Apply These 5 Product Team Tactics to Bypass Emotion and Act With Clarity

Escape the trap of emotion-driven development.

Keep emotion at bay and navigate change with clarity | Image by DALL-E

The other day, in an attempt to avoid setting a deadline to motivate a team to perform, a manager told me:

“None of my peers work this way. I feel like the odd duck.”

And just like that, a familiar enemy of change appeared.

Emotion.

Emotion is to change as oil is to water. They don’t mix. And the result is change that takes longer than it should, or that never happens at all.

Emotions can drive teams and managers to avoid change.

But to develop great products, we have to embrace change. We must avoid emotion-driven (change-resistant) development.

If this speaks to you, you are in the right place. Teams I’ve coached tend to use 5 proven tactics to break free from emotion and act with clarity in the face of change. You can learn these below. And I threw in a sixth, go-to, ultimate bonus tactic, so be sure to steal that one.

So, let’s dive in, shall we?

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