Notes

Teams are special because collectively, they can produce work that no team member could create alone. Teams represent a range of skills, expertise, passions, and perspective. 

When working on a project with a team, it is natural to get caught up in the details without ever surfacing relevant background about ourselves and our teammates. Yes, our job is to create an impact for the client or customer; we must focus on them and learn as much as possible. That said, imagine the value we could make by uncovering the connections that our teammates have with the work and we have with each other.

How helpful would it be to know that your teammate spent 15 years as a personal trainer when working with a fitness client; or that the developer on the project is studying animation?

Here are some questions to consider when starting work with a new team. Not only can these questions help uncover important context about the team, but through those discoveries, they can also create a deeper understanding of the work itself and make for more productive collaboration.

1. Share a positive experience from a recent project. Why did it make you feel good?
2. What is most exciting to you about this project? Intimidating?
3. What unique perspective or skillset do you think you bring to this project?
4. How do you relate most with our target audience or customer?
5. Are there any relevant lessons from past projects that you think might apply to this one?
6. What do you hope to learn by the end of this project?

A few weeks ago, I discovered Michael Chernow's podcast, Born or Made. Michael is best known for founding NYC restaurant, The Meatball Shop. In a recent episode with guest Will Ahmed (founder/CEO, Whoop), Michael shared a ritual for handling stressful moments:

"I do something called the 'S.T.O.P. Smile' ... If I'm feeling overwhelmed, which happens often, I literally stop, close my eyes, and smile from ear to ear for 15 seconds."

S.T.O.P. stands for:

• Smile, pause, and breathe.
• Transition from an overwhelmed state to patience.
• Observe this new reality.
• Proceed.
  

As I listened to the podcast, I couldn't help giving Michael's theory a try. He was right; smiling is transformative.

Michael describes the ritual as tapping into his serotonin. Out of curiosity, I turned to Google to learn more. According to this article (among many others), there's science behind every smile:

"When you smile, your brain releases tiny molecules called neuropeptides to help fight off stress. Then other neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin and endorphins come into play too. The endorphins act as a mild pain reliever, whereas the serotonin is an antidepressant. One study even suggests that smiling can help us recover faster from stress and reduce our heart rate."

I always remind myself to take a deep breathe when a situation gets tense but I never thought to smile. I've enjoyed putting this simple ritual into practice.

Feedback has been on my mind a lot lately. It was a theme in my performance reviews at the start of the year, I just completed reading An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization, and last week, we kicked off a six-month coaching program centered on building a culture around feedback and personal growth (featured in my newsletter today).

A common complaint I hear from employees is: I don't get enough direct feedback from my peers. While I'm grateful to see employees crave feedback, feedback is no one's responsibility but our own.

I love to reframe this complaint into a question: what can I do to get the type of feedback I'm looking for? If we all actively seek out feedback, they'll be plenty of feedback to go around.

We often confuse "How did that go?" after a meeting with asking for feedback. We're vague, so what do we get? More vagueness in return. The team mutters:

• Jake: "Pretty good!"
• Jasmine: "Not bad."
• Jessica: "Client seemed happy."

We leave the meeting with some interpretation of how it went and go about our day.

In the future, Jasmine is asked to do a peer review of our performance. She mentions how she wishes we took more of a lead in meetings. We get frustrated. Why didn't Jasmine share this when I asked?

The trouble is that we never asked...

Getting constructive feedback requires specificity. Specificity is taking How do you think that meeting went? and going deeper. What do you really want to know? Try: Do you think I was effective in explaining how the client's vision informed our approach?

Specificity can be challenging in more ways than one. It requires focus and vulnerability. But once you get in the swing of it, the benefits greatly exceed any temporary discomfort.

I was chatting with a freelance designer recently, and we got to talking about the creative process. I shared an exercise we do with our clients to kick off the design phase of any project. We call it the Creative Alignment Workshop. I was surprised at how interested they were in giving it a try and realized, hey - maybe I should share it with others?

