Cold Open And New Setup

SPEAKER_02 0:20

Welcome back to Corporate Strategy, the podcast that could be an email. I'm Anthony. And I'm Michael.

SPEAKER_00 0:26

And that was smooth.

SPEAKER_02 0:27

You know, it only took us two years. But we nailed the intro.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

We finally nailed the intro, and we're in a new space.

SPEAKER_02 0:34

New well, same, same space.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

Same space, different layout.

SPEAKER_02 0:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

Same, same. Yeah. But different. It feels nice. Yeah. Do you feel good? I feel comfortable. I think I'm sitting up way higher than you, but you know, it's okay.

SPEAKER_02 0:47

I want to be the short one.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

Yeah?

SPEAKER_02 0:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Am I actually taller than you?

SPEAKER_02 0:50

I want to look up to you.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

IRL. Am I taller than you? I think you are. I think like just barely. Now for sure. Also, thank you for repping a merch. You've had this shirt since day one and it has faded terribly.

SPEAKER_02 1:04

It really has. I have sneezed in this thing so many times. That's disgusting. My goodness. The sneezes. Uh this. Oh. Nothing like just pulling an iPhone out of your pocket and seeing that your camera's on. Whoa, look at it. Oh, that is so weird.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

Oh, because it's green on the background. Wow. That's kind of cool, actually.

SPEAKER_02 1:24

No, no, I'm just I'm just doing okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:26

If you're on the if you're listening on your podcast player of choice and not watching, you wouldn't have just realized that our green screen picked up his phone background and you could just see right through it.

SPEAKER_02 1:34

You could see it was kind of neat because uh if you go watch the YouTube video or the live stream right now, you would have seen that the the phone, because it was green, it caused an X-ray effect, and you could see all of my organs.

SPEAKER_00 1:47

Yeah, it was really weird. When you're holding up all the background, I could just see the background, but then the second you went over your body. It was like, oh, that's the Everett. Something was messed up. I should get that checked out. I should definitely get that checked out. It shouldn't look good. It was not great. I'll be honest. It was not the color a heart should be. Hey, before we get started. Yeah, cracking a nap. Oh, that was a good one.

SPEAKER_02 2:07

Cheers. Cheers, my man.

SPEAKER_00 2:08

What are we drinking today?

SPEAKER_02 2:09

Uh, you're drinking a black razzleberry La Croix. La Croix?

SPEAKER_00 2:13

Not sponsored.

SPEAKER_02 2:14

And I am drinking a blue bottle instant coffee Americano mix. Ooh. It's not really an Americano mix, it's just an espresso mix, but I put water in it to make it an Americano. Because you know, all Americanos are is just Coffee with water. Coffee with water. Yep. That's it. Even the Italians knew. Those Americans, easily fooled. Uh, it's okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:36

Yes. It's okay.

SPEAKER_02 2:37

It's enough to get the job done.

SPEAKER_00 2:38

It's doing the job. It's getting the job done. Yeah, I need this. I need this. So I feel like we need to start with a vibe

Vacation Canceled For Health Reasons

SPEAKER_00 2:45

check. Do it? Yeah. You were supposed to be on vacation today. Right. I want to know what happened.

SPEAKER_02 2:50

So yeah, and we were gonna want to know. The people want to know. Uh we were supposed to, we, my wife and I were supposed to be watching uh our niece and nephew. And Wednesday we were gonna do a pod. And what ended up happening was the the niece and nephew were exposed to hand, foot, and mouth. Uh I am an immunocompromised human being. I suffer from what is called irritable bowel syndrome, aka I B S, which you think is just like a diarrhea disease. It is not. Uh it actually just weakens your entire immune system. Yeah, because so much of your immune system is determined, dictated by your gut health. And I don't have gut health. So anytime there's a sickness, I try to avoid exposure to it because I will get it. So I opted out of vacation. Sadly, my wife is now watching two little ones, one and three years old, all by herself. And uh oh yeah. Yeah, thumbs down. Thumbs down, thumbs down.

SPEAKER_00 3:43

I didn't move on my face. Right on your face. Great placement. Great placement. Also, I love how uh side topic from your story right now. On both sides, on both sides of our little window is the non-green screen, which looks kind of ridiculous. It does look great. I love that we're so professional we just left it.

SPEAKER_02 4:01

I I truly I saw that. I'm like, I'm not crapping it. I like the new lens so much. I don't want to shame it.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:09

It is a new lens, by the way. It looks really good. I'm looking at this, it looks great. Another sidebar to the sidebar. Yeah. So this is my wife's office. She is uh she is like a professional YouTuber and uh does a lot of video voice work, things like that. She has been in the process of updating her space, which we now take over so great once a week. It's so it's nice. So, like these are her professional microphones that we just steal for ourselves. But she got a very nice camera lens, and I'm like, I'm not screen setup.

SPEAKER_00 4:38

Oh no, we got a little bit of wallpaper here. Like, dude, I don't care. It looks nice. It looks nice. Honestly, you don't even need the green screen. Yeah, you just go with the background. Let's get it really just yank it up.

SPEAKER_02 4:48

I mean, look how look how good we look. And this again, a great radio for everyone who listens in audio format.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

But look how good we look. I'll be honest, I can see the whites of my eyes in the bloodshot, lines through them, and I kind of don't like it.

SPEAKER_02 5:01

Dude, you look like you've you have seen the pale beyond and are not gonna ever look back.

Horror Comedy And Widows Bay

SPEAKER_00 5:07

Speaking of pale beyond, I started Widow's Bay.

SPEAKER_02 5:10

Oh, great! That's great news.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

We were talking about this before. What do you think? I was saying I was watching, so I don't watch creepy things. We're also on a side topic to a side topic. This is a sidebar to sidebar. Don't worry, we'll get back. It's reversive. Remember our broadcrome trail? Because we got to go all the way back to the beginning of the story.

SPEAKER_02 5:24

Every hop must be unrecursed.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

Go ahead. So I started watching it. I don't watch creepy things because my wife hates creepy things. So I never watch creepy things. But every single time she has something going on, I end up watching all my creepy stuff. Good, good. That's usually the way it goes. Good, great. So I started it. I'm on the third episode. She got home right in the middle of the third episode, which I had to end. But I love it. It is creepy, it is funny, I am loving every second of it.

SPEAKER_02 5:48

So it is it is truly something to behold, IMHO. Uh something because horror comedy is really hard to do well. Like, I think the greatest example of horror comedy just of all time. Like, there is one all-time great, and it's Ghostbusters. Yeah. And you think about like Ghostbusters, like, that's just a funny movie. It's like, I challenge you to watch that movie and think say it is only a funny movie. You have the dogs, you have Zool. The opening scene. Like the opening scene to Ghostbusters is not funny at all.

SPEAKER_01 6:17

Right.

