Storytell.ai
Your Field Guide to our Company OS How to be successful at Storytell
February 2025 | Version 1.4 by Erika, DROdio & the Storytell Crew Scan for the digital version
Over the following pages we'll be sharing: The fundamental reason for Storytell's existence beyond just making money to guide and inspire our Crew. Understanding where Storytell stands in the market and how it differentiates itself from competitors. The approach and plans for how Storytell intends to achieve its goals and fulfill its purpose. Specific, measurable objectives that Storytell aims to achieve, aligning teams and efforts across the company. We have a set of operating principles we use to create aligned working styles so we can reduce friction and improve flow. The essential and enduring principles that guide Storytell's behavior and decision-making processes.
Business Goals
All Storytellers
The Advantage
"Every team has at its core a set of assumptions, beliefs, principles, practices, processes, and policies that act as the foundation upon which the day-to-day work unfolds. We refer to this as an operating system (OS)—a collection of implicit and explicit constraints that shape how we operate. This organizational “DNA” is so pervasive, unquestioned, and deeply held that we don’t even notice it." - From "the Operating System Canvas" -Aaron Dignan
Market Positioning
Gaining "The Advantage"
Strategic Bets
Why does this book matter to us?
"The Advantage" by Patrick Lencioni underscores the crucial role of organizational health as a primary driver of success. Unlike traditional business strategies that focus solely on analytics and operational frameworks, Lencioni argues that a healthy organization—marked by minimal politics, high morale, and low turnover—can achieve superior results and outpace its competitors. The book provides a clear, actionable blueprint for leaders to cultivate cohesive leadership teams, create clarity, overcommunicate, and embed consistency across all processes.
“Culture is like a shadow. You cannot change it, but it changes all the time. Culture is read-only.” ― Niels Pflaeging, author & speaker
Core Purpose
What is a "Company Operating System"?
Our Values
Who is this Field Guide for? We've made this to help new Storytellers onboard onto our "Company Operating System" (aka "how we work") faster. Think of this as your "cheat sheet" to ramp up on Storytell's values and culture so you don't need to spend the next six months trying to figure it all out on your own. It's also really valuable for anyone considering joing our Crew, so you can really understand how we work. Why does this matter? Think back to the best work experiences you've ever had. What made them so great? You probably enjoyed working with incredibly talented people solving really meaningful problems. It's likely there wasn't a lot of complaining, triangulation, or political BS but there was a sense of "flow" as you all worked to win together. Productive environments aren't based on luck; let's be intentional about creating and scaling it. This is different than what I'm used to. It will be. That's normal. Companies don't usually care about this as much as we do, which is why corporate cultures are often so toxic, especially as they scale. That's the default positioning. But that's not our take. You are building this Company OS, too You're not just receiving this Field Guide. You're helping to write it, too. Updates to this Field Guide will be co-authored by you for future Storytellers to benefit from as well. We're building the future, together! - Erika & DROdio November 2024
How We Work
Want More? Go Deeper on this topic
There is no "SQL-style database lookup" for unstructured data, yet 80% of a company's is typically unstructured. We call these "data swamps," like: All your company's recorded Gong or Zoom calls that nobody ever listens to The 50+ slide Powerpoint, XLS, PDF attachments emailed to you by vendors, clients, and your boss All the Confluence pages, the Jira tickets, the ServiceNow records, the Salesforce records, the Slack and email messages that you can never catch up on Storytell is liberating unstructured "data swamps" from within organizations into a layer that can be treated like structured data, so you can: Query it in structured ways to make sense of it, moving from data to intelligence to insights. Create workflows around it, transforming the unstructured firehose of chaotic data into better business outcomes
Turn chaotic data into captivating stories that create transformational outcomes. Move from uncertainty into confidence. Become the ultimate data-driven storyteller Turn the chaos of unstructured data into actionable intelligence Use data-driven insights to communicate truth Achieve work-life balance by achieving better outcomes while Storytell handles the heavy lifting of low value, repetitive tasks
Be Limitless Live without limits to become more than you imagined
Our Engineering team's Core Purpose maps to this:
The Collaborative Intelligence Platform for unstructured data
"Confidence comes from understanding. When you understand, you can use those insights to fuel your business outcomes. That's what Storytell's for." - Erika Anderson
"With Storytell, you can make sense of any amount of any kind of data." - Aaron Greenlee
...and we are skilled at building beautiful, usable UIUX that helps users adopt AI more deeply into their roles as being an "AI Enthusiast" evolves from novel to commonplace.