The Origin

Before I explain what it is and how it works, let's start from the beginning. Several years ago, we had a client who kept telling us to make the website feel warmer. After maybe... ten iterations of the homepage, we realized that we must be missing something. We jumped on a call and asked them to show us what warm looked like to them. They showed us a bunch of websites with images of people. Here we were experimenting with one warm tone after another in our designs. Wrong warm!

You may be wondering: Why hadn't we asked them this sooner? Why didn't the client ask for people earlier? That, unfortunately, we'll never know, but what I do know is that we were clearly not creatively aligned.

I learned two lessons through this experience:

1. Everyone has their own words to describe what they see.
2. Everyone has tastes and preferences. They will remain the same before and after ten homepage iterations.

The Creative Alignment Workshop was born out of these lessons. The objective is to align on a shared design vocabulary among Barrel and the client team. It is simple, effective, and clients love it.

How it Works

Step 1: Gather references.

As early as possible, before any design has begun, we take what we know so far about the client (brand book, existing website, website references) to start gathering imagery that we feel could be a good fit for the new direction. While we may have early ideas of the directions we want to explore, the goal is to gather a range of creative samples that demonstrate color, typography, imagery, illustration, and any other relevant design elements out in the world. These creative samples can include everything from websites to posters. Aim for a minimum of 30.

Step 2: Create the deck.

We add everything we gathered into a presentation deck. Don't labor over the order. Keep it random. Only include one creative sample on each slide.

Step 3: Conduct the workshop!

When it comes to the workshop, we like to make it feel like a conversation, so the format is casual. Typically it lasts one hour. The designer on the project clicks through each slide and briefly describes what they see in their language. The ask of the client? Talk about what you see, what you like, and what you don't like. Slide by slide, the client opens up more and more. It's like some sort of creative truth serum. Everyone vigorously takes notes on what they hear.

Here's an example of an exchange:

• Designer: "On this slide, you'll see bright, bold colors juxtaposed with a formal serif typeface. We're interested in this tension."
• Client: "I find those colors pretty distracting. I don't love the color yellow; my first car was yellow, and it broke down on me in the middle of the night. It brings back bad memories. The 'Times New Roman' typeface is nice, but I think it might be boring for us."

Do you see how differently the Designer and Client talk about the same image?

Why is this effective?

As you can see in the example dialogue, it is pretty amazing what you can learn with a simple conversation. In one hour, you get a sense of where the client sees the project going creatively, any visual motifs they love or hate, and hopefully a few different areas to explore.

To be clear, the idea here is not for the client to create the directions for you. The objective is to set you up with as much information as possible before you get to designing. Maybe you decide that, conceptually, yellow is a must-explore color, and that's fine - at least you know that the client may not be so open to it.

What is the follow-up?

We have done this several ways over the years, and sometimes, we change it with the client. Overall, we have had success by following up with two or three mood boards that bring together the creative samples into unique themes. We include notes from the discussion and give the client a chance to add any final remarks before we get to work.

If you decide to give this a try, I'd love to hear about it: lucasjballasy@gmail.com.

When I can't find what I deem to be the right words, I default to prefacing my thoughts with statements like:

• "I don't want this to come off the wrong way..."
• "I'm not sure how to put this, but..."
• "I hope you find this valuable..."
  

At its core, this is a defense mechanism.

The pro is that I'm not holding my thoughts captive; I'm sharing them. An idea can be world-changing, but it is worth nothing if no one hears it.

The con? I'm getting in my own way.

• I'm inviting the listener to form a perception about my idea before I even share it.
• I'm expressing doubt while trying to instill confidence.
• I'm creating distractions while looking for engagement.
  

Looking back, I see that these statements add no value. While they may create relief for me temporarily, they serve no purpose in delivering my message. 

Looking ahead, I am making an effort to catch myself and pause. Those few seconds in silence, while brief, are powerful. It is just enough to take a breath, collect myself, and speak with poise and clarity.