SPEAKER_02 6:18

It's very scary. The librarian ghost. And it's such a nice lightning in a bottle movie because there's really been nothing like it. And I truly think Widow's Bay is the first thing that's come close to touching that threshold. Yeah. Where it's very funny. Yeah. It's like w really biting wit. And also it's scary. Yeah. It's great.

SPEAKER_00 6:39

Yeah, it's it's really good. I'm so glad we're going in this hole. I've been enjoying it. I don't know when I'm gonna be able to watch the next episode because my wife has to not be there for me to watch this, so we're gonna have to find a time. But I think the scariest episode is the second one so far. I don't want to spoil it for anybody, but it is pretty creepy when they go into the crawl space.

SPEAKER_02 6:57

I would agree. The the second episode, and I didn't realize there was more. I thought the eighth episode was the final one.

SPEAKER_00 7:04

Oh, really? There's more after that.

SPEAKER_02 7:05

I think there's more. I've heard there's more, which is kind of crazy because like I thought the eighth, I was like, this is a good ending. Yeah. This really gets me jazzed. Uh the eighth episode is also really good. It's not, it's not scary the same way the second episode is. Yeah. But it definitely is the best version of this trope I have seen since like the 1980s.

SPEAKER_00 7:22

Really?

SPEAKER_02 7:23

You will see it and you'll be like, dang, they did a really good job. So you're get ready for it.

SPEAKER_00 7:26

Yeah, I'm bumped. Yeah, if you want like a I definitely got like goosebumps in the second one. I don't usually get scared of things. Like, I'm not a jump scary person, I'm pretty calm. But the second one, I was like, oh my goodness, that got my skin crawling. You know what makes me excited? What's that?

SPEAKER_02 7:41

Really just tickles my jimmies. What's that? I love horror, just in general, right? I'm a I'm a horror freak. Halloween is your favorite time of year. Favorite time of year. Yeah, it is. I love scary movies. I love to be scared, I love playing scary VR games. Like, I just I dig the crap out of horror. And in the last two months, we have had some of the highest points in horror. Yeah, you were saying in 10 years. Like, between Obsession, Backrooms, and Widows Bay, it is just like nom nom nom nom nom nom. Nom nom nom nom nom nom. Nom nom nom nom. It's so good. We're back, baby. And they're making good money, they're getting good reviews. Let's go. I hope everyone realizes horror is here to stay.

SPEAKER_00 8:23

Yeah. Yeah. Backrooms looks incredibly good. You need to see it. We were talking about that after the Mickey D's episode last week, and we were like, I I gotta watch this. This is something that is drawing me in. I need to understand. You must watch it. I love the creepy, mysterious kind of aspect of it.

SPEAKER_02 8:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

It's a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_02 8:38

You will uh, I think something you might enjoy about the backroom specifically is you will think about some of the old days in Big Corp and be like, I think there was a portal to the backrooms in Big Corp.

SPEAKER_00 8:50

Oh, I I don't think. We spent a lot of time in the server room rebuilding those server boxes when they gradually just took one by one away from us. There is definitely a backroom in there. I don't even know what backrooms is and what happens in this movie, but I guarantee you that happens really worked.

SPEAKER_02 9:04

You will see. You will you will unlock the secret of the backrooms. Yeah, yeah.

Big Corp Nostalgia And The Sign]

SPEAKER_00 9:08

You want to know something really sad? Tell me for our big corp. I sent you a picture. You did something super sad is happening. Our old company we used to work for got bought, so they got acquired by a larger company. And I was driving by the other day because I do all my car service appointments in that area. And so I was like, Oh, I'll just take a swing by while I'm waiting for my truck, whatever. And I see them taking down the sign. Yeah. And I'm like, that was the sign for us. How long? 12, 15, however long. 11 years. Yeah, 11 years. Yeah. So looking back all the way to that, seeing them take down that sign, it was like one of those nostalgic things. I was like, oh, this sucks.

SPEAKER_02 9:39

Can I repeat my joke? Yeah, you need to. Okay, so I I Michael sends me this picture. And I said, You should have got out and helped them carry it. You should have, you know, helped offered it and helped take it down. And you're like, why is that, Anthony? I was like, well, you carried the company for 11 years.

SPEAKER_00 9:57

It was so true. It's good. That company deserved to be, it deserves to die. It deserves to be left exactly how it is. Smoldering ash, you know, cut into pieces, distributed into a bigger product, and hopefully it will just die.

SPEAKER_02 10:09

I think the ultimate irony would have been as they were taking down the sign if like it just crumbled and fell apart.

SPEAKER_00 10:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:15

But then you just had like the solitary A just hanging up there for no like we can't get it down, it's just stuck.

SPEAKER_00 10:22

Well, it's funny because the name with who they got acquired by, there's like four, three or four of the same letters. Yeah. Yeah. And so I was like, I was talking to the guy because there was a guy over there and I was talking about them taking the sign down. I was like, they should just leave the letters up there. Yeah, let's reuse them. Do like a ransom. That's exactly what this company would do. I'm like, if there's anything that would be more like this company, that is it.

SPEAKER_02 10:42

I would have loved that.

SPEAKER_00 10:44

I would make the pilgrimage just to see the sign, how they did that. Well, going back all the way through our breadcrumbs, all the way back to you. Let's go back. So your wife is dealing with these children who are sick all by herself.

SPEAKER_02 10:55

Yes, that's right. And uh unfortunately I wasn't able to go, so I canceled my vacation, decided I'm gonna continue to work. That was a mistake. It was.

SPEAKER_00 11:03

That's the best when you have planned vacation and you're like, oh, my vacation got canceled. I guess I'm just doing nothing. Yeah, I'm just gonna work, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 11:09

I'll just un I'll untake the time.

SPEAKER_00 11:11

I was having it was six days.

SPEAKER_02 11:12

It was six days of not working.

SPEAKER_00 11:14

And uh you did the opposite thing that I would do. I would just not have worked. I would have been like, yeah, it got canceled, but I just decided I already took the days off.

SPEAKER_02 11:20

Well, I mean, in a way, I'm thinking now, like, okay, I untake these six days, and I mean I'm on a I'm on a no-time off policy, right? So it's like I can take as much, as many days as I want as long as my man. That's a scam it, by the way. Your time off is a scam. We need to do an entire episode on like time off one day. Regardless, there is still a perception. So, like, you know what, I'm just gonna I'm gonna work uh Thursday, Friday, Monday, Tuesday, mostly because this year is freaking stacked on the video game release schedule, and like I am gonna take some time off to play some of these major releases when they drop. So, like, you know what? That's one of the things. One door opens, another wait, under closes, another door opens. And it goes to the back rooms. Yeah, so it's so weird how that happens.

Time Off Culture And Video Games

SPEAKER_00 12:06

You know, that's one of the underrated things talking about time off. We won't do it, we won't, we won't go too far into this. We'll save it for a full full episode. You take time off to play new video games.

SPEAKER_02 12:14

Yeah, I do.

