5 / Change management is hard

Welcome to Issue 5!

One of the hardest product challenges is rolling out big changes to an existing user base. People get comfortable with their workflows. They know where everything is. And then you come in with a big idea… and want to change it all.

On this week’s Technically Lit podcast, I got to speak with Dee Knell, and she shared such a thoughtful approach to rolling out major changes inside a large organization. As a Salesforce developer, the changes Dee makes have wide-ranging, cascading effects—and her advice (which I completely agree with) is this:

You cannot overcommunicate change.

Early in my career, I helped redesign the engineering ticketing process for a massive international org. I saw firsthand the chaos that unfolds when you don’t communicate clearly, and not just about changes in the software, but about changes in behavior.

These days, even before I start mapping out how we’ll implement a change, I’m already thinking about how we’ll communicate it. Change management starts with getting everyone on the same page.

Tactically, I’ve seen everything: newsletters, Slack posts, detailed wikis, onboarding videos, live trainings—you name it. But the common thread is always the same: this is a communication challenge.

You’ve got to get the word out that change is coming. Then clearly, concisely explain what is changing, why it matters, and how it’ll impact your users’ day-to-day.

Do that well, and you’ll save your users a ton of frustration and make them way more receptive to the changes you’re rolling out.

So next time you're planning a big shift, don’t start with the feature spec, start with the communication plan. It’s the key to unlocking the impact of all your product work.

Let’s get Technically Lit,

Nick

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Found these cards the other day and just loved the border radius and glass effect.