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Brainstorm Calls

Brainstorm calls are core to how we work and reflect our approach for finding the highest-possible quality answer to the issues we face and the hard problems we're trying to solve. You can read more about the brainstorm! game here. Brainstorm calls are scoped by aspect and type.

You can navigate brainstorm calls and topics in Fibery. Bear in mind that we continuously try to improve how we brainstorm, so the below information is likely to change as we expirement in making these calls more dymanic and inclusive.

Brainstorm types​

  • product for questions around what we want to do (i.e. what can be done to reduce a certain kind of friction for users). We discuss here the products and functionality that we want to put out into the world. Thinking and discussion here should not be limited by implementation technicalities.
  • architecture or arch for how questions, such as “how should a certain feature be implemented”. We discuss here how we are going to technically achieve the product functionality we decided upon in the product brainstorm. Discussion here should ideally not cross back into product and attempt to change the functionality offered to the user.

We want to maintain this distinction between the two types of brainstorm calls as it allows us to take two different mindsets. The product mindset is that of figuring out what is the best possible piece of functionality we can deliver to the user. The architecture mindset is about how we achieve that. Of course, this isn't always black and white and there may be some instances where items move back and forth between product and architecture calls. If, for example, a piece of functionality is not reasonably achievable, it may go back to a product brainstorm to be refined within the constraints of reality.

Aspect group involvement​

Despite the naming, product/what and architecture/how calls are not only for members of the team with an interest in product or architecture (respectively) to attend. It's important that each call have participation or awareness from each of the aspect groups. Some aspects may have more participation in what than how and for others vice-versa, but each call should ideally always have representation from all aspect groups.

For example, when discussing new things to build in the what call, it is important to have awareness and input from the customer-success aspect group in order to consider how a new feature would affect our customers. Similarly when discussing implementation detail in the how call, it's important to have awareness and input from the security aspect group to ensure we're giving consideration to the security factors this group deem to be important.

Aspect specific brainstorm calls​

Engineering brainstorms​

These are architecture calls take place twice a week and are usually led by members of the architecture aspect group. We generally try to come up with the highest-possibly quality solutions to tackle non-trivial technical issues across the balenaCloud platform.

Customer Success brainstorms​

Commercial calls take place once a week and are led by the Customer Success team. It is the time and (virtual) place where we discuss the sales/customer success team process, pricing plans, and commercial strategy. Everyone is welcome to join.

Marketing brainstorms​

Marketing brainstorm calls take place once a week and are led by the Outreach team. Brainstorm prompts and items usually come up when we need the collective thinking power and ideas from the group. Everyone is welcome to join.

Product brainstorms​

These are product calls that take place weekly to discuss user experience (UX), feature ideas, and prioritization for our product.

People-ops brainstorm - product & architecture (what and how) combined​

People-ops calls take place once a week and are led by the People-ops team. It is the time and (virtual) place where we discuss team processes, policies, team feedback and the overall user experience for the team. Everyone is welcome to join.

Legal & Finance brainstorm - product & architecture (what and how) combined​

Legal & Finance calls take place once a week and are led by the team members that form the Legal & Finance team. It is the time and (virtual) place where we discuss our company architecture - legal, financial and operational. Everyone is welcome to join.

How to run a brainstorm call​

Brainstorm calls are for everyone to both participate and run. I'll take the engineering call as an example, but the same principles and tooling applies to any other brainstorm call.

Once a team member raises an item for a brainstorm call as described above, that will be created in Fibery marked with the appropriate aspect and category. You can find all submitted items here. Once you are on that page, it is advised that you apply the appropriate aspect group filter for the brainstorm call you are running or use the pre-set filter view list on the left-hand side menu.

A couple of hours before the scheduled call, ping everyone in Fibery to notify them that they need to participate in the brainstorm. Once everyone joins the call, you can share the list of topics on your screen and start tackling them one by one. Most brainstorms are recorded for anyone can watch them later. You will find the recordings attached to the calendar invites.

When it comes to prioritizing topics, it's a good practice to ask if there is anything urgent that blocks anyone from progressing on their project. If there is nothing that is urgent, you can start from the oldest first. Some things to keep in mind during a brainstorm:

  • If you see a topic is taking too long to resolve or is going nowhere, suggest having an ad-hoc call so other topics can be handled as well
  • Make sure people introduce the problem first before jumping to a solution. In general, you need to moderate these principles for participating in a brainstorm
  • Remind people to summarize and close topics
  • As a general rule, it's good to verbally summarize what was discussed around a topic, just to make sure that everyone is on the same page.

Note that some brainstorm calls have moved from having a static slot in the admin calendar to a self-served approach where the team member raising the topic, adds a slot that works for those who are required for discussing it. Of course anyone can attend and the recording will still be available and attached to the calendar invite.