SPEAKER_00 12:15

Which I think is like in the corporate world, when you take time off, it's like, oh, I got an appointment or I'm going on this vacation. It's not just like to do something I want to do, or I just didn't want to work.

SPEAKER_02 12:26

I had a funny conversation with um some of our friends, and they're like, you know, where are you going on vacation next?

SPEAKER_01 12:32

Like, ah, nowhere.

SPEAKER_02 12:34

Nowhere. You skip all that time off.

SPEAKER_00 12:36

You must be doing something fun. Going on vacation?

SPEAKER_02 12:37

It's like, nah, I really don't like to travel. I don't enjoy it. I've talked about this ad nauseum. If you're new, then just know that I don't like flying, I don't like traveling.

SPEAKER_00 12:45

Go all the way back. You had some PTSD moments. So there's mandal fondlers, there's baggage touchers, it's bad.

SPEAKER_02 12:52

It's bad. But I mean, for the most part, for me, I've become such a video game-pilled person. And like this probably sounds pathetic and sad in a way, but like I get really jazzed, not just about playing, I get jazzed about analyzing. Like, I really wanna I wanna see the craftsmanship, I wanna unlock the systems, I want to get into like the mind of the creative director, the developer, like understand, okay, what motivated them to do this, or I want to critique the hell out of it and be like, what were you thinking? Yeah, right? Like, I just played um James Bond, 007 First Light, which, dude. Good?

SPEAKER_00 13:31

Oh my gosh. I haven't played those games since I don't even know. Yeah, I mean it's a good thing.

SPEAKER_02 13:36

I think that was the last good one. And this game was so freaking good. And it did, it did things I've never seen a game do before. Just a little spoiler. Slight spoiler for it. Interesting. You know how most games nowadays, because everyone's stupid, has a tutorial. Yep. And you have to sit through this awful tutorial. So James Bond forgoes this trend. And instead is like, no, you're a new, you're a new James Bond, but you need to learn the ropes. So we're gonna send you to a training island. And you're like, okay, well, it's gonna be like go from point A to point B, high point, shoot. No, they actually make you play a montage.

SPEAKER_00 14:10

Really?

SPEAKER_02 14:10

So like you're literally like running point to point and then bam, you're in a car. And it's like, oh, now you're driving. Like, what the heck? It's like bam, no, actually you're on a gun course. Like, bam, no, now you're doing it interesting. It's kind of fun. You're playing, and it's like it's rapidly forcing you to adjust to these different situations with these quick, quick cuts, which I think you could only do on an SSD. Like, this is probably not just uh a technological sort of advancement, but like it is a creative advancement that allows them to create the kind of montages you only see in movies. It's the first time I've ever seen it done in a video game. It's so freaking cool. Yeah, like the tutorial is some of the most fun in the game.

SPEAKER_00 14:45

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:46

It's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 14:46

That's awesome. Love that. I love it. Very cool. Yeah, I get excited. We did all of our breadcrumbs. Yeah, we touched them all. And we had a few more. Right. Yeah. I'm sure we could make some more. There is a mess on the floor.

SPEAKER_02 14:57

I want a duck in here to eat all this bread.

SPEAKER_00 14:59

You don't want a duck. Dirty. They're very dirty. Well, it's wrong with a duck. Yeah, they make messes everywhere. Well, I mean it's very dirty. I think it's true of all birds. They poop. Birds do. Yes, but they also wallow in everything and they get everything muddy.

SPEAKER_02 15:12

You know, birds and I share a common trait.

SPEAKER_00 15:13

Do they? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:15

What's that? We poop.

SPEAKER_00 15:18

You can say that about almost everything. Actually, it's like the common ground. Anytime you meet anybody, even your worst enemy, you can say, hey, we can find common ground and something. I think I mean something you and I share. We both have a time a day, maybe even two times a day. Yesterday? It was three. Depending on your health conditions, it could be three or four. But everybody does it. Everybody does it. It's true. There's even a children's book called Everybody Poops. There's a reason for that. It's very true.

SPEAKER_02 15:47

That's how you find common grounds. Solve the world problems. It is. What more common ground? Yeah. Name it. I don't have any. But you can't. That's it. All right. Breathing? That's that's corporate strategy of the podcast. It could have been an email. I'm really glad you were able to join us today.

SPEAKER_00 16:02

This was so much fun. Maybe next time we'll talk about another disgusting anecdote.

SPEAKER_02 16:06

Let's get into it. How are you doing, man?

SPEAKER_00 16:09

I'm checular. Yeah, I've checked. I've been really busy this week. Really? I've had a lot of projects, a lot of different opportunities pop up. It's been busy. Why are you working? That's a great question. I quit my job. Or shouldn't I be retired?

unknown 16:22

You're done.

SPEAKER_00 16:23

No, it's it's just been it's honestly been good. I think a lot of opportunities have been coming up that were kind of unexpected too, so they kind of came out of nowhere, which is always great. Because it means either marketing or communication or something is going right. So it's awesome. For me, it's been a good week. It's good work. It is good work. And what's cool about it is I'm motivated to do it because it's all like for me.

SPEAKER_02 16:46

What's that like?

SPEAKER_00 16:47

Yeah, right. Continue. That's so because like when you work for a corporation, you can be motivated for a period of time. But eventually you realize a period's like 10 minutes. I mean, maybe. For Universal, I was climbing that ladder, I was having so much fun, and then yeah, eventually it was just like there's a lot of monotonous stuff that I really don't enjoy doing, and I don't want to do it. No, it's like everything that I'm doing, it's like, yeah, this is to either make money or make a connection or whatever it is because I need to live, but it's all for me, which is great. So it's just totally different because it's stuff that I get to own, which is weird. Yeah, yeah. So it's a different level of motivation. But there has been series of I'm sitting on my laptop at night, which I don't enjoy. But I think I could have planned better to avoid that. So next time I know, I'm like, next time when I quote a project like this, I'm gonna add an extra week and a half just so I make sure I don't get myself into the situation. Sandbagging.

SPEAKER_02 17:34

Yeah. I honestly like I say this with appropriately. Well, here's the thing, y'all. Sandbagging is not just a technique to pad things out and say, like, hey, it's gonna take two weeks, it's only gonna take a week. You cannot foresee the unknowns. Yeah, and every single project has them. Doesn't matter, it does not matter how simple it is. Like, every single project is an unknown. I always add at least 50% to everything, and I've never regretted it. And if I'm bored, it just means I can start something else. Yeah, or get it done early. Yeah. No one has a problem with you getting it done early.

SPEAKER_00 18:10

Right.

SPEAKER_02 18:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:10

Yeah, I kind of realize that. It definitely was the unknowns of like this is the second project I've done like this, and I'm just like, I just didn't expect that this part would take so long. Because we've done this before. Yeah. And it did. So now I know for future sake, I'm going to make sure to pad a little bit extra time, knowing that this is gonna come up again.

