Effective storytelling for internal platform teams, Murphey, R.
Table of Contents
On the challenges of establishing viable success metrics, the pitfall of overestimating how well you understand your customer, and communication for internal platforms.
This article focus on the storytelling part raised on Product for Internal Platforms, Fournier, C.. To address that Without a strategy to show value and impact, platforms get overlooked and understaffed.
1. Know your platform audience
You want machine-readable org-charts with instruments that tell who and how often people use your tools.
You want to communicate with the right people at the right time and going to the all-hands mailing list won't work effectively after a certain size (only for urgent things).
1.1. Current users
They use your product today. Good for sharing success stories about it, and identifying opportunities to improve the current products.
1.2. Future users
People who have or will soon have the need your team is entitled to support. You want them to know what you are working on and how others benefit from your products.
1.3. The leadership that current, future, and former users answer to
Fanatical users won't get you far. You need your users' leaders do praise on the benefits your team have on theirs. They need to understand and see how you are making their team life's better.
1.4. Former users
People who are not using it anymore. No need to mass communication, but you need to be able to reach out.
1.5. Your organizational leadership
Manage up. Your team leaders should understand the value you are creating and the problems you are solving.
2. Communicate value, not effort
2.1. Internal platform teams newsletter contain current value creation instead of only work in progress
In Newsletter for customers, Communication the Business outcome of the Internal Platform instead of only what the team is working on and new features. The delay between what the team is working on and the value it will create can mean months or years. Always highlight the current issues the platform is solving for the teams. This balance is important to not be undervalued.
Avoid communicating a way a client could say "you are not doing something for me lately".
Tell stories at the Macro and Micro level. It is nice to say a process time was reduced in average by 10%, but you can also highlight the outlier and say the team X had a reduction of 50%. Quote from the outlier team.
2.1.1. Platform work value has a delay to manage
Business outcome is delayed by months if not years in a platform team.
3. Get creative on how to communicate
Look to your company communication culture to know what is the best way to deliver your message.
3.1. Newsletters
Not just a text e-mail. But a lot of care on the title, headlines, images. Make it readable on mobile. Make it easier for people to follow the future editions and to access the previous one.
3.2. Slack
Have a public channel for customer support. Send your newsletter there. Consistent emojis and communication form.
3.3. In-office advertising
Large displays in the office showing success stories and inviting future users.
3.4. Internal video podcast
To show a story, or new feature.
3.5. Internal presentations
People report a common interest on what platforms are working on. And setting optional presentations are fine.
3.6. Performance calibrations
Weird and antipattern, but on calibrations you would be sharing your team's value stories.
3.7. Stakeholder conversations
The same artifact you use for an internal presentation can serve a structured conversation with user teams and stakeholders. Also, congratulating user teams on their wins and connecting the dots back to your platform.
4. Know your platform vision amd mission and communicate it relentlessly
To tell a team's value story you need to have it clear 1) why the team exists (your Mission), and 2) what is at the end of the long journey the team is taking (your Vision). You should link it in every presentation, both to stakeholders and to your team to connect on the why of their work.
Writing strategies and visions, Larson, W. is a good reference for writing it.
You want a short version of it to include in communications to your users.
E.g. from the authors team vision:
> Product teams building user interface can focus on the unique business value they are tring to deliver; everything else just works.
Mission:
We provide curcial capabilities that allow product teams to build and iterate on user interface - successfully, autonomously, and without regret.
5. Everyone from the platform team has a part on storytelling it to the company
Even if you have an internal communication person, every role in the team should be lookout for stories to tell about the value the team is creating. They all should be attuned to spot opportunities to generate value in line with the team's mission and vision.
Every touchpoint like support channel, office hours, direct messages, User experience research (UX research), is an opportunity to create evangelists, make those people understand the value of your team and the products.
Your team should see clearly how their users' success connect to their own.