In my first-ever yoga class, I remember the instructor referring to the session as our practice. I now realize that this is common, but at the time, it stood out to me. As a beginner, it made me feel welcome. So much power in the subtly of those words. I wasn't coming to the class and expecting to leave as an expert. I wanted to give yoga a try and leave equipped with more experience than when I entered.

As a participant and spectator of growth, I find it all too easy to fall into the trap of framing our growth areas as a skill we must master in a finite amount of time.

We declare that we need to:

• Be confident
• Be a better listener
• Trust others
• Let go of past mistakes
• Be honest

Maybe Amazon's influence on our culture plays a role? We know we can order a pack of Gatorade today and have it in time for our workout tomorrow. We get what we want when we want it. If I recognize that I need this skill, I can attain it soon, right? 

We end up working on our weaknesses focused only the outcome. We forget about the journey. We get frustrated when our package doesn't come as quickly as we hoped. Pressure builds. This mindset leads to anxiety and inaction.

Growth suddenly looks impossible. Becoming a better listener now feels like climbing El Capitan with no equipment. We can see the top, but we can't make out the trail. We get anxious at the thought of exploring unknown territory. It feels better not to worry, so we choose not to act.

The truth is that we can't expect change overnight. Alex Honnold didn't decide to climb El Capitan on Monday and get it done on Tuesday. He put in the preparation. He put in the practice.

"I talk about how much preparation goes into it, and how you take something that starts out totally crazy and impossible and turn it into something that is not only possible and likely but inevitable.” (Alex Honnold)

Our growth areas will always be a work-in-progress. Even when we progress, there will be days when we regress. Weeks. Months. Years. We have to stumble to get up again. Fail to learn, learn to grow. Even when we reach the top, we set our sights on the next climb.

Much like my yoga experience, we are all beginners in one way or another. I know I can't be perfect every day. I know that I can't expect to order a new strength for next-day delivery. However, I do know that I can practice.

By reframing our ambitions, we remind ourselves of what is important, showing up daily and giving them our best shot. We can declare to:

• Practice confidence
• Practice active listening
• Practice trusting others
• Practice letting go
• Practice honesty

Our growth areas become our practice. What doesn't get better with practice?

You can be the one to speak up

...when a topic feels uncomfortable...

...when it feels like you have an unpopular opinion...

...when there's an elephant in the room...

...when you feel like context is missing...

...when someone is left out...

...when you don't understand...

...when the direction doesn't feel right...

...when the next step is unclear...

because chances are you're not the only one.

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Note: In those moments when I feel like I'm on my own in a room (or Zoom) full of people, I find this to be a comforting reminder.

When we feel at our best, we immerse ourselves in the activities that make us feel good. We are on top of the world. This might mean cooking our favorite dish, entertaining friends, going for a bike ride, or sketching in our notebook.

When we feel down, it can feel like the world is crumbling around us. We turn to our vices. We feel bad for ourselves and think we deserve this. This might mean drinking a couple of bottles of wine, binge-watching TV into the wee hours of the morning, or eating poorly.

The truth is that if we are feeling down, our vices are the last place to turn. While we may feel some initial satisfaction, they will only bring us down, likely leaving us in a more troubled state than where we started. Our health declines, we start feeling bad about ourselves, and soon, we regret our decisions. Why not focus on the activities that make us feel good? In these low moments, I think we face two challenges: motivation to take the first step and clarity on what that step is.

While I haven't yet read Matthew McConaughey's new book Greenlights, he talks about journaling as a pathway for happiness in interviews promoting it. He believes we spend too much time analyzing our failures and neglect to understand what life looks like when we are happiest. Through journaling, McConaughey can go back in time to peel back the layers of the happiest moments in his life. How was he using his time? What was his mindset? Equipped with these insights, he can use them to get back on track.

This outlook is inspiring. I have applied it to my own life by taking stock of what a baseline of happiness looks like for me each week. What activities make me feel like I am moving ahead? What do I need to do to go to bed each night feeling accomplished? The answers to these questions are the foundation for my habits.

