by William Treseder
Try building a public brain. Pull out your Post-its and Sharpies and find a blank wall. Here's how.
If you’re an IT leader in a matrix
organization, you may identify with this scenario: You call a meeting
and prepare an agenda that is shared in advance. A few of the newer team
members show up late without reading the agenda. They spend their time
half-focused on the discussion while also checking email or Slack on
their phones. You end up re-explaining key ideas and actions several
times, unsure if anything is sinking in. You worry that no work will be
done except by a few reliable employees. The result of the meeting? Several of the issues you discussed in the
meeting pop up anyway. You end up frustrated, your team members
doggedly continue the project, and the resulting work is uninspired.
This dynamic plays out constantly in today’s workplace. IT leaders
are struggling to help ad hoc groups do creative and collaborative work
and to address the downsides of always-on (but rarely focused) teams. We
need effective, easy-to-use options that improve team dynamics and
output.
These are all powerful resources, and managers, especially those
working in IT, need to take advantage of them. But what about simple
tools for matrix management? What are some basic techniques that anyone
can pick up in a few minutes and require no special training or skills?
In a world of private screens, try creating a public brain instead.
Public brains are an easy way to create shared context for a team and
allow them to rapidly do high-quality work. A public brain requires
nothing more than Post-its, Sharpies, and a blank wall. Instead of
taking notes individually, teams use a common framework that can be
created, used, and removed in minutes. My company has used this tool to great effect internally, and with
dozens of government and corporate customers, from generals and
executives down to soldiers and analysts. Here are four examples of
public brains that we use and how they can help a team get results fast.
Public brain #1: Welcome board
What it is: A way to remember who is in the room and
how they can contribute. Label four columns with specific questions,
usually: name, organization, role, and a personal fact that serves as an
icebreaker. Everyone in the meeting answers each question, writing them
down on Post-it notes, placing them on the welcome board, and offering
relevant details.
When and why to use it: When you have a diverse
group of people who don’t know each other, usually at the kick-off of a
new project. The welcome board replaces the “going around the room and
introducing yourself” part of a meeting. That process often takes too
long and doesn’t help you remember anything specific later.
Image: BMNT Inc.
Public brain #2: Why are we here?
What it is: A way to quickly get a sense of people’s
expectations for a meeting. Ask everyone to write down three reasons
why they are there on Post-It notes, then place them up on a wall. Once
everyone is done, give the group a few minutes to reorganize the
Post-its. Usually they will group like responses together, then label
them to create themes. This gives you a place to start the conversation
about your goals and how they align with the team’s expectations.
When and why to use it: When you are convening a
group in the early stages of a project, or when a team is doing a
one-off activity. It provides useful feedback to you as a leader. You
get to see what the team heard, not just what you said.
Image: BMNT Inc.
Public brain #3: Ask the expert
What it is: A way to capture the models, questions,
and concerns of key personnel. Come up with key questions to which you
need answers, then set a 30-minute timer. The team focuses on a single
person who answers these questions, plus any follow-up questions that
emerge. Key insights are captured on Post-It notes and placed on an
easel sheet with the expert’s name written at the top.
When and why to use it: When you need to source
critical information quickly. Experts tend to derail group conversations
with unnecessary detail, and love to talk for too long about their
areas of interest. This allows you to focus their contribution around
key topics.
Image: BMNT Inc.
Public brain #4: Impact/effort chart
What it is: A way to force a team to commit to next
steps. Write down all the major ideas your team is considering, one idea
per Post-It note. Draw a graph extending both up and to the right from
the origin. Label the Y axis “Effort” and the X axis “Impact.” Ask the
team to place each idea on this chart relative to the other ideas. Pick
the top-left ideas for execution first, followed by the top-right.
Consider whether any of the bottom-right or bottom-left ideas need to be
carried forward, or if they can safely be eliminated without affecting
your project.
When and why to use it: Toward the end of a meeting
when you want to focus on implementation. This is the most important
part of a meeting, when team members typically start to endlessly debate
ideas. The impact/effort chart forces them to agree on relative merits
as a group. The next steps appear almost obvious once this visual
framework is adopted.
Image: BMNT Inc.
Managers need lots of tools to unlock performance from their teams.
This is especially true for IT leaders in matrix organizations. Public
brains are one way to quickly build context in a diverse group. They are
practical options to strengthen relationships, gather information,
collect feedback, and build consensus.
About the Author
William Treseder is the Senior VP of Product at BMNT Inc., a Silicon Valley-based innovation consultancy and early-stage tech accelerator.