...and we are skilled at fast-follow API adoption to integrate those new capabilities from multiple LLMs (including OSS) into our platform.
AI Replaces Parts of Every Job
"AI isn't replacing jobs so much as it's replacing parts of every job. - DROdio
"The upshot is pretty simple. GPT-2 to GPT-4—from models that were impressive for sometimes managing to string together a few coherent sentences, to models that ace high-school exams—was not a one-time gain. We are racing through the OOMs extremely rapidly, and the numbers indicate we should expect another ~100,000x effective compute scaleup—resulting in another GPT-2-to-GPT-4 sized qualitative jump—over four years. Moreover, and critically, that doesn’t just mean a better chatbot; picking the many obvious low-hanging fruit on “unhobbling” gains should take us from chatbots to agents, from a tool to something that looks more like drop-in remote worker replacements."
Target Personas: Our users have these characteristics: AI Curious + AI Enthusiasts: We're building a platform for people who welcome the sweet relief of AI providing an assist. If they don't, we're not the right tool for them. Not yet. "Rebel Executives" that badly want to use AI to be more effective and make their teams more effective, too. Work with large volumes of unstructured data and need to make important business decisions on an ongoing basis based on that data. Ideal Customer Profile (ICP): Companies with >500 employees, are based in the US, and have large volumes of unstructured data -- especially when that data is stuck across many systems of record ("data swamps"), i.e., across multiple SaaS platforms.
AI Capabilities Evolve Rapidly
"Count the "Orders of Magnitude" -- OOMs:
Fun safety fact from the physical world: Traffic circles reduce injury collisions by 75% and fatal collisions by 90%. They are $10,000 cheaper to maintain every year. And they work normally during power outages! But we prefer traffic lights because traffic circles are uncomfortable to use. Traffic lights feel easier... until you get t-boned in an intersection from a driver you didn't notice running the light.
OMGs: Objectives, Metrics & Goals
We use OMGs to align our Crew. Storytellers can access them here.
Objective: A high level description of what we're aiming to achieve using market signals as the yardstick to prioritize features in our product development. Metric: The specific data points we use to measure achievement of the goal Goal: The specific target we are setting to define successful achievement of the objective
Removing the Stoplights
When's the last time you felt like your voice mattered at work? What if we could create a company OS where it really does matter by changing the underlying systems that strip away our personal responsibility?
You have no personal responsibility -- you just wait for the system to tell you when to stop / go / turn. If you get t-boned in the intersection, it's probably because your co-worker wasn't really thinking about what they were doing, either. They were just doing what the system told them to do.
"Drivers Wanted" - DROdio
Creating a Traffic Circle vs. Traffic Light Culture
Vs.
You have personal responsibility to "merge with traffic" without causing a crash with our colleagues and their work. There's no system telling you when to stop / go / turn. You have to navigate and negotiate with your colleagues to get around the intersection without causing accidents.
