Recently, a contractor who had been part of our team for over three years rolled off from our firm. In his farewell message, he mentioned an internal note that I had written just days before our big bang launch at MAI. He said that if there was one thing that he would remember about working with us, it would be that note.
That exchange prompted me to revisit the note and I thought it would be worthwhile to share it.
If you ever find yourself in a situation like mine - where, despite your best efforts of convincing your stakeholders of the benefits of canary release, dark launch, versus a big bang release, you are still faced with a big bang launch, these words might offer some encouragement as you prepare to rally the team.
Our big bang release ultimately proved to be a success. Within 100 days of launch, we have more than a million consumers sign up and now, two years later, we have yet to experience a major production incident leading to extended downtime.
I wanted to say a few words for the launch at the showcase for sprint 52 but there was insufficient time so I thought I will pen down my thoughts.
The showcase for sprint 52 marks an important milestone in our journey.
If there are approximately fifty-two weeks in a year, sprint 52 would mark the second year anniversary since we first start writing code in 2020.
Give yourself a pat on the shoulder
It wasn't easy for us to get to where we are now.
On this journey, we had to deal with many external dependencies on our partners, changing requirements, COVID-19 and even earthquakes.
A year ago, we still haven't confirmed all our partners for launch. And our launch date of 27 Oct was only confirmed six months ago.
With all the challenges we faced and the many external dependencies, we have done well to be ready for launch on the 27 Oct.
Give yourself a pat on the shoulder.
We have worked well together as a team and we have proven to be adaptable and resilient.
Do these 3 things at and after launch
I don't know what's going to happen at or after launch and I have no idea when we will achieve 1.5 million MTM.
But if I were to guess, I believe the following three things will happen at launch.
1. There will be silly mistakes - focus on solving the root cause of the problem
Firstly, mistakes will be made, especially with a big bang launch.
In the case of HK, the combination of sending out a million emails at one go and forgetting to turn on the CDN for their CMS, caused their app to be down for a few hours on their first day of launch.
We will have our own mistakes.
But when we discover errors, I would like us to focus on solving the root cause of the problem, instead of trying to find out which squad or who caused the mistake.
Hindsight is always 20/20 and in retrospect, every mistake will look silly.
Finding out which squad or who caused the mistake shouldn't be the priority - we have our blameless retrospectives to improve the quality of our decision-making.
Instead, when we discover a bug, our first priority is to diagnose the root cause of the error and then figure out the best way to solve the error. It is important that we diagnose the root cause because under stress and under time pressure, we might be tempted to go with the easiest explanation.
I am heartened that we are already doing this as a team. In the last month, I have seen squads B and D done this on separate occasions and I am sure the other squads are already doing that.
Let's continue solving the root cause of the problem and improve the quality of our decision-making during our blameless retrospectives.
2. There will be negative feedback - focus on the customer
As uncle said, when he addressed us in January this year, there will be negative feedback about our product after we launch.
When we see negative feedback about us or our product, it is normal to feel disappointed or even aggrieved. We have put in a lot to launch our v1.0 and it is only human that we might experience such emotions.
When you experience such negative emotions, I will like you to keep your head down and focus your energy and effort on the customer. Continue working vigorously to earn and keep customer trust.
We might be misunderstood in the short-term but as long as we continue to work backwards from the customer and keep our relentless focus on them, we will win them over eventually.
I asked ML about his experience launching SP and PSG. He said that when both apps launched, there was some negative press about them, ranging from it is a waste of $ to they are putting folks out of job.
But ML kept his team focused on the customer and today, SP and PSG are highly rated and are some of the most popular apps that Singaporeans use on a daily basis.
So, focus on the customer when the chips are down - it's the optimal strategy.
3. There will be stress fractures along the squads and between departments - stick together as a team
As pressure mounts, we might be tempted to start drawing lines between squads and between departments.
Resist that temptation.
To be clear, we haven't been doing this.
In the last few months, I have seen squad A willing shoulder the pressure of being on the critical path, squad C helping out squad B and DSO responding quickly to other squad's urgent requests.
We have worked well together as a team and let's continue doing so.
When we stick together as a team, we might experience defeats in the short-term but we will win in the long-term.
So, focus on solving the problem, focus on the customer, and work together as a team - if we do these three things, I am confident that we will achieve our 1.5M MTM eventually and we will emerge as a stronger, better team.
This is the ride of a lifetime - enjoy yourself
Last but not least, enjoy yourself as we start the ride of a lifetime.
It's pretty crazy for a startup of 2 years to launch its v1.0 product, big bang.
In my career of 15 years, I have experienced big bang launches or startups launching their v1.0. But I have never experienced all 3 together.
And it is unlikely that I will ever experience all three together in the rest of my career.
For me, life is all about battle scars, stories and experiences. And I am pretty sure that we will have many stories and battle scars from our launch.
Most importantly, there's no other team that I would like to launch a v1.0, big bang, for a startup of 2 years, than all of you here.
This is a first-class team of many talents and great teamwork.
It's truly an honor and privilege for me to do this with all of you!
So, let's have a great launch together and I look forward to reminiscing about this experience with you all 20 years later!