Product Power-Up: How We Used Our Simulations to Enhance Internal Collaboration
On the 2nd of January, 2024, our team was in a quarterly planning meeting. Something that had been coming up in the last quarter was that the tech team, comprising Product, Engineering, QA, and Design, could do with more interdepartmental collaboration.
We asked our team to share their views on the topic.
Shayla, from the product team, said, “Since we are a remote and hybrid team, we get less face time with each other. This leaves more scope for misinterpretation and assumption.”
Apil, from the engineering team, chimed in, “I agree. Another thing that happens is that since multiple people work on a task, there is some confusion about the primary owner.”
Sweety, from the design team, offered another perspective, “I sometimes feel like we are talking in different languages with one another. The terminology I use with the design team might seem foreign to someone from QA or product.”
These viewpoints highlighted the three core areas that had to be addressed:
- The blurring of ownership boundaries with multiple owners
- The gaps in clarity arising due to remote and hybrid work
- The need for a consistent communication language across teams
Once everyone had expressed their views on this matter, we spent a few minutes bouncing ideas off one another. Nothing seemed to stick. Frustrated, we took a small break, looking at the Enparadigm logo before us.
The answer was obvious! It had been staring us in the face.
Our company, Enparadigm, is an experiential learning company that solves similar problems for corporations worldwide. Moreover, our tech team works tirelessly to design and engineer simulations and assessments to enhance the learning experience for corporates.
Now, it was time for us to get a taste of our own medicine.
Identifying the Simulations
After some discussion, we zeroed in on four simulations to solve the 3 core problems we had to tackle:
- Boost- Growth mindset
- Verve- Ownership at work
- Sync- Effective communication
- Forge- Effective collaboration
Once we identified the four simulations, we gave ourselves a month to complete them. One team member suggested calling our learning journey Excelerate, a name that stuck.
The After Effects of the Medicine
While we had given ourselves a month to play all the simulations, there was a surprise waiting for us just two weeks later. During BoxCracker, our bi-weekly team engagement session, we were amazed to see that discussions about Excelerate had hijacked the session.
This is what our team was saying.
Nageswari, from the QA team, said, “In my two years of working on this product, I have rarely looked at it from a learning lens.”
Ankit, from the engineering team, agreed, “This has opened my eyes to some functionalities I think will really smoothen the learner experience.”
Juliat, from the product team, said, “While a simulation like Boost has inspired me to push my boundaries, Verve has shown me the path to do so.”
Two weeks later, we were in for another surprise. People from the sales and delivery teams started reaching out to us. They had heard about Excelerate’s success and wanted to replicate it within their teams. They asked for our help in identifying simulations that would provide maximum value to their teams. We also started planning for the future as we had decided we would make Excelerate a permanent part of our tech team’s growth story.
So, while we initially sought medicine to treat some symptoms, the cure boosted not only our but the entire organization’s holistic health.