Type 1 vs Type 2 Decisions
Jeff Bezos of Amazon has a framework for decision making: Differentiating between "Type 1" and "Type 2" decisions. This can help you define a "waterline" of what is & isn't safe to try. Here's how it works: Type 1 decisions: Irreversible decisions; they cannot be changed once executed. Therefore, they require careful thought. Type 2 decisions: Reversible decisions; even after executing them, you can change them. At a startup, you need to act on these decisions quickly. Ensure you don't fall into the trap of treating Type 2 decisions as if they were Type 1. From Jeff Bezos’ Letter to 1997 Shareholders:
Fender Benders are OK! Navigating our Traffic Circle culture with your co-workers can be more stressful than just "waiting for a red light to turn green," but it keeps you moving. It also means that you might sometimes collide with your co-workers as you move through the circle with them. This is why we say "Fender Benders are OK!" By learning about Type 1 vs. Type 2 decisions, Objections vs. Consensus and what's Safe to Try, you can ensure these accidents are small fender benders instead of big crashes.
"Some decisions are consequential and irreversible or nearly irreversible – one-way doors – and these decisions must be made methodically, carefully, slowly, with great deliberation and consultation. We can call these Type 1 decisions. But most decisions aren’t like that – they are changeable, reversible – they’re two-way doors. If you’ve made a sub-optimal Type 2 decision, you don’t have to live with the consequences for that long. You can reopen the door and go back through. Type 2 decisions can and should be made quickly by high judgment individuals or small groups."
Objections vs. Consensus
What you don't have at a startup is time. The trick to moving fast is creating a constant flow of traffic, like you have in a traffic circle, versus the stop-and-go of consensus, otherwise known as the tyranny of the minority. Don't: "Wait to get consensus from everyone" Do: "Proceed unless there is a significant objection from anyone" As you can see, these are effectively opposites. Instead of "Does everyone agree?" ask, "Does anyone object?" No objections? Proceed! If you object, say so. Otherwise, the train is leaving the station. But not all objections are created equal. Objecting because of you have anxiety about proceeding, which we refer to as a "fear of future fears,"doesn't hold as much weight as objecting because you have data on your side. Here's what a "great objection" looks like: Historical data has shown this will cause serious harm We don’t have the authority to make this decision It will impede my ability to do my role This is not a complete list -- let's add to it
Safe to Try
Commonly called "RACI" because it sounds better, but we like to call it the "ARCI" framework because "Accountability" is the top level.
Starting from "Safe to Try" in decision-making automatically shifts our mindsets to "Start from Yes." When evaluating whether or not something is safe to try, think through: Does this cause a problem that hits "below the waterline?" Does this cause harm today, or am I only concerned about possible future harm? Do I have the authority to do this? Defining the "waterline" for Storytell: Think of a ship: if a torpedo hits below the waterline, it sinks. If it hits above the waterline, it's damaged, but doesn't sink. Below the waterline means something that would kill the company. A good way to think about where the waterline is by using the Type 1 vs. Type 2 decision making framework -- which decisions are irreversable vs. reversable? We often stop ourselves from experimenting because of a "fear of future fears." If it doesn't cause a problem today that's below the "waterline" of safety, and you have the authority to do it, then it's safe to try — even if you have fears that it could cause possible harm down the road. Don't try to arrive at the perfect answer. Today's "perfect answer" will likely be tomorrow's imperfect answer with new information. Instead, strive to make continual progress. Try to arrive at decisions that are simply better than where we are now. Start by starting. We have a culture of experimentation, learning and iteration. The only failure is a failure to learn. So keep giving yourself and therefore Storytell opportunities to learn so we can get as many shots on goal as possible. What if we don't agree? If we can't agree on the "right" answer, then we discuss, disagree, and commit. If we're trying to decide between two different approaches, commit to the easiest & simplest approach first, even if you disagree. Treat is as an experiment. Learn from it, and then use those learnings to inform your next experiment.
The ARCI Framework
The difference between Accountable and Responsible: The lens of accountability vs. responsibility shifts based on perspective. Accountability = ownership over achieving outcomes Responsibility = doing the tasks that achieve those outcomes. Example: As the football coach, you are accountable for winning the game, while making the quarterback responsible for scoring and the defense responsible for blocking. As the quarterback, you are accountable for running the right plays to score points, while making the wide receiver responsible for running down the field to catch your throw. As the wide receiver, you are accountable for getting to the end zone to score, while making your teammates responsible for tackling anyone trying to stop you.
