Planting a seed 🌱
Setting up a process
How to set up the process?
Last night, when I was mentoring via ADP List, one of the mentees asked me, how can I install a process and make sure our team has a systematic approach toward our design day-to-day task and design goals?
My reply was simple: crisp and clean (the strategy I learned from my friend) and an amazing book that I just finished reading, Just Fucking Ship by Amy Hoy).
I told her, “think of it like you are planting. Let say an apple tree.” Now, to plant an apple tree, you will need to follow certain steps, and here are the steps posted on [Starkbros Website]:
1. Before planting: soak the apple tree’s roots in a bucket or large tub of water for one to two hours. This helps keep the roots from drying out while you dig the planting hole. Avoid soaking roots for more than six hours. Remember: do not expose roots to freezing temperatures (or below) prior to planting.
2. Dig the planting hole deep and wide enough so the root system has plenty of room and room to spread and grow. When digging the planting hole, make sure it is deep and wide enough so the apple tree’s root system has plenty of room to easily expand. Keep the more-nutritious topsoil in a separate pile so you can put it in the bottom of the hole, where it’ll do the most good.
3. To loosen the soil, mix aged/rotted manure, garden compost, coir or peat moss (up to 1/3 concentration) into your pile of topsoil. The peat moss you get should either be baled sphagnum or granular peat. Note: Peat has a low pH, so if you use this rather than neutral coir, it may affect the soil pH around the roots. Coir, like our Coco-Fiber Growing Medium, can be added instead of peat — or just evenly work in 2 or more inches of organic material with the existing soil.
4. Place the apple tree in the center of the planting hole with its roots down and spread out. Holding onto the trunk to keep it vertical, backfill the hole, putting the topsoil back in first. You can avoid creating air pockets by working the soil carefully around the roots and tamping down firmly as you refill the planting hole around your apple tree.
5. Especially if you’re planting on a slope, create a rim of soil around the planting hole about two inches above ground level. This is called a “berm” and it works to catch water so that it can soak in rather than running off and causing soil erosion. Spread soil evenly around tree and mulch to prevent damage from water pooling and injury from freezing around the apple tree’s trunk in fall going into winter.
Then there are a few more ways to grow the apple tree.
My analogy is simple; if you want to establish a process in your young team, start small. Never try to overwhelm your team. Here are some of the suggestions. For example, if the goal is to establish a solid relationship between the design team and the development team, or if you want to have a solid relationship among designers and product managers, set up a weekly or bi-weekly meeting or brown-bag lunch (virtual, of course). Please share your knowledge, maybe a TED talk, and have a chit chat around it. Maybe blog post that you love most, and share it with your team beforehand so that everyone can be on the same page. There are many ways to set up these kinds of details. Start small. But make sure to stay persistent in your process.
If you want to be mentored or need my help to solve your design issues, do buzz me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/mazeemi OR if you need help, reach out to me via https://www.adplist.org/mentors/mudassir
Cheers!