How's your week going, Reader?

We're in Q4 planning mode right now at Kit, and I wanted to share something we've been experimenting with in our planning process that's actually working way better than I expected.

For the longest time, our quarterly planning process put the Brand Studio team in a really tough position. Each marketing channel manager IC would plan individually what they were going to work on in a quarter to reach their goals. That made sense, given they know their channel best. But then we would end up with a mountain of requests for creative support, and had to say 'no' to a lot of them. 🥲

And even though I was making those prioritizations decisions alongside the Growth Leadership team, the perception was that Brand Studio was the reason their projects couldn't go ahead.

Not great for inter-team dynamics and collaboration!

I got really sick of being the bad guy, and it wasn't productive for the team to spend time planning and pitching projects that we didn't have capacity to support, so we've made a change.

The past two quarters, instead of a 'bottom up' approach of ICs telling us what they believe they should work on during the quarter, Christina (our new Senior Director of Marketing) and I have been getting more directive.

We hop on a call together and brainstorm in a FigJam to decide which key projects our teams should focus on to move the needle on our revenue goals for the quarter.

We think of our quarterly capacity like a jar. We're telling the team which big and medium rocks should go in that jar first (the projects that will have the biggest impact). After those priority projects are planned for, they're still free to pitch supplementary work based on whatever capacity remains.

Here's the thing that surprised me: we were worried the team would feel like we were taking away their autonomy and ownership by taking this 'top-down' approach. Especially considering we have a very senior-level team of smart folks with great ideas.

But the feedback has been the opposite. They appreciate the clarity and alignment this process is giving. And they still have ownership and autonomy in deciding how these 'big rock' projects come to life.

The real game-changer though? Christina and I record our planning decisions together in a joint Loom. We present a united front. Instead of Brand Studio being the team that has to say no all the time, it's clear that we're making these calls together.

The result: it actually feels like we're working toward our goals as one Growth team, rather than separate teams competing for creative resources. Even though we still have the same capacity constraints we always had.

I guess what I'm learning is that sometimes being more directive doesn't mean taking away autonomy - it's about providing clarity so people can use their autonomy more effectively.

I'm curious how project planning works in your company. How much direction do you get from your manager? and if you are a manager, how much direction and freedom do you give your team?

Talk soon,

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