The Rocketship Files VIII: Assemble the crew (find the skills needed)

Every Rocketship needs a dedicated crew to steer it towards a successful mission. We share our key roles & the qualities to look for when recruiting your own crews.

Introduction to the ‘How to’ blogs

It was important for us to document our approach in a way that could be repeated, so we can minimise the amount of ‘management’ that needs to happen to give Rocketships momentum. The aim is to design ourselves out of the process as much as possible, but this in itself created a large backlog of things that needed to be defined or codified upfront. We gathered our replicable steps into a runbook for crews to navigate their own way through the Rocketship launch process. Although this runbook is specific to us, there are topics that will be applicable to any context. We’re sharing those here.

To launch your own rocketships you will need to;

• Find the problems (Define your missions)
• Pick your fleet (explore Rocketship types)
• Assemble the crew (find the skills needed) — You are here
• Define ways of working & communications (keeping Rocketships on the flight path)

This series of blogs will share our approach to setting ourselves up with repeatable steps, templates, hints & tips that you can use to help you get started. Our ways of working & thinking about Rocketships is emerging & evolving. If you put any of this advice into action we’d love to hear how you get on & how you’ve adapted this approach for your own context.

To skip straight to the templates overview, you can visit our previous post; The Rocketship Files I: Resources

The Rocketship Files VIII: Assemble the crew (find the skills needed)

Every Rocketship needs a dedicated crew to steer it towards a successful mission. The crew you need will depend on what you’re trying to achieve. To enable cross cutting impact a multi-disciplinary and cross agency crew should be recruited.

The skills and people required for your Rocketship should be identified by the Pilot. A subject matter expert and a designated owner should be part of the crew. The crew are responsible for making sure the mission is launched, and the work is done in a timely, agile, and user-centred way. There will be various skills needed to support a mission but all crew members should have the following traits:

• Passion for the topic
• Different areas / teams from your org
• Mix of seniority
• Range of skills
• Committed

However there are some traits specific to the core roles of Sponsor & Pilot described below;

Sponsor

This role should be found before any others. Without a sponsor in place, the mission is at risk of being rejected by the organisation. Relationships with sponsors should be built over time before any launches. They should be involved in early conversations about Rocketship candidates so you can understand the themes that are important to them. If possible, to help bust further silos, choose sponsors that aren’t obvious, from areas of the organisation that don’t own the future change e.g. for a Rocketship about Onboarding which would be owned within our ‘People & Capability’ area, we chose a sponsor from Probation Digital — This person is impacted by our onboarding processes, passionate about the topic, but isn’t the future owner of any changes. This has meant he can bring a different perspective & build relationships across organisational silos.

Key responsibilities of the Sponsor include;

• People — Help bring together people for the crew. This may involve advocating for the value of the Rocketship in order to free people up from their other commitments. Because crews should be assembled from across the organisation, this is responsibility is key to unblocking the crew
• Connect — In an organisation that’s silod, it can be difficult to connect between organisational boundaries. Sponsors should connect the crew to people, previous work & opportunities to make the Rocketship truly cross-cutting
• Unblock — Sponsors will be call upon to remove blockers that the crew can’t remove themselves
• Cheerlead — Advocate for the work of the Rocketship by spreading the word and shining positive light onto the efforts of these trailblazing crew members
• Steer — With energising problems and passionate people, there’s a potential that scope may creep. Sponsors should help keep the scope small so that the mission can run smoothly, with focus

Pilot

The pilot will be recruited after the sponsor, but before the crew. They will have the skills to direct the work and passion for the problem space. Initially they’ll work with the sponsor to refine the mission brief & determine what skills will be needed for a successful mission. They will lead on the recruitment of the crew & setting the Rocketship up for success.

Key responsibilities of the Pilot include;

• Clarity — Articulate a clear vision for the crew. Communicate the purpose of the Rocketship with key stakeholders & the wider organisation
• Direction — Provide direction for the Rocketship throughout the lifecycle
• Help Prioritise — Make decisions to prioritise the most important thanks for the Rocketship to tackle. Manage scope creep & capture un-met needs or ideas for future Rocketships
• Report — Shape how we will measure the success of the Rocketship & capture metrics. Share progress & escalate any blockers or risks
• Visibility — Advocate for the work of the Rocketship by spreading the word and sharing regular updates with the wider organisation

Core Crew Members

The crew you assemble will depend on the scope of the Rocketship. However there are a few people who will ensure the future success of the work.

• Subject Matter Expert — To ensure the Rocketship can get going in a timely way, add a subject matter expert(s) into the crew. This person will connect the crew to existing insights relevant to the Rocketship, and make sure the crew don’t cover old ground or create duplication.
• Future Owner — This person will be accountable for owning any changes to processes / ways of working / artefacts created as a result of the Rocketship. In the case of the previously mentioned Onboarding Rocketship, we had the Recruitment Services Team Leader as part of the crew. This ensures change is made collaboratively and critical people are brought into the process. It also means that the Rocketship can successfully complete with somewhere for the changes to live. Without this core role there’s a risk that the Rocketship will continue indefinitely to keep the thing they’ve created alive.

You can access a few helpful templates on our Miro

This is a series of posts over the next few months. Read all chapters here https://medium.com/rocketships

The Rocketship Files are a collaborative initiative by Lianne Mellor, Nikola Goger and Louis Allgood.