SPEAKER_02 18:26

Is there is there such a thing as a repeat task in corporate?

SPEAKER_00 18:32

Yes. If your job is like constantly content publishing, it's like you're responsible for hitting the button. You have gotta be on the data entry. Yeah, data entry, you'll be doing the same exact thing over and over again. That that's what I was looking for. I'm like, data entry is the repeatable thing.

SPEAKER_02 18:47

In management.

SPEAKER_00 18:48

In management Is there such a thing as a repeat test? I don't think so.

SPEAKER_02 18:51

No.

SPEAKER_00 18:51

It's everything's too unique and everybody's too unique to make it perfectly repeatable every time.

SPEAKER_02 18:57

I think that's why managers age so quickly. You think so? Yeah. I think about all the managers I've ever had, and they look like they were one foot in the grave. And now look at me. We're both one foot in the grave. Okay. A pale ghost of a man. Like, I think it's management that does it.

SPEAKER_00 19:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:12

Yeah. Yeah, it is. You don't get to repeat anything.

SPEAKER_00 19:15

Yeah, everything is a little bit new. You can use the same frameworks. And that's actually something I want to talk

Why Teams Fail At Process

SPEAKER_00 19:20

about today. No way. Yeah, it's a bridge. We didn't talk about we, by the way, for anybody watching this, especially if it's your first time. Or if listening. Or if you're listening. Yeah, listening or watching, I always feel like everybody's just right there. Any, if you're listening or watching for the very first time, we don't plan anything. We basically just come in the room and we're like, Do you do you have something to talk about? Oh, yeah, I've got something to talk about. We do occasionally do series of things that have been really successful. Yeah, they have. And one day we're gonna do another series. But today is not one of those days. We just have a random topic. Do you are you is this a plan? Are you like dropping an announcement here? No. Okay. But we'll come up with something. I like the series. Like the appreciation series we did was so much fun. The onboarding 306090 was so much fun. That was fun. Go back and listen to those, watch those. They were awesome. Well, I don't know if you can watch those.

SPEAKER_02 20:00

No, that you can't do that. Listen to those.

SPEAKER_00 20:01

Listen to those.

SPEAKER_02 20:02

On and the podcast player of your choice.

SPEAKER_00 20:04

Yeah. But going back to what we were talking about about making things repeatable. Process. Process, process, process. Process? Process. Is that a weird word? Are you having a stroke? Do you need me to get help? Well, I got to thinking about it this week of like, how do you actually effectively build out process to get teams to actually follow it and do it? And I thought it'd be worth us talking about it. Of like, how do you what's the best way? Because you can build, we talked about this a little bit at Make It Ease when we were talking about onboarding and how to do onboarding successfully. But then it's like, okay, you've got this onboarding process. We talked a little bit of the tips and tricks of like how do you actually get it to be uh repeatable and usable, that people won't just throw it in the trash, which was really around one, make sure there's always like a trigger point, you know, make sure that there's something that kicks off the process, make sure someone is accountable uh to doing it and to keeping it up to date, fresh, and then just to make sure that you get the feedback along the way. But in broader team, like bigger team process, how do you get people to follow that once you're in the flow of things? So that way your team will actually do things that are repeatable and they don't rebuild the wheel every single time a new thing comes up.

SPEAKER_02 21:12

I like this. Good job. You did it again, Michael. Thank you. You brought a great you brought up a great topic.

Map The Workflow Before Building

SPEAKER_02 21:17

So I think to to really dig into this, we have to start even before people are involved.

SPEAKER_01 21:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:22

Like truly get a napkin, get a PowerPoint, I like this, get something, and draw it out in some kind of flow chart, right? Okay. Boxes and lines. Give me an example. So something new comes up. I mean, so I'm in marketing. I'll give you a real-world example. Yeah. Because I am the Jira master at my my biz, and one of the things I do is I build workflows for all of our different processes. So let's say we want to create a document. It's not just as simple as going into Word, building a document, sending it off, having it put in brand, and then publish the website. There's so many more pieces than that. So what I did was I looked at the process as we were doing it and there were some there were some problems we've had handoffs reviews uh time it takes to execute certain bits and pieces so I took all of that and basically I in Jira I created a flow chart just using little little boxes and lines saying okay here's a status that a piece of work can be in okay and here's the next step it can go to. Now maybe there's branching paths what have you etc I built all of this out in like a safe space that no one could get to and ideated on it. Like I kind of worked through it. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 22:37

So it's a process that you already know how to do it.

SPEAKER_02 22:39

Like you've been responsible for doing in the but this is this is basically a complete retool of this process. I wanted to change the way we're doing it because it wasn't working into something that would. Gotcha. So I took the parts I knew I added in parts I think could work and then my next step is once I built this skeleton that seems like it makes sense I presented it to the other stakeholders. Said hey look at this look at this thing. So here's where you fit and here's where you know here's where you fit and there's where Jane fits and John's over here. So like I showed them all here's how this would work. Here's the handoffs here's the various uh changes of ownership and control for a piece of work in the system and ideally it should you know lead to some kind of more stable optimized efficient system yeah once they all approved then I went and built it for real and I actually built a before you built anything.

SPEAKER_00 23:30

Before I built you just got the concept approved video I used to do this in PowerPoint.

SPEAKER_02 23:34

Like I'd build like little just box diagrams right like little charts kind of saying okay here's how we're gonna do this thing.

SPEAKER_00 23:39

Present it get everyone's buy-in then I go build it love it once it's built then I present it to everybody here's the new thing we're doing yeah open it up any questions like David has pumpkins and they're like no this is great let's try it out but you're not done either I was about to say that's where a lot of people stop yes I've seen this happen at so many companies like I've seen them somebody goes off they create this awesome process especially when we were engineers like I saw this more frequent than I'd like to admit people just go off and create these crazy processes like this is exactly what you follow when you're making these changes and then they stop. Right. So

Feedback Loops And Continuous Refinement

SPEAKER_00 24:15

what's next? How do you actually make it you never stop is the key.

SPEAKER_02 24:18

So it's can't stop won't stop. Feedback is a cycle it's not a one-off thing. So once we turned this thing live immediately we started to say like hey as we run through this I noticed we're missing a step here. Like if we added one more thing to this thing it would make it all better. So it it was just a matter of refinement and being open to the fact that even though I think this is pretty great it's not gonna be great for everybody. So you have to be willing to run through it have some bumps have some scrapes get other people's feelings on it and then adjust it. Yeah it's never done you have to be willing to evaluate refine and continue to receive feedback because a process is set in stone is a terrible process. Yeah it will never work.

SPEAKER_00 25:01

So one thing that I think we didn't touch on but I think is so so critical. So you you presented you said hey this is going to be our new process everybody signed off you got stakeholders involved which is great so you basically helped visualize how is the work done today? How should we be doing it.

SPEAKER_02 25:17

Right.