"People will not actively commit to a decision if they have not had the opportunity to provide input, ask questions, and understand" - Patrick Lencioni
P3
Set Target Dates "We're targeting a Friday release" Update target dates often based on learnings.
P2
Set Checkin Dates "I'll update you on my progress by Friday" Goal is to reduce uncertainty as quickly as possible.
Operating
* what's a Tor?
LOE: Level of effort We use T-Shirt sizing to indicate how much effort we think a task will take: XS: One hour or less S: One day or less M: One week or less L: One month or less XL: One quarter or less EXAMPLE: Your task list might look like this as you balance priority with LOE.
P2 Medium
Working with Uncertainty
Few or No Unknowns "It's working" Rinse & repeat Failure is surprising
Priorities & Focus
What are we building?
A shared P0-P3 priority taxonomy across the company.
P1
Development
P3 Low
Known Unknowns Validating our assumptions We know what we don't know. Some surprises. Failure is tolerated
How does it work?
Improve Your Focus: "Rocks, Pebbles & Sand" The same amount of material is in both jars. Don't just focus on small "Sand" tasks -- you won't have room for your rocks. This doesn't mean you finish your rocks first. It means you're making space in your day to prioritize moving the "rocks" forward so your day doesn't get filled up just with sand tasks. XS: SAND: ≤ 1 hour S: PEBBLE: ≤ 1 day M: ROCK: ≤ 1 week L: BOULDER: ≤ 1 mo. XL: TOR*: ≤ 1 qtr. What "great" looks like: You get really good at breaking the largest tasks down into smaller ones.
P1 High
Unknown Unknowns Not well understood We don't know what we don't know. Many surprises, often. Failure is expected
Learning
Product
What will it look like?
P0 Urgent
Engineering
P0 Urgent: Stop everything. Do it now Highest level of urgency requiring immediate attention. Think, "the house is on fire." Your #1 priority until it is resolved. Nothing is a higher priority. Stop all other work. Resolve within minutes or hours if possible. Communicate status updates frequently P0s are expensive because they interrupt all other work. Use only when situation is critical. P1 High: Do it next Finish what you’re doing and then focus on this. Make this your #1 priority until it is resolved. P1s are ideally no more than 25% of your work. Only use when necessary to “skip the line”. P2 Medium: Prioritize based on LOE Proactively balance getting P2s and P3s done based on the level of effort of each. Context: If P2s keep getting pushed back due to P0s or P1s, use that as an opportunity to better understand why work is reactive, not proactive. P3 Low: Prioritize based on LOE P3s may take a long time to achieve -- and may not be achieved until we increase capacity. P3s are often added to track for future re-evaluation, i.e., “it’s a P3 today so let’s get it into the system, and if it ever turns into a higher priority we’ll re-evaluate its status”.
Repeat & Scale
Inventing
Set Firm Dates "We send out invoices every other Friday"
Maker vs. Manager Meetings are especially expensive for "makers" like engineers. If you don't understand why, watch this.
How & when we Meet
Why we do "Flow Check-In Questions" in our meetings Getting to know your fellow Storytellers as people vs. just Zoom faces can be hard in distributed companies because most of our daily interactions are "Level 1" work interactions -- i.e., operational conversations about getting work done. We set aside the first 10% of our meetings to learn more about each other as people -- interactions which often also give us deeper insight into each other's working styles, preferences and lives.