No matter what is happening around me, good or bad, I make it my duty to maintain these healthy habits. When I feel on top of the world, they bring me added joy. When I am feeling down, they give me fuel to push ahead.

To take this a step further, I have also applied it to the way my team operates. I believe that every team has a collective energy that can be maintained with their own set of healthy habits or rituals. Over the years, I have created of number of them. Some have evolved, others remain the same. Regardless of how busy we are or how hectic the week feels, we stick to what energizes us. Some examples:

• Daily Stand Up
• Creative Juice (inspiration share)
• One Minute Wednesdays
• Weekly Discipline Meeting
• Monthly Design Dialogue (leadership workshop with my direct reports)

We have a motto among the Barrel partners: no good days, no bad days, just days. Prioritizing healthy habits has helped bring some truth to this motto every day, at home and at work.

If an employee comes to me with feedback about another employee, we first unpack it together. We then discuss how to address it directly with the other person. There was a time when I would act as a middleman, taking the feedback to the person or their manager. While this approach may feel like progress at the time, it rarely leads to long-term growth.

The employees need to find common ground on their own. A candid feedback conversation is a start to doing just that. It is an opportunity to get everything out in the air. Both sides can dig deeper, understanding each other's context to improve future collaboration.

In some situations, I will mediate the conversation. I offer to do this if the feedback is particularly challenging, or I sense that there is some level of discomfort between the employees (rarely work together, junior <> director relationship). With trust from both sides, a third-party can be powerful in addressing the elephant in the room and making sure that all truths are brought to the surface. 

Understanding Feedback

When an outcome does not meet our expectations, it is not uncommon to generalize what went wrong, blending feedback on people with feedback on the process.

I like to look at feedback as a deck of cards. As the giver of feedback, we are the dealer. It is our job to address our feedback deck one card at a time, sorthing them out on the table.

• Card 1: Is this feedback on the performance of an employee?
• Card 2: Is this feedback the result of a past decision?
• Card 3: Is this feedback on the presentation?
• Card 4: Is this feedback for me? Could I have done a better job providing direction?

By unloading the deck, we can get to the core of what went wrong and better understand how to address each of our cards. With all the cards arranged on the table, the next step is to deal them, to deliver the feedback to the right people.

Finding Clarity

In tense situations, we often make the mistake of dealing all of our feedback cards to one person. When we do so, that person may come off as defensive. From our perspective, it feels like they're not listening to what we have to say or making excuses.

Maybe this person is not good at taking feedback, but maybe it's on us. We haven't sorted through the deck before dealing out the cards.

This exercise helps bring calm to what can feel like chaos. It creates clarity. Without it, we risk our feedback getting lost on the receiver, overshadowed by cards that weren't meant for them.

Ad·vice: guidance or recommendations offered with regard to prudent future action.

Some people ask for advice because they think they're supposed to.

Some people don't ask for advice because they don't think they can.

Some people ask for advice without ever planning to take it.

Some people need advice but are afraid to ask.

Some people need advice but don’t know where to go.

Some people get advice they don’t need.

Some people don’t think they have advice to give so they stay quiet.

Some people have advice to give but are afraid to give it.

Some people have advice to give but no one to give it to.

Some people take advice they shouldn’t take.

Some people are afraid of the advice they know they should take.

Some people interpret information as advice.

Some people interpret advice as information.

We all know some people.

We're all some people at some point.

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Note: I wrote this after a conversation with a friend who told me about a workshop they attended. The purpose of the workshop was to share and learn from the experiences of like-minded individuals. One attendee seemed to come with no intention of taking advice, dismissing any feedback from their peers. Why were they there?

With every passing year, I see my relationships with friends and family evolve. We're all dealing with different challenges. Love. Finance. Career. Etc. Life will always have its ups and downs. I wish we were more forward with asking for and offering advice. Sometimes, I think pride gets in the way. I know, in the past, it has for me. In these situations, pride will not get us very far. These days, I'm making more of a deliberate effort to break down these walls and be mindful not to put up my own.

