Conflict Vectors
I had a great conversation earlier this week with a group of CTO's and Founders where we discussed conflict at Startups.
- Conflict between Founders and the Team(s)/Individual Contributor(s).
- Conflict between Founders and their Co-Founders.
- Conflict between Founders and Investors.
- Conflict between Individual Contributors.
- Conflict between Individual Contributors and Investors. (this happens too, especially when IC's interpret Investor input as impactful on their work)
- How remote work plays into Conflict.
- Conflict between anyone at the Startup and Users.
- Conflict between a Startup and another Startup.
- Conflict between a Startup and an incumbent company.
- And more- did I miss any? Feel free to let me know.
Lessons Learned
- Be Proactive: A lot of conflict is invisible, and doesn't become visible until you proactively engage in 1:1s (Individuals), Retrospectives (Team), Surveys (Users), and Competitive Analysis (other Startup/incumbent company).
- See conflict as fuel for Progress and Connection: Conflict can be a source of deep progress, and is not necessarily negative.
- Active Listening: Letting people speak their story, then reflecting their story, and accepting when they correct you on their story can be powerful. People will invest in you, when you invest in them.
- Align performance expectations with tasking: If you task someone at the Startup with something that saves the company, but measure them at their performance eval under a different metric, it will generate conflict.
- Don't be afraid to bring in Outside Help: Just because there is conflict at your Startup, doesn't mean the Startup is doomed. Do not be afraid to set aside egos and ask for help from a third party. It's why marriage counseling exists.
- Pick an effective Communication Systems: One example is Nonviolent Communication. Be empathetic. We're all human, and humans are flawed. Addressing conflict with empathy is a form of strength. You can be a warrior when the fight calls for it, a business person when the company needs it, and still hold space for humanity.
- What conflict resolution lessons have you learned?
Sage's Bookshelf
This is the grab bag of cool things.
- Hiring: This is the impression eight weeks of interviewing and Two months before letting a Candidate know they weren't chosen gives (I know Hiring is a big decision, but cap it at 3 weeks.)
- AI Powered Gaming: AI models are powering the entire game experience now (Imagine limitless exploration on different planets that are actually individually trained models..)
- Python-based AI Visualization: Use Python to visualize Models in a really cool way (Would be cool to visually debug issues!)
- AI Examples: 11 Examples of Lang-chain + OpenAI in Kaggle (Always love a good demo)
- Difficult Conversations: The CALM Model (This checks out with me, maintaining a calm physical state and reflecting what you hear is vital to difficult convos)
- Important Business Regulation: Potential 500$ per-day Fine if you don't Report Beneficial Ownership Information to FinCEN (This came out January 2024)
- Permaculture: This just in: Sage discovers Massive Carrot (I had to share it)
- AI: Researchers are saying AI Medical Transcription Software is Hallucinating (Not surprised at all, just disappointed - Human-in-the-Loop is really important)
- Government Contracting: Prime Contractors & Gov. Agencies like Capabilities Statements (It's like your Business Resume - helps Contractors too)
- Data Engineering: Another Juicy Repo for Data Engineers (Can't remember if I posted this..)
Feel free to leave me feedback in the comments, suggest a change, or share your own really cool thing! Your link could show up in the bookshelf, and I'll credit you as an honorary bookshelf contributor. 🙏
Interested in help building Software? Check out Rosenblatt AI via Website, or check out the Upwork.
#startup #cto #fullstack #fullstackengineering #softwareengineering