Why this matters: Meetings are expensive synchronous time (calculate the cost of your next meeting). We optimize to work asynchronously as much as we can. Only meet when you can work faster and more effectively synchronously than asynchronously. Facilitator Best-Practices: Have care and "hold the room" when you’re running a meeting. This means: Run an effective meeting. We're sharing our precious time with each other, so make it worthwhile. Aim for at least a 10x value:cost ratio. See something, say something. You are “holding the room.” If you think something is going off-track, get it back on track. You're not a bystander. You're driving. Use Clean Communication to check things out and paraphrase (or better yet: get others to do so.) Find ways to help everyone in the room participate. Bring everyone in to the conversation. The more everyone does, the better the outcome will be (says science) Start with why. What's the purpose of this meeting? If it's a one-off or first of its kind, start your meeting here. For instance, the purpose of an All Hands: Build shared context: product to believe in (output) + place to belong (recognizing wins, OMG status) Sit in truth together — reality + connection Know what great looks like: In an All Hands, everyone walks away having learned something happening in company didn’t already know Clarity around what’s working, what’s not working Ideally have ideas around action items about things they can do Who's your customer? Who is this meeting for? For instance: Eng demos aren't for the engineering team. They're largely for CX. All Hands aren't for executives. They're for the crew. Structuring effective meetings: The basics -- at least do this: Get the meeting moving when it starts — even if everyone’s not there yet. Start your meetings with a check-in question which should take no more than 10% of the total meeting time. Learn "how to Flow." Arrive with a written agenda You'll often run out of time, so prioritize the most important things first— don’t just dive into what’s top-of-mind. Re-read the point above. It's easy to forget. No, seriously. First meeting item: Review your proposed agenda and ratify it with the people at the meeting before you dive into any specific topic. Give them a voice. Take collaborative notes as a group -- scribe for the person talking Get clear on action items and write them down— assign owners and priority What "Great" looks like: How short can you make your meeting? Can you do it in 15 minutes vs. 30? Set a goal for the meeting and validate it with attendees. What does a great meeting outcome look like? Zoom in & out between strategic and tactical. Executives tend to do this well. Use the Smart Brevity framework in your meetings. Do a retrospective -- especially in longer meetings of 90 minutes or more (we suggest "Like / Learn / Longed For") to learn how to make the meeting more effective. Use Notion templates to create meeting agenda outlines you can re-use in recurring meetings. Put a link to the meeting's Notion page in the Google Calendar meeting invite.
We love our globally distributed crew. Here's how we support it: Communicating clearly by using: The Smart Brevity approach to text: Start with a specific "what" and follow with "why it matters" Video and audio to create shared context asynchronously Slack emojis for Traffic light vs Traffic circle P0s & P1s ARCI International English during group calls This approach to writing dates Instead of 10/4 we write October 4th Why? In Europe, 10/4 would be April 10th Resources: The Culture Map by Erin Meyer Learn how different work cultures approach conflict, feedback and fun
Our Storytellers live and work from: California, USA Florida, USA Brazil Netherlands Scotland The Philippines
You're here because we trust you. It's actually very simple and, we think, more effective, because companies are complex systems. And complex systems need to operate according to guiding principles, not rules and regulations. We all need to know we're headed in the same direction, and yet we all need to trust each that each of us is doing everything we can to get there together. This means many things, including: Work in aligned ways: Live the shared norms outlined in this Field Guide Be willing -- even eager -- to give and receive feedback to fellow Storytellers, because complex systems only function through guidance Our approach to Paid Time Off (PTO): We focus on your output, not your inputs — we call this Flexible PTO For planned time off, consult (not inform) your manager and team so they can cover for you For unplanned time off (like sickness), inform your manager and team -- again, so they can cover for you In practice, this means that we’re trusting you to determine the amount of time you need to take off for things like: Holidays (beyond our company holidays) Personal time Dealing with typhoons, etc. We don't count the days you take off, but be aware of your own PTO. General guidelines: If you’ve taken <10 days of PTO in a year, consider taking more time off! If you’ve taken more than 20 days of PTO in 12 months, Storytell needs you. How can you architect your life to support our mission? The goal: Consistently stellar output across a long career arc with your fellow Storytellers. Our one sentence company expense policy: When you spend Storytell’s money, do it in a way that generates the maximum possible impact (try for at least a 10x ROI) for each dollar you spend.