SPEAKER_00 25:17

And then you went you presented this you got their feedback you said hey we're doing this together. You made it collaborative and I think that's what a lot of people miss too is like if you just do this in a silo and you don't bring people along with you one you're just missing visibility opportunities. But two like no one's gonna be there at the end and just be like I'm just gonna do your stuff because you said you built this thing. Like I don't know what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_02 25:37

This is I mean this is something that I have learned by being a victim of processes forced upon me. It's like why did you not involve us?

SPEAKER_00 25:45

Why are we doing this?

SPEAKER_02 25:46

That makes no sense we have huge gaps here that you didn't consider that you would have not had to worry about if you just talked to us. I love that.

SPEAKER_00 25:53

Yeah it's the same principle in so many factors of work like design reviews, code reviews, all architecture reviews those things are there so everybody can get aligned and get on board with like this is how we

Use Tools To Enforce The Process

SPEAKER_00 26:02

should do this. Let's catch each other if you forgot something. But one thing you didn't talk about is after you showed the build process, you said hey everybody here's a demo I built the thing we talked about how do you actually get people to start doing it because I think what's very common this is just in the nature of people they fall back to their old ways.

SPEAKER_02 26:19

We did an entire episode on people process technology like years ago. And this I think is really where technology comes to play. A process that's in the ether does no good for anybody. Like just saying hey gentlemen's agreement we're gonna follow these rules right like we're gonna follow Shake out.

SPEAKER_00 26:35

You're gonna do it.

SPEAKER_02 26:35

You're gonna do it right it's never gonna work and like as sad as that is to say like one people are lazy people forget people get busy they get overwhelmed they're like well if nothing's holding me accountable I'm gonna short cycle this I'm just gonna go around it that's where Jira comes in right that's where your Mondays or your Trellos whatever you have there's there's dozens of systems out there and you know this is more for task management but any process you build I think needs to be empowered by a tool set. Yep. Absolutely like this is going to change the way it works because it forces people to go into a system engage with a system and the system is going to give them an output. So we do all of this in Jira right every task created has to go through this process. Jira's not doing anything other than showcasing where the task is right but there's very strict transitions and requirements to transition says like hey you can't put this card in approved unless it's been reviewed by the key stakeholders it can't go to design unless you have a final working document in here.

SPEAKER_01 27:42

Right.

SPEAKER_00 27:42

And like these enforcements and these checks that Jira helps hold us accountable for they prevent the clues we used to have to deal with when it was just like gentlemen's agreement we're gonna do this right yeah yeah I love that I think that's the you know just taking all the way back to like first principles and like I was reading about just the DevOps movement. I know that's so outdated now but like the DevOps movement had this like DevOps does anyone know what that is anymore? But it had some core principles to it. And one of them was being able to visualize the work.

SPEAKER_02 28:11

Right.

SPEAKER_00 28:11

If you feel like your life is in chaos and your corporate world is in chaos it's probably if you take it all the way back it's because you're not visualizing the work. You're not putting the work in a system to understand what is everybody doing. Yeah. And common factors that I see in this is like everyone's busy. Everyone's constantly running around like chasing the next task or saying I don't know what to work on next. And like if those are things that are happening around you it's because people are putting things in a place where you can track it and see it and understand how much work there is. And so the first step is get things into a system like Jira. And what I would tell my team all the time at Universal I would tell them like if it's not in Jira we're not doing it.

SPEAKER_02 28:51

Right.

SPEAKER_00 28:52

If you put it in Jira you can work on it. But if it you're working on it outside Jira like we don't do that here. And that's because same exact reason yeah and that's a reason is because I don't want my team to be overloaded with all these things and not understand what they're doing and be able to limit their work in progress so they can focus.

SPEAKER_02 29:05

Uh atlassian's gonna love this but uh one of the things that I think people have missed the mark on especially outside of development is the importance of using a Kanban a Jira a scrum board beyond development. I'm in marketing yeah like I use Jira as does the entire marketing team every day and Jira helps us keep the wheels on the bus. Right. Right without it we would not be nearly as successful or competent as we are because it is such a great tool for that purpose. You know it's funny I used to know an individual who worked at Atlassian and they're like you know we're trying to figure out like how how to make Jira more adoptable by non-development people. And like it's a real shame because having our dev experience meant that we got experience with Jira firsthand. And you know it's not just Jira. I'm not just gonna praise Atlassian Jira has lots of problems. You got Monday you got Trello there's so many options out there. Jira's just the one I'm familiar and comfortable with but adopting I think the reason it's so successful in dev specifically is because development is kind of the core factory of work.

SPEAKER_01 30:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:18

Right? If you think about the way we used to produce products you would go to a factory and each person on the assembly line had some kind of like I put the wheels on the wagon I put the slats in the wagon like and you know it's everyone has a purpose everyone has a point but it's a linear system. Right. Right in development you look at the adoption of Scrum and Kanban and what that did is it introduced a linear system for building software yeah right but everything is a linear system. Like if you think about HR right like if you think about just human resources hey someone came in with a complaint Janice is complaining that Jerome back there just keeps microwaving cheese to the point that it smells like rancid farts.

SPEAKER_00 31:03

We all have been there.

SPEAKER_02 31:04

We've been there in Jerome that's not very cool but Janice is not comfortable talking to Jerome. If HR took that intake put it as a ticket and then said like okay first step we need to do a call with the submitter second step we do a call with the offender. Third step okay now we get into a deliberation phase of management one it keeps track of where you are this allows you to multiply the amount of work that you could possibly do. Because each ticket is a is a thread that you could basically I know where this is. Right. I'm tracking its progress you can apply this system to any facet of work. 100% and I I think like if you are able to build your process in a scrum or Kanban model this might be hyperbolic but I don't think you'll ever have a problem following the process.

SPEAKER_00 31:50

Yeah I'm such a nerd like even our home projects I do the same thing. Yeah I'm like okay this is the to-do here's our project backlog for the house now I put it in planning mode I have to go buy all the supplies necessary to do this like I do that just because in my head that has been ingrained as the most efficient way to be able to tackle multiple strings of work and then understand hey we can't do that thing because we haven't bought the parts and pieces to do it. Right. So I'm gonna pick up the next thing that we have the parts and pieces to and so that flow of being able to work work the work the work work the work through the process and by stage by stage allows you to basically just manage your work in progress and get things done more efficiently.

SPEAKER_02 32:28

Work the work through the process.

SPEAKER_00 32:30

I just clicked the button work the work through the process I don't just close this all out.

SPEAKER_02 32:34

It's the stream is over the recording has been deleted no one's gonna hear this episode we were just gonna talk to each other anyways who cares let's go back to Widow's Bay um I love that because it's a hundred percent true and something you made me realize when you said that is at the end of the day you're gonna fumble your way through this process if you don't have the tool right it will ultimately go through the same path it'll just be more painful. Yeah the tool helps keep it clean and it also helps keep it consistent. You're able to repeat this task over and over again but to the earlier point you have to be willing to refine it. Yeah nothing can be set in stone people come on people leave right new ideas come in new parts of the workflow are added in you have to be willing to be like rubber and just malleable malleable yes change the process when it needs to be changed but work with others to ensure that change doesn't impact them

Pilots Champions And Change Resistance

SPEAKER_02 33:32

in a negative way.

