Two-Person Teams: Listener Questions

Key takeaways

Small teams can be highly resilient when workloads are managed with clear planning, scope flexibility, and an understanding of real-world constraints.
Trust is fundamental to effective remote work; it should be fostered through explicit policies, transparent boundaries, and the understanding that trust develops gradually.
QA at 37signals is about building confidence, not gatekeeping. It involves everyone in quality efforts, with dedicated QA roles to catch edge cases and ensure reliable releases.
Structured handling of bugs and small tasks, balanced with ambitious feature development, is crucial. Use of techniques like on-call rotations and 'spring cleaning' help maintain quality without constant interruptions.
The 'cool down' or overrun period in the Shape Up process is vital for addressing residual issues, refactoring, and preventing burnout, ultimately supporting sustainable work rhythms.

Summary

Handling Small Team Resilience and Workload Management

The episode discusses how small, two-person feature teams can maintain resilience despite absences like vacations and sickness. Jason explains that with multiple teams across products and time-boxed six-week cycles, they can manage workloads effectively. The key idea is to work around real-world constraints by planning work ahead, adjusting scope, and focusing on what can be accomplished within the appetite (time budget). The concept emphasizes flexibility, scope management, and the importance of planning for absences from the outset.

Trust and Team Culture

Trust is fundamental in the company's remote work culture. David shares insights on trust as a long-term bet, built on explicit policies, clear boundaries, and the understanding that trust is a gradual process. The 'trust battery' analogy from Toby of Shopify highlights individual trust levels that can be earned or lost over time. The episode underscores the importance of defaulting to trust, ensuring policies are clear, and managing trust proportionately, especially with new hires or in sensitive areas like production access.

Quality Assurance and Testing Practices at 37signals

The episode covers how 37signals approaches QA, emphasizing confidence-building rather than gatekeeping. They recently expanded their QA team from one to two members, moving away from external vendors to internal testing. QA functions as a tool for product teams to verify quality, with a focus on edge cases and user-like testing through blackbox methods. Everyone on the team shares responsibility for quality, including code reviews and ongoing testing, fostering a culture where quality is integrated into the development process rather than a separate phase.

Managing Bugs, Small Tasks, and Feature Work within Six-Week Cycles

Listeners inquire about how the team handles bugs, small tasks, and standalone features that may take from hours to weeks. Jason clarifies that the six-week cycle is the maximum time budget—some tasks are shorter or solo efforts. They differentiate between planned, proactive work and reactive issues like bugs, with structured processes for addressing urgent problems through on-call systems and 'spring cleaning' periods. This approach allows focus on ambitious features while still managing ongoing issues without constant disruption.

The Shape Up Method: Lifecycle and Buffer Periods

The episode explains the significance of the 'cool down' or overrun period in the Shape Up methodology. This period allows teams to address lingering bugs, refactoring, or personal improvements that don't fit into the main six-week cycles. It acts as a buffer between ambitious projects to prevent burnout and keep the work sustainable. The episode emphasizes the importance of balancing focused feature work with time to reflect, tidy up, and improve the codebase and processes.

On-Call Rotation and Incident Response Procedures

The on-call schedule is structured so team members rotate weekly, with two people sharing responsibilities during that time. This rotation ensures coverage for critical issues ('code red') and less urgent problems ('code yellow') while providing a balance between availability and uninterrupted work time. Clear procedures and ceremonies, such as declaring 'code yellow,' help manage incident response systematically. The approach fosters shared responsibility and learning across teams, with a focus on resolving issues efficiently without constant interruptions.

Show notes

This week, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, co-founders of 37signals, join host Kimberly Rhodes to answer listener questions from the recent episode about Two-Person Teams. They tackle topics ranging from two-person team collaboration techniques to their innovative approach to team cooldown periods and the benefits for individuals and the overall project workflow.

Listen in as they discuss their journey in refining the on-call process and the power of "spring cleaning" to address unresolved issues.

Tune in to this episode for valuable advice based on questions asked by listeners like you.

Show Notes:

[00:00] - Kimberly dives into today’s episode with more listener questions sourced from various platforms beginning with Kenneth from LinkedIn and his question about how a two-person team can be resilient to vacation, sickness, and turnover.

[00:42] - Jason shares how having multiple two-person teams and time-boxed cycles allows for handling absences.

[02:52] - "Scope is this magical flexible bubble of energy that you can squeeze into different size containers."

[04:24] - A viewer on YouTube responds to David's remarks about trust in teams by asking if there are any prerequisites for trustworthy individuals.

[04:51] - The critical foundation of a long-term collaboration: David shares why trusting employees is a worthwhile investment and how to establish the right boundaries within your organization to build trust.

[08:30] - How the concept of the "trust battery" (introduced by Toby from Shopify) helps in understanding the dynamics of trust and its impact on relationships and perceptions.

[10:02] - Trust is a gradual process that allows individuals to gain confidence and demonstrate their readiness for higher levels of responsibility.

[11:23] - The next question comes from a voicemail inquiring about how Quality Assurance (QA) and testing are handled at 37signals and the interaction between QA and the six-week cycles of the Shape Up paradigm.

[12:16] - David reveals the priorities of 37signal's recently revamped QA approach with two QA team members and no more reliance on external vendors.

[13:12] - The importance of customer data using the example of the launch of a card table feature in Basecamp.

[16:27] - You are responsible for your own work; the QA team is there to find the edge cases, not the other way around.

[17:18] - QA (like many things) is everyone's job: how the 37signals model helps individuals level up more quickly AND ensures that the quality is right when things ship.

[18:26] - Justice, a fan of Jason and David's books and products, emailed a question about how 37signals handles bugs, smaller tasks, and standalone features that vary in time requirements.

[19:10] - Clearing up the confusion about the 6-week rule. The distinction between proactive and reactive work and ensuring efficient project handling.

[21:49] - The 37signals "spring cleaning" approach to tackling non-critical but lingering issues, allowing for dedicated time for focused resolution while preventing constant interruptions in delivering ambitious goals.

[24:11] - Cleaning up your own s***! An explanation of 37signals two-tier code system for handling issues

[25:41] - How the on-call rotation works at 37signals.

[25:51] - The on-call rhythm: a chance to stretch problem-solving muscles for a period.

[27:37] - The vital role of the cooldown at 37signals: empowering developers and designers to recharge and fostering a balance between ambition and reflection.

[31:41] - Do you have questions for David and Jason about a better way to work and run your business? Leave your voicemails at 708-628-7850 or send an email. Remember, you can find show notes and transcripts on our website.

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