Inception anecdote

It was at the end of my first week working at the bank. It was Friday at lunch hour. I had gone out to buy something to eat when my phone rang. Unknown number. I picked up and at the other end was no more and no less than the VP of Innovation & Transformation, the son of the bank’s owner.?

I was joining a new challenge, my second digital transformation in which I could turn over my entire previous experience. I was entering a growing team, a technology area that has just been created with a start-up environment although under a big established company, one of the biggest and most prestigious banks in the country. They had bet all-in in this new way of doing things to stay current, updated and most importantly at the forefront of innovation. If history had taught them anything through the years, it was to adapt and evolve in order to survive the market and competitors.?

On my very first day at the office, my new boss -with only start-up experience- comes to me and asks me with a big creepy smile “so… what can you deliver me in two weeks?” This was only after I had set up my brand new computer, found a place to sit and created the slack group in order to reach my team -whose names had just been given to me in a list on a piece of paper- and introduce myself to them saying who I was and where I was sitting so they could locate me and join me, as they were all spread out in the entire floor. Then, I stared at my boss for a few seconds and answered with confidence: “First of all, I need to know my team. Then, I need to know what product we need to build and why, having an opportunity assessment, and after it an inception to kick off. Just then I will tell you what and when we’ll deliver each feature”.?

Obviously he was both surprised and pleased with my answer -I must admit I was a little shocked as well of how well and thorough I had given him a whole explanation and step by step of what I was going to do with a clear mind-. At that time I felt it was kind of the first test he wanted to give me to see how I responded and reacted. I believe I passed it. Eventually I found out that was just how he behaved in general. He never asked me specifics for any part of my response, maybe there were terms I used he wasn’t familiar with or maybe he called them differently; he said nothing at all. He trusted me and saw I knew exactly what I needed to do so he basically let me be.

I immediately rolled up my sleeves and started to work. The great news was I had almost every role in my team -business analyst, iOS and Android developers, technical lead, UX designer, content designer, and even QA- except for a Scrum Master. The not so great news is that I was the only one with the knowledge and experience in agile, so I ended up covering that role as well until I finally was able to hire a person. I rushed through the day to organize that first week and the following one. I planned team building activities for the whole week while in parallel I was gathering business information, meeting stakeholders, and building the fastest opportunity assessment ever. Pretty much this new functionality in the application was a “must do” so there wasn’t really room for discussion whether it should be built or not, so it was more like a discovery session of what and how we should start with.?

I had no time to spare -with the implicit or should I say explicit pressure my boss had put on me before- so while I kept recollecting everything I needed, I had to send the invite to the stakeholders for the inception the whole following week. One of the eldest and nicest Product Managers in the bank had given me great advice, specially for someone new, of how things run in the bank: in order for people to show up and prioritize your meeting, you need to have the VP send the invite for you; then they will attend. Consequently, I contacted the VP’s secretary who sent out emails on his behalf, invitations were scheduled with the VP’s name on it and people started to confirm attendance. Complete success; I was on a roll.?

Finally I made it to the end of my first week and survived to tell the story. We were all exhausted because we had worked non-stop with the team, on the product and preparing everything for the following week so every activity was clear and could go smoothly. That’s when I decided to go out for lunch and in the middle of the checkout line my phone rang. It was the VP. What have I done? Had the eldest Product Manager advised me wrong? Was this a scolding call? It was definitely not a great start, I thought. The conversation went:

- Hi Rocío, this is John Doe -only for the story purpose- I just saw my secretary has sent out an invitation you asked for on my behalf.

- Hello, yes, that’s right. Thank you very much for your help. Is there any problem?

- No, not at all, just one thing… What is “inception”?

I remember feeling suddenly relaxed and laughing internally at the same time. I never thought he would call me personally to ask me a question like that, and yet it also was more than reasonable. He had no way nor why to know what I was talking about. I came from another digital transformation background, talking the same language with colleagues, and sometimes we incorporate new terms and concepts so deeply that we forget there was a time we also didn’t know what they meant. I had made that rookie mistake. Of course I immediately explained to him in a nutshell what inception implied and was all about.?

At that time I was the very first to introduce this practice in the bank and everyone watched me like some kind of alien that dedicated a whole week to do a product kick off with stakeholders and the team. Once they all saw the outputs from those sessions -having a clear roadmap and release plan for at least the next 3 months with goals, objectives and KPIs- no one ever questioned it again. On the contrary, stakeholders ended up mesmerized with the results and wanted everyone to work with that transparency and accuracy. In a few months, inception was not only an activity every team attempted, but it also became mandatory -over time- in the new agile playbook I helped to build, for every new product there was to be developed. In fact I remember a massive bank meeting preceded by that same VP that had called me personally asking what inception was, giving a speech about it with confidence and as a matter expert. That really made my day and I thought “my work here is done”.

P.S. If you're still wondering what an inception looks like, stay tuned for the following articles.

??σ???