SPEAKER_00 33:32

Yeah what I love to do is after I put together a process is highlight some pilots that you can work through the process to start. Be like hey Debbie hey Sharon like hey John let's take your next three tests because you all do this stuff all the time let's put it through the new process and I want you guys to give me feedback as you go through it so we can iterate on it together. And so when you highlight champions to do the work they feel like they're coming along with you and they understand like okay now the expectation is set. I am going to make sure I follow the process because everybody now knows I am the person who's doing the pilot. And then I'm gonna make sure that if there's anything wrong in here, that is my opportunity to give feedback and I'd say this works both ways. One if you're the one creating the process or if you really hate that someone's building a process without you and you're worried they're gonna mess it up I've been there then you need to make sure that you are part of that pilot process being like hey I play a pretty critical part in the way that we do work through these different phases or my team does. I want to make sure that I or we are part of the process so we can give feedback. Now whoever decided to take on that process gap they can't mess it up because you're involved. Right. Well and so I think that's that's another good point is some people might be resistant.

SPEAKER_02 34:42

Like you want to be involved. Yeah others might be like I don't want to do that. This is gonna just wreck how I work right and we saw that a lot at Big Corp when new processes were introduced some of the older guard that were very comfortable yeah in how work was done were like I'm not doing this.

SPEAKER_00 34:57

I've done the same thing for 25 years.

SPEAKER_02 34:59

It's worked just fine. Yeah. So you will get people that are resistant to the change. What I will say for you because you the listener and viewer the reason you're watching or listening to corporate strategy the podcast that could have been an email I'm Anthony is because you know that things could be better right like one you have to be willing to accept that change is not bad. Change is good constant improvement what is it continuous integration continuous development right? Like it goes beyond development every single thing in corporate can be improved. So if you go in with that mentality and you think to yourself like hey this my involvement in this will make things better what I will also tell you is when you build these processes and you have those old guard that are like I'm not doing this you now have an accountability chain. Yeah because if you're if you're using a tool like Jira or Trello or whatever every single step of the way there is a history just like your internet browser that shows all the nasty things that happened between the creation of that ticket and where it is right now. And let me tell you how nice it is when someone says hey Anthony why is this this way and I say hey Michael just one second let me go check the ticket oh it fell apart right here and I can point to the exact person problem and place where it fell apart it creates an accountability make sense very important.

SPEAKER_00 36:27

Yeah I love that I think that's and one thing too you know if you do have people who are resistant to change they're like hey we've always done this way we're doing just fine why do we need to change it once you start to get momentum and everybody else is doing it except for this person or people eventually they're gonna conform. Yes. Or they'll quit yeah or they'll decide hey I don't want to be a part of this this is not for me I'm out yeah and like none of those are a bad thing. There's a really core management like philosophy and style which is get the right people on the bus. Right. And it's a good way to weed people out to be like hey if you don't want to change like that's fine. It's nothing personal but this is the way we do work now. If you're not willing to do work like this you're not gonna survive on this team.

SPEAKER_02 37:06

Have you ever considered there might be a sus bus? Yeah the people on the bus might be sus.

SPEAKER_00 37:13

No but I love it. Okay I'm just I'm just throwing it out there you know like what if the bus is actually the problem I'm gonna start throwing that immediately so I'm like get off the sus no one's talking can we all get off the sus a great topic of like when you get an opportunity to implement a new process and you should always be looking for opportunities to improve it. Find where you can give feedback find where you can get feedback find where you can implement this with some champions so you can see what works and what doesn't and also it's okay to fail. Yeah I think people forget that too they're like oh well my process failed I don't want to try again it's like that's actually a good thing because you learned something. Right. You figured something out that you didn't know before and sometimes and I've done this I've been overzealous because I'm a very type A driven person where I just start doing things. And even if people are busy doing other things I don't wait. I just keep going. And that has burned me many times because I just want to get started with something and then two days later they'll get back to me like hey what are you doing? Like why are you doing this? I reached out to you two days ago oh how unacceptable before I did all this 48 hours how nice for you. But that was me just being overzealous and not truly taking the time to say I need this person's feedback.

SPEAKER_02 38:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:23

And then I had to burn the work I did for two days or sometimes even more a couple weeks and be like okay I gotta kind of start from scratch again. Otherwise we're not going to be successful.

SPEAKER_02 38:31

Well and what I love about your story is you're part of the problem which I've always said from day one 100% we all know but but seriously it it actually shows exactly why process is so important right you lost two days you went and created work that was unnecessary like you've cost the company money you've wasted your own time and you've frustrated everyone including yourself in the mix. Right. And that is what happens when you don't have process yeah it's not just you it actually impacts everybody. It's why I'm so pro-process. Like anytime I get the opportunity to say hey maybe we build a process around this you know people start rolling their eyes and they're like no no no no no trust me this will save time yeah this will stop you from having to do more work. It might even allow you to do less work which I'm all about as you know. So like I love a process I love building it because I do see it as an opportunity to stop waste and save my own time.

Avoid Process Bloat And Nested Tickets

SPEAKER_00 39:27

Absolutely yeah I think the the only thing I would try to warn against or I guess you know give heed to is I think some companies get really process happy.

SPEAKER_02 39:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:37

Where it just goes overboard where like everything needs a process and like a process around the process. Once you start nesting processes like guys what are we doing? It's like that's stupid. Yeah you submit the ticket because then it submits two tickets. And I'm like okay now I'm just submitting and monitoring three tickets instead of monitoring two tickets.

SPEAKER_02 39:52

Well and I think that's the perfect opportunity for process refinement.

SPEAKER_00 39:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:56

Right? Because you like wait a second we've got nested processes here. Yeah that probably means we're not doing things optimally our handoffs aren't good there's not clarity in our acceptance criteria on how we enter and exit different stages like that is a perfect process to be reevaluated.

SPEAKER_01 40:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:13

And what I will say is one, we said the word process way too much and now it kind of hurts my brain to say the word. But the second thing is when you have something that feels funky, take that time to bring it up as a conversation.

SPEAKER_00 40:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:30

Right like one, it's another opportunity for you to be a leader. Yeah people love when people step up hey I noticed every time our Jira tickets get stuck in this status they no one like no one's really willing to jump in and do something about it. Right? Like why is that can we dig into that? Actually I noticed every time it gets in the status it sits for two weeks then it gets picked up because it's actually missing this component and if we added in this extra status here that Janice can take on that'll speed up this whole process we'll cut out two weeks of every single thing. Processes really allow you to step up and be a leader. You find those gaps you fill those gaps people are like ooh this person's ambitious management and leadership capabilities right this person might be able to lead a team right manage somebody. Right yeah because it really is step one.