Note-taking is known to improve writing skills, subject matter comprehension, and recall of core concepts.

Note-taking is beneficial when we read.

Note-taking is beneficial when we listen.

Note-taking is beneficial when we think.

While working in a group setting, it is key to take your own notes. It doesn't matter if the presenter will be sharing their deck or if there is a designated note-taker. We all process information differently. Thoughts are constantly racing through our heads. If we don't capture them, they are lost.

Shared notes is a recent initiative to build more of a culture around writing and note-taking at Barrel.

We centralize shared notes in Notion. We have a dashboard for the agency and every discipline. Each dashboard includes resources, references, and shared notes. Shared notes are written collaboratively or autonomously. Anyone can contribute through edits or comments.

Initially, shared notes was an effort among the partners to promote deeper thinking, share ideas, and make our "in-person" (aka Zoom) interactions more productive.

After moving the team to Notion, we started experimenting with shared notes beyond the partners. It has been just over a month and has already proven to be invaluable.

Here are some of the benefits we've experienced so far:

• Aligning teams: When there is a single source of truth for an idea, it is much easier to get everyone on the same page.
• Looking back on our decisions: Conversations no longer get lost in the abyss. Shared notes make it easy to reflect on past conversations and better understand how they've informed our current position.
• Making ideas accessible: It can be hard to find the right time to share ideas that aren't a high priority. Shared notes are a valuable channel for sharing ideas asynchronously. They also help make ideas more accessible to the larger team.
• Cutting through the noise: The challenge with chat tools like Slack is how quickly ideas can get lost as a conversation unfolds. Shared notes create a space to unpack topics easy future reference.
• Creating space for deeper thinking: Shared notes have been helpful in our efforts to reduce the number of meetings. It's amazing how often a shared note can replace a meeting. If not, they provide a place to share information for pre-review, making discussions more productive.

If you're interested in giving shared notes a try, I've created a Notion template here to get started. Enjoy.

We have all heard some version of:

“Treat others the way you want to be treated.”

I don’t agree.

The phrase suggests that we act on our assumptions, making no effort to understand each other or gain a new perspective. This is not the way for kindness or collaboration.

I'd like to propose a rewrite:

“Treat others the way they want to be treated. Ask, listen, learn, understand.”

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Related: BL&T No. 025: Practicing Vulnerability

Ray Lamontagne's songwriting has inspired me for years now. There's a specificity in every song that draws you in and leaves you searching for meaning.

Over the weekend, I was pleased to discover that Ray released a new album called Monovision last summer. This one is particularly special. Ray wrote, produced, and performed every song at his home studio. Moved by this new batch of songs, I went searching for more background and was surprised to find a rare interview with the notably low-profile songwriter.

Listening to Ray speak is as soothing as hearing him sing. In the interview, Ray likens his process to catching fireflies.

"I don't like to think about music all the time. I wait til it comes to me and asks for my attention. The other side of that is that when it does ask for your attention, you have to give it. I could be in the middle of the grocery store and a melody will come knocking ... [these melodies are] like fireflies, you see them for a second then they're gone. If you don't catch it, you won't give another chance."

When asked how Ray develops a song, he replies "I try to just get out of the way." He speaks as though the songs are in control, guiding him where to go.

As a songwriter, I cherish those moments where I sit down with a guitar and the words flow through me. Lately, as a writer, I find myself struggling to find my flow. I've had a hard time letting an idea come to life, too focused on writing and re-writing "to get it right."

Ray goes on to share his past struggles with songwriting, almost leaving it all behind years ago.

"In life in general, I was driving myself with a negative, self-critical voice. ... At a certain point, it became clear that it was not healthy. It was taking all the joy out of everything. It took me a couple of years to figure that out. No music, just being home trying to figure out what was going on. ... [It's the playfulness] that I was really quashing in the early years of songwriting. I would just crush any playfulness out of tunes because of my self-criticism."

