader can make an informed decision. That does not mean they will make the right decision, but it does mean they have at least thought about the outcome for more than five minutes.

I also noticed another interesting phenomenon. I would give some excellent advice in a few cases where another advisor or consultant was also involved in the project. My advice would be ignored, and when the other consultant would give the same advice, they would take it seriously and take action.

I was naturally quite confused at the time.

After two to three years of this, I finally figured out what the issue was. I was not framing my advice correctly.

Much of the time that my advice was being ignored, there was someone else who had worked at a big company who started off their presentation giving a big schpiel about who they were and what impact they had on some big popular project.

“I am Johnny McConsultantFace, and I worked at Facebook on a half-billion-dollar platform where my team raised revenues by two hundred million dollars.” This is an example of how they would start the conversation. When I worked at hi5 Networks as a VP of engineering, I could say, “We had twenty million dollars in declining revenue, and we had to sell the business assets to enable us to do a ground-up reboot.”

So… who would you listen to?

Welcome to the world of framing!

I am grateful that I have had the opportunity to work on more significant projects since then, not the least of which was a two-hundred-million-dollar mobile game that was a leader in its category. When you can preface your presentation with those eye-popping numbers, it gets people to pay attention.

As an early fan of The Meritocracy, I was shocked when I learned how important this is. It is one thing I did very poorly for a long time.

I would go into these presentations armed with graphs, data, and facts, only to sit across from a disinterested executive unfamiliar with the deep technical aspects of the material I presented. Without adding some context as to why that matters, I could have been standing in front of him, pointing at my graphs and repeating the word “loser” over and over.

“Loser loser, loser loser-loser.” I could say and then advance to the next slide, “Loser. Loser? Loser loser! Loser loser loser loser.”

Regardless of the actual words I was saying, this is probably how it all sounded.

Returning to The Meritocracy for a second, I spent years telling people how important it is to work at startups early in your career. I have since reconsidered this advice at least a little. To get the most bang for your buck professionally, you also want to work at a large company on a very large project. I have met many people who have only worked at early-stage startups and many people who have focused exclusively on working for large companies. I think that a blend is the right answer. You get an accelerated pace of learning and familiarity for growth at a startup and some of the credibility of working at scale for a large company.

As you grow into leadership roles, that blend is super important.

I am not generally a person who regrets things. This is one piece of advice I wish that I could give to twenty-five-year-old John. It took me a while to realize how important this is, and I want to ensure everyone can benefit from this belated education.

Thank you for reading along! If you have not finished spending all of your black friday moneys, I have an Amazon Affiliate link for you to click on. Abundance is one of those books that I think everyone should read. It is one of the top five books that helped me transcend professionally and become a better leader. Having said that, I will include links to the other four books in the coming weeks. Maybe “The top five books that John has read” is a better list than “The top five books that John wants to read”?

The call to action here is clear—Your clicks are an important part of the future of content-as-democracy. I shall see you all next week!