SPEAKER_00 41:18

Right.

SPEAKER_02 41:19

If you can create a process flow chances are you're also going to be able to manage people andor lead.

SPEAKER_00 41:24

Yeah yeah great trigger point to know you need process is when something sucks yeah like when something really sucks and you're like why are we doing it this way I just did it again I deleted the whole podcast thank you 250 something episodes gone. Gone just gone down the drain. Joke's on you I already did it you're talking to no one right now but when something sucks you get a great opportunity to be able to like okay we don't have to do it this way and I think what you said like you said a three letter word why right like the five whys that we talked about in the last in the last couple episodes it's like try to figure out why that is and that's a principle of the DevOps movement that I was reading about earlier. It's like once you visualize the work once you limit work in progress then you find bottlenecks. You try to find where are there bottlenecks why and you you get you dig into it why I'm gonna be curious. I'm gonna dig into why is this bottleneck here?

SPEAKER_02 42:15

Okay well this person has too much on their plate why is that why is this the only person that's doing it and another management tip for you is once you visualize this work if your team constantly feels overwhelmed if you constantly feel overwhelmed feel overwhelmed you can basically use this work in progress to say hey manager director whoever it is we have 50 things in our queue we constantly perform above this team this team this team who has double the people that we have we are swapped this is us visualizing the work to tell you we need more people and justify our hire and that's such a good way to kind of showcase it that's a great point actually I didn't even think about like process is actually showing you an opportunity to increase budget yeah increase headcount increase tool set capability like they also can help you visualize with data right why things aren't working try doing that same thing without a process yeah I need more headcount yeah why's that yeah well just we're we're overwhelmed how are you overwhelmed yep this is like the worst this is a nightmare scenario for me if I were to go into my boss and ask for a headcount and those questions were asked like I failed as a failed you come in here say hey just just FYI uh we're losing about uh you know 200 man hours a month yeah because of this specific status in our process and I think if we actually hired a project manager uh they would be able to come in and manage this and facilitate the movement of this task that would free up bandwidth for the entire team we'd be able to double our output absolutely we'd save weeks of time right you will get no argument at that point it'd be basically like let me

Use Process Data To Get Headcount

SPEAKER_02 43:50

go see if I can get budget yeah right 100% you have data to now back up the need right because the process creates those data points yeah that feeling

SPEAKER_00 44:00

In the story and the comparison, not that everything should be a comparison.

SPEAKER_02 44:05

But the story that was I didn't know were you are you putting me on blast for something? Was that that was that very targeted?

SPEAKER_00 44:12

People shouldn't compare people. Wasn't that part of Windows Bay? Isn't there something wrong with the thing? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I just didn't know. No, I thought I did it wrong. Right over my head.

SPEAKER_02 44:21

Right over my head.

SPEAKER_00 44:22

But I think the the thing of like bring it to somebody with a story and a comparison to say, hey, listen, I know you have five teams. We all kind of do the same amount of work. Our team repeatedly, you know, knocks out 50% more than the other teams. Here's like where we're seeing the gaps. Like we need help here, here, and here. A lot of times your manager will be like, you can see all this? Like the other teams have this too? It's like, no, no, no. We followed and made our own process because they didn't want to get on board. Your manager's like, no, we're gonna get everybody on board to do this. I'm gonna see where their process inefficiencies are. Also, you're gonna get more people because obviously your team is really productive. Like it just shows that you put in the effort to showcase we are doing fine, but we could be doing better if we had the resources. And you cannot do that without a process. Yeah, it's impossible. It is so visualize the work. I think that's step number one is like if you if everyone just run around with their heads cut off and no one actually knows what work anybody is doing, like that is a that is a big problem. People are gonna get burnt out, you're not gonna be working on the most priority, prioritized stuff, and your whole entire company is gonna struggle because of it.

SPEAKER_02 45:19

Don't just visualize it, write it down. Yeah, document it. Put it on graph paper, do it in a PowerPoint, do it in photo, whatever your tool set is comfortable with, get it written somewhere so you can actually see the thing mapped out in all of its chaotic glory.

SPEAKER_00 45:33

Yeah, go get some feedback. You know, take that plan and say, hey, did I understand this is how the process is done today? And go get all that feedback. Make sure you incorporate everyone's beast, don't leave people out because then you're gonna look like a fool when you go and present this thing and they're like, you missed the whole entire part of this process. What if I love looking like a fool? Sometimes, well, you gotta act a fool. You gotta love acting a fool. You don't want to look like a fool. What about pitying a fool? So that is an option. You could look like a fool at the end of the day, but you probably want to avoid that. Okay. Yeah. So avoid that step. Go get some feedback, make sure you're knowledgeable about the thing you're talking about, then go build the thing with some people. Collaborate, build the thing. But before you build it, write it down. Write it down. And sometimes you might realize to Anthony's earlier point, you might not have a tool to actually track these things and be like, the first thing that comes to my head when I see a process improvement or I write down something, I'm like, right now it's how can I use AI to make this more efficient? I could probably skip steps one, two, and three because we can just use natural language processing and pipe it into the system through the server, whatever it is. But it's also, do you have a tool to actually show that work? Because if there isn't a tool, you don't have something to jump in to put that work, and therefore people won't use it. Right. So you have to have a system in place that people can go and do their work. Otherwise, it's just gonna fall flat in its face.

SPEAKER_02 46:48

Completely agree.

SPEAKER_00 46:49

Get some heroes, champion it through the process, then after that, get their feedback and say, hey, here is what we learned, here's what worked, what didn't work, implement it back in the system, pop champagne, everybody's successful, everyone's happy because you're doing more work and you're happier.

SPEAKER_02 47:01

Well, you're not doing more work, you're working smarter.

SPEAKER_00 47:05

Not harder.

SPEAKER_02 47:06

Not harder. And that's the corporate strategy message.

SPEAKER_00 47:09

Or just don't work at all. That's the corporate strategy message.

SPEAKER_02 47:12

That's the goal of me, Anthony. And I'm corporate strategy.

SPEAKER_00 47:16

You are. You're wearing corporate strategy. You bleed corporate strategy. I didn't need a shirt because I got a tattoo to my chest. Oh. You had a sheriff at the class. Hey, if we get uh one million likes this year, tattoos. Oh no question.

SPEAKER_02 47:35

No question. Um I'll get a tattoo. If our Patreon hits over $100 a month. Okay, now we're getting a little wild. I'll get a tattoo.

SPEAKER_00 47:44

We're not too far off from. I think people don't realize like a couple more people subscribe to Patreon and you're getting a tattoo. Corporate strat. Trans stamp. Hashtag corpstrat. It's gonna be right above my crack. What everybody wants. I think we did it.