Working Globally
Operating on Trust
When asked about customer input in the development of the Ford Model T, Henry Ford allegedly said, "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses." - Henry Ford (maybe)
vs.
There are no facts inside the building; our truth comes from our users. What this value means: Our users define our success in achieving our Core Purpose Our truth comes from our users, not from our internal assumptions, opinions or beliefs. How to live this value: Use market signals as the yardstick to prioritize features in our product development. Focus on understanding user pain points to build solutions that address those pains. Celebrate wins & good news by asking, "What is one more thing we can do to make it even better?" What this value doesn't mean: We do not put customer needs first at the expense of our health. This is a marathon, not a sprint, and we aim to avoid burnout. Why this value is important to us: It ensures that our product development is always aligned with real user needs and market demands. It helps us stay focused on creating value that resonates with our users, thereby driving our success. Putting it into action: We seek out external “Wins” over internal “Good News” Learn how we differentiate between the two "Whenever we celebrate wins and good news we ask What is one more thing we could do to make this even better?"
Cars vs. Faster Horses:
This is why we say: Users will always know their pain. They will rarely have the best solutions -- even though they will think they do. We focus on deeply understanding user pain so we can translate it into building the right scalable features that solve for it most effectively. Then we "ship to learn" in fast, Bob Ross-style progressive iterations to learn from our users whether we're solving their pain effectively. Rinse and repeat with high velocity.
Everyone is Crew
Market Signal is Our North Star
We cultivate a spirit of mutual assistance where everyone puts their oars in the water. What this value means: We are here to be builders together. Not everyone is cut out to be a builder — we make sure in our interview process we identify and hire the people who like to come in early and create something magical for the world. Everyone, regardless of their role, contributes equally to the success of Storytell Collectively, we call ourselves a Crew. We are more than a “team.” A team comes together to accomplish a goal, like winning a game. We love to win, but we work together to do much more than just that. We are here to realize Storytell’s purpose together. How to live this value: Cultivate a spirit of mutual assistance where everyone puts their oars in the water. Respond to urgent user needs even if it isn't "your job." None of us are passengers; we're all behind the steering wheel. What this value doesn't mean: This doesn't mean that everyone does everything all the time; it means stepping up when needed and supporting each other. Remember the traffic circle! We need to be able to merge smoothly with traffic. Why this value is important to us: Fosters a collaborative environment, valuing everyone's insights and contributions. Putting it into action: As part of the engineering org, you happen to see that a user has an urgent need, but our customer experience team is offline. Instead of closing your laptop, you respond to the user even though it isn't "your job." This doesn't mean spending hours with the user, but rather taking an action to show you care.
High Leverage Thinking
Take actions that create the biggest impact with the least effort to reach 10x outcomes. What this value means: Leverage = impact vs. effort. We aim to take actions that create the biggest impact with the least effort. Continuously using high-leverage thinking leads to 10x outcomes. How to live this value: Work in public vs. private as much as possible to support transparency. Scope down and delegate tasks now rather than waiting to do bigger things later. Focus on actions that can be taken immediately to move things forward. Safe to try now over Wait to try until later Action over Wait and See We ship, then iterate. We’re never our own blocker. This applies to code, ideas, processes, content. Ask for forgiveness over Ask for permission Ask for Objections over Wait for Consensus What this value doesn't mean: This isn't about living under pressure and racing around; it's about being aware of what's present and attending to that. Why this value is important to us: It enables us to be more effective and efficient in our work. It helps us prioritize actions that will have the most significant impact, driving our success and growth. Putting it into action: There is always one more thing you can do to move something forward. And after that, there’s one more thing. The trick is to know where to put your focus, and how much — this value does not mean leaning into everything, all the time.