Sometimes we look at our idols as gods. We forget that they, too, are human. I find comfort in Ray's story and a renewed energy to find the playfulness in my writing.

For more insight into Ray and his process, I highly recommend listening to the entire interview here. Also be sure to check out his new album "Monovision." Currently on repeat.

I curate a song, playlist, podcast, or... vibe for just about every moment of my life.

When I brush my teeth, go for a drive, step out for a walk, cook, exercise, play a board game, write... I always seek out the perfect soundtrack. Am I in the mood to relax? Am I in need of a lift? Am I in the mood to learn? Am I in the mood to think?

What I've noticed is that I'm not always aware of my mood. I've enjoyed using this as an opportunity to pause and acknowledge how I'm feeling.  If Dana is with me, I do my best to capture her vibe as well. It's a fun challenge.

I hadn't thought much about this tendency until I noticed how I've subconsciously applied it to reading.

For some time, I carried the belief that I could only read one book at a time. I don't know where I got this idea from... I guess I couldn't imagine following more than one storyline and enjoying it.

After buying a Kindle Paperwhite (big fan of the easy highlights and waterproof body) at the suggestion of my friend, Max, my view changed entirely. I purchased a few eBooks to get started, and suddenly, I was reading three at once.

What happened?

To make a better habit of reading, I started reading every morning for 30 minutes after waking up. Since the act of reading was non-negotiable, I found myself tapping into my mood. What story do I feel like getting into this morning? Am I in the mood to think about my role as a manager? Would I prefer to join a father and son for a ride on their motorcycle?

Looking back, I was reading less because if I wasn't in the mood to read the ONE book I had chosen, I wouldn't read. Now, I'm leveraging my DJ tendencies and loving every minute of it. Books are just another part of my soundtrack.

Today I ran our Monthly Team Meeting with the Barrel team. Each month, we use this meeting to share team changes, celebrate wins, discuss recent launches, and catch up on important announcements.

Since going remote, it's been a challenge to replicate the energy of being in-person but I've come to realize that's the wrong mindset. It's not about once was, it's about what can be.

With this mindset, I started experimenting with a few adjustments (read here for more insight on the driver of these changes). Today it paid off. Engagement was at all time high and the Zoom chat was on fire.

Below are some of the recent updates:

• Moving from Google Slides to Pitch: From the Giphy / YouTube / Vimeo integration to the overall user experience, Pitch has helped amplify the interactivity and look of the deck.
• Co-creation & delegation: Instead of one meeting host, sections are delegated across the team. For example, our Director of Business Development, Dan, leads the "BD Report" sharing new wins, clients in talks, and account activity. This has turned what used to be more like a keynote presentation into a festival of speakers. Not only is it nice to hear from different team members but it gives people an opportunity to present in front of the group.
• Pre-recorded site walkthroughs & details: To showcase recent launches, team members used to scroll through the website and provide background. The transition between the deck and the browser was always distracting and the presentations were often inconsistent. Now, each launch has a slide in the deck with pre-recorded video walkthroughs. The slide also includes the project name, services, team, a fun fact, and platform. Much smoother and insightful.
• Project kickoff highlights: This was a suggestion from a team member after our last meeting. The intent was to celebrate the projects kicking off each month. After doing it today, I realized that it actually addresses another topic that we've always struggled with: how teams are tackling similar challenges. In addition to celebrating the kickoff, this is a great way to talk about how each team is approaching the project and what new steps that might be trying out.
• Barrel Trivia: Every presentation now ends with one trivia question about a client and another about the team. This has been a fun way to educate the team on Barrel history while making the meeting more interactive.
• Background music: We recently had a guest speaker who had music on while people were entering the Zoom meeting. This reminded me of how I used to play music during weekly design meetings at the office. In today's meeting, I had music playing as everyone joined and kept it going the entire meeting. Not only did people dig the playlist but it was a nice touch during any quiet transitions. If you're looking for some upbeat background music, I highlight recommend Spotify's Lo-Fi Beats playlist.

Here's to getting 1% better every step of the way!