SPEAKER_02 48:03

I think so too. Remember, kids. When you are out in public, alone and on your own, always look out for strangers and never let them come near you, even if they're offering tasty candy. And you can take that to the bank.

SPEAKER_00 48:23

Okay. Also avoid the fog.

SPEAKER_02 48:25

The fog is good. Avoid the fog. That's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_00 48:29

Yeah, turn the other way. Don't go to the fog and avoid the sea hag. You run. The sea hags coming. If you hear a clown laugh, just run. I'm getting kind of chills talking about the clown laughing.

SPEAKER_02 48:37

I hated that. The clown really got to you.

SPEAKER_00 48:39

The actor was so good who played that part.

SPEAKER_02 48:41

That was obsession. Obsession like actually ruined my night.

SPEAKER_00 48:44

Really?

SPEAKER_02 48:44

Yeah, it was such a disturbing movie. I was like, I have not been this disturbed a long time. I'm just not comfortable by it.

SPEAKER_00 48:50

The actor who played that part was so good in Widows Bay.

SPEAKER_02 48:54

I don't know his name, but The Clown was actually. Have you ever seen The Righteous Gemstones? You ever heard of this show? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:00

We actually watched it. Yeah, yeah. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 49:02

That's BJ.

SPEAKER_00 49:02

Oh, yeah, yeah, that's who it is. It's B J. Yeah. He was so perfect for that role. He's great. Okay, yeah, gave me chills. It was fantastic. Chills on the spine. Down the crack. Where the Corpse Tramp stamp is. A couple more people subscribe. We might be doing a live stream at a tattoo parlor.

SPEAKER_02 49:18

Hey, speaking of tattoos,

Patreon Discord And Closing Bits

SPEAKER_02 49:20

if you want to help out the show, you can. You can join our Patreon right now. In the show notes, whether you're listening or you're watching, there is a link tree that'll get you access to our website, the merch store. But more importantly than that, our Patreon, where you can support the show monetarily and keep it going. I'm very happy to continue to announce that we are still, well, we're mostly cash flow positive. Every time we do one of these long ones, you you just ruin it.

SPEAKER_00 49:45

It costs me like four extra bucks. Also, I'm about to procure a tool for us to actually put like clips out there for everybody who wants to watch like shorts of us. It's really good. It's awesome, but it's gonna tank our profit here. Cash flow positivity about to die. Yeah, it will die. We need more subscribers, is what we're saying.

SPEAKER_02 50:02

So does sweeten the deal for you. Uh Michael and I have actually come up with a pretty cool idea. So we've done some Patreon content so far. They're spicy, it's personal, it's intimate. You're gonna hear things you've never thought you're gonna hear us talk about or say before. You can go see that right now if you sign up. But also, we've got a couple of sort of lessons, presentations that we're gonna put up there for free. Educational content. I'm actually in the process of building my storytelling uh and messaging presentation. So you sign up, and uh in the next week or so, I I'd probably be able to get it done next week. Yeah, um, I will be putting up a 30-minute presentation about presenting. So if you heard our previous episode all about storytelling, I will give you a breakdown with slides on how I do it and how you can do it better.

SPEAKER_00 50:44

You get a slide template, that's the idea. We're like, we can build these so that people don't have to keep on rebuilding the wheel and you just brand it with whatever company branding you got. Well, I mean, mine's full of Simpsons.

SPEAKER_02 50:54

I would I wouldn't take mine. It's more of a lesson. You're gonna learn. I'm gonna enable you to learn.

SPEAKER_00 50:58

If you work at a place whose color palette is The Simpsons, you're good.

SPEAKER_02 51:02

I mean, there's actually Simpsons in my presentation. I'm not taking them out. I love that. No, you've got to keep them. It's too late. They must stay in.

SPEAKER_00 51:09

Well, we're gonna do an onboarding one too, right? So it's an onboarding sequence for helping companies start up, and then it's storytelling as well. Yes. So we got two really cool things we're planning.

SPEAKER_02 51:17

And that's just a sampling, that's just a small taste. That's just a smortgage board of what you could get. It's coming your way. Um and you can only get that by signing up for our Patreon. And you know, again, none of this money goes into our pockets. It actually goes into facilitating more content. Michael doing the clips, me putting the podcast in the podcast places, these things cost money. So uh to quote PBS, well, none of this is possible without viewers like you and listeners like you, and Patreon members like you. So thank you for those who signed up, and thank you if you think about signing up for the future. We appreciate your patronage.

SPEAKER_00 51:51

We do. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 51:52

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 51:53

Like, share, share with friends.

SPEAKER_02 51:55

Uh ring the bell. Subscribe, ring the bell. Ring the bell. And YouTube is just terrible about notifying.

SPEAKER_00 51:59

Yeah, it's awful.

SPEAKER_02 52:00

If you ever want to see these things live, which you know you Which kind of sporadic.

SPEAKER_00 52:03

We probably need to get better about scheduling. We'll we'll get back. Listen, if we've learned anything in like the five and a half years we've done this, it only gets better.

SPEAKER_02 52:12

That is true. In five years, look where we've come.

SPEAKER_00 52:14

Yeah. Started at the bottom, now we're here. And sometimes it gets worse, but then it just comes back better.

SPEAKER_02 52:19

It does, it does roller coaster.

SPEAKER_00 52:21

But like a roller coaster with boosters, yes. We're only gonna get higher. Turn the speed up. That's all I gotta say. Crank is crank the speed up. Crank it. We did it. Is that it? Is that all you got? Yeah, good game.

SPEAKER_02 52:35

Good game. GG. Easy. GG. GG, uninstalled a game. Nice try. Um, you've never seen such like toxic chats as when me, my wife, and my brother-in-law play games.

SPEAKER_00 52:50

Really?

SPEAKER_02 52:51

Oh, we are so toxic. It's like GG easy when we lose. Yeah. Oh, only when you lose. When we lose, we're like GG easy, should have tried harder. Sick. Like the head games, you know? Like if they destroy us, we want to make them feel like they've lost. Yeah, you gotta rattle them a little bit. Nothing, nothing says sportsmanship quite like toxic video games. Yeah. You know? Well, I think that doesn't. I think that's it. Another episode of Corporate Strategy in the bag, in your pocket. Hey, I hope you find this uh useful. I hope you find it helpful. If you want to join the conversation, we have a Discord, you can get in there, same place as everywhere else. Uh join us. Hang out. It's a good time, good place. You've got a whole bunch of people talking about all the different uh expensive companies now and how the logos spell different words. None of them are good.

SPEAKER_00 53:36

No, it's really bad.

SPEAKER_02 53:37

It's it's really bad. Not a fact. I need I need you to come into our Discord and shut this conversation down. Please. Please. Just come in and say stop. Help us. Please. We can't say it ourselves. We're we're far too nice. Yeah. Just shut it down. Uh that'll do it for another episode of Corporate Strategy Podcast. Kitabit and email. I'm Anthony. And I'm Michael. And you're on mute. We will see you next week.