We Default to Transparency
Transparency is our starting point so that everyone has equal access to the information they need. What this value means: We flip the bit to justify opacity instead of justifying transparency. Transparency is our starting point, and we make choices together about what requires opacity. How to live this value: Open documents by default and only close them down with good reasons. Share data among teams to ensure everyone can make informed decisions. Capture internal meetings (audio and video) and decide later whether to use them internally or externally. Open over Closed @Mentions in Slack Group Chats over Slack Direct Messages This also supports the I of ARCI (informing), efficiently communicating changes to all concerned parties. What this value doesn't mean: Not all information is transparent; we make thoughtful choices about opacity. Why this value is important to us: It empowers everyone in the organization with the information they need to make the best decisions. It fosters a culture of trust and openness, which is crucial for effective collaboration. Putting it into action: If you find yourself having a conversation that sounds like "Should we open up access to this document?", you’re not flipping the bit. The document should start as open, and the conversation should instead be, "Do we have good reasons to close access to this document? What are they? Are there any objections to scoping the access down to a smaller group?"
Clean Communication
What is it -- and why does it matter? We often assume we've fully understood someone. Surprisingly, it’s often untrue. Here's how to confirm that you fully understand what has been communicated to you and to ensure that the other person feels validated and heard before you respond. How to practice it: Step 1: A colleague makes a statement (ideally using action/impact framework): Step 2: The recipient repeats back what s/he heard. The goal is mutual understanding —you want the speaker to feel validated and heard. You can try: Echoing back what you heard. Use their words, not your own Paraphrasing or summarizing what you heard with your words and some of theirs Reading between the lines— can be a combination of paraphrasing and echoing with an added layer of depth, i.e "I imagine you're feeling X, I sense you're feeling Y" Step 3: If the speaker feels validated and heard, s/he would say something like, “Yes, that’s exactly right.” However, if the they did not feel fully validated and heard, s/he could say something like, “You got that partially right. Here’s what else I said: x, y and z.” It’s really important to be really clear when you don’t feel fully heard, and explain exactly what the recipient didn’t fully absorb. Step 4: The recipient then restates what s/he heard using this new information. Step 5: Repeat steps 2-4 as many times as necessary until the speaker feels fully validated and heard. It may take a number of tries! Don’t get frustrated if it does. Remember, your goal here is to fully understand what someone is trying to tell you and what they're feeling around it. Step 6: Once the speaker has indicated they feel validated and heard, you can make your own statement in response. It’s now the speaker’s turn to practice Active Listening with you to ensure you are also validated and heard.
Active Listening
This communication protocol will give you a structured framework to move down the ladder from your head (Level 1) to your heart (Level 3).
Listen to a six minute AI-generated "Deep Dive podcast" outlining the principles of Clean Communication
"If we want to retain our humanity in the face of technology, we need to stay connected to ourselves and each other. Clean Communication allows us to do that by providing pathways to mutual understanding." - Erika Anderson
Why do we prioritize Clean Communication?
Fast, iterative passes. Ship to learn. Ship fast -- no sense in making it perfect if it's irrelevant We improve the feature once we get market signal that it's worth improving We are not embarrassed to ship features before they're perfect. We are embarrassed by shipping bugs.
What is it -- and why does it matter? You can think of “checking it out” as a way to address elephants in the room (even baby elephants) as long as you don’t feel activated by the issue yourself. Use this when you see something you’re curious about and want to address it at the moment. This also works when you’re no longer in the moment if you’ve reflected on something you’ve seen or experienced and want to gain clarity. Step 1: Observation You notice something that you’re curious about Step 2: Acknowledge what you’re doing Begin by getting the other person’s consent or simply stating what you’re about to do Example, “[Name], can I check something out with you?” or “I’d like to check something out.” If yes, proceed to Step 3 If no, “Could we revisit this later?” If yes, set a time (“When’s good?”) If no, let it go (unless you feel it’s important, at which point you will want to revisit it with a CC facilitator) Step 3: Gaining clarity Use I statements. State the data something you’re seeing in the moment, like during a meeting. Or something you’ve observed over a specified period of time, Step 4: Listen up Use The Active Listening Framework to make sure you understand the response. Step 5: Take action – together Does something need to be done to address the situation? Collaborate to come up with a solution
Have you ever had a conflict with someone and been unable to resolve it? "Clearing a charge” can help you work through challenging issues. What is it? A charge is energy you are holding. It will often have a distinct feeling for you — maybe a burning sensation in your chest, for example, or tightness in your throat. If you’ve ever had conflict with someone and thought “I just can’t get through to that person” while feeling increasingly frustrated, that is a charge building inside of you. Think of the process of clearing a charge as a way to reset yourself. Learning how to clear a charge is a skill that will keep a reaction from building up inside of you. When you can release stress from your system, you can better deal with future stressors that will inevitably come your way. If you don’t clear charges, you’ll get overwhelmed by stresses in your life and will become unable to deal with them (or yourself) effectively. How to practice it: This is a two-person process — both of you should know it and be up for following the steps. This isn't a normal conversation, which easily devolves into argument; it's a framework that makes space for connection. If you're the one someone is clearing a charge with and you start to get activated, pause the process until you can ground yourself. If you can't get back to neutral in the moment, agree on a time to return to the process. Here’s the process: 1. Ask permission: "I have a charge I’d like to clear with you, is now a good time?" If “yes”, then proceed. If “no” then agree on another time when you’ll revisit it together. Continued on next page 2. Share the data: What is the data you observed that is causing a charge to build in you? The data will be factual and non-emotional. Don't talk about generalities — you'll want to be as specific as possible. Use "I" statements vs. "you" statements. The person you're clearing the charge with repeats this back to you, echoing as close to word-for-word as possible. 3. Share your feelings: The next part of the sentence is the impact on you. The receiver repeats what you’re saying back to you, to confirm they’re hearing you, ending with "did I get that right?" If the receiver didn't get it right, share what they missed. 4. Share the story: We all tell ourselves stories about what’s happening in the world, and we often think those stories are factual. That’s why we use a specific approach called “The story I tell myself about myself” so you can share what you think is happening inside yourself. The most vulnerable, neutralizing way to do this is to share the story you tell yourself about yourself. This brings your attention inside. At this point (yes, again!), the person you’re clearing the charge echoes the story that you tell yourself, to confirm they’re hearing you. 5. Share your desired outcome: What do you want? This is your opportunity to share how you wish things were, vs. how they are.This could be for the other person; this could also be for yourself. Most often, it's both. At this point (yes, again, again!), the person you’re clearing the charge with should paraphrase what your desired outcome is, to confirm they’re hearing you. 6. Discover where you align— what can you both say yes to around this? Find something that works for both of you that you can commit to. Optional: The receiver may share context to clarify what happened — this is not a defense. It's useful only in the case of a misunderstanding. This needs to be done with skill, care, and consideration, otherwise, you can end up with another charge to clear. Once you’ve followed these steps, you will likely feel relief in having shared with the other person what was causing a charge for you.
Clearing a Charge
Check Things Out
“All that you touch You Change. All that you Change Changes you." - Octavia E. Butler
How receptive will you let yourself be?
1. Ask permission: "I have some feedback for you, is now a good time?" If the answer is yes, proceed If the answer is no, schedule a time that works for both parties 2. Give your observation and share the data in “I” statements, like: "I noticed ... I saw … I heard you say…" Be specific, clear, and neutral Optional: Acknowledge the perceived positive intent, like: "I imagine your intent here is to make sure our users have a good experience with our product." 3. Make it clear why you’re giving this feