Snap uses open forums to surface problems across the company

Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

1. 1:33:46

   Yeah, so my Monday morning, for example, is like two to two and a half hours in the specs business going through the risk independencies, red, yellow, red, orange, yellow, green. What are we doing to solve it, right? And what progress are we making? And how can I help? I mean, that's how I start my week. You and I were looking at this book I gave you before we started recording, and it was a photographic history.

2. 1:34:13

   I think it's called like Fearless Genius or something, or Ferocious Genius. and it's about Steve Jobs and you open to a page and Steve had a shit list. And you're like, I have a shit list too. It's like the five hardest problems he's got to solve and many of them don't have solutions yet. So it's similar to that. Yeah, and I think what's most important for me is creating a culture where people are raising their hand and bringing those problems early and often, right?

3. 1:34:38

   Like that is mission critical across the organization, right? Like we can't solve a problem that we don't know about. We can't solve a problem that someone isn't escalating quickly. You know, and so I think it's really beyond just like making sure that we're staying focused on the issues that we need to get resolved and, you know, launch blockers or whatever they are. Culturally, we have got to make sure that like that is, you know, how the team is operating all day, every day throughout the organization.

4. 1:35:00

   How do you ensure that information gets to you, though? I think one of the things that's really, I stole this from Walmart, which I thought was great. They have a Friday meeting called In It to Win It. They have their leaders from across the company, not just like super senior leaders, but leaders from across the company around the world all get together for about an hour. And they essentially raise their hand and say, hey, the shopping cart ball bearing is not working properly.

5. 1:35:22

   We got to get this thing fixed, right? And who's ever in charge of the shopping cart ball bearing can raise their hand and give a response or they can say, I'll get back to you or whatever it is. But that's multiplied across the entire company. And the thing that they found was like their leaders would go out into the, you know, into stores, into the community, and they would hear about problems. and then they'd solve the problem just for the store, but they wouldn't solve it for the company.

6. 1:35:41

   And so in it to win, it allows them to solve these problems company-wide. And so we do the same thing for Specs, for Snapchat, like bring the problems forward, right? I mean, you can also, the even simpler way to do it, I love to just walk around and talk to our people, right? And just hear about what's going on, hear about the issues impacting them. But I think unless you create these like structures and processes in the company, to actively surface it and build that culture, it's hard to do that.

7. 1:36:05

   And I think, you know, it's just so important. So I heard you describe the design team as like a very flat, there's like no hierarchy. Is the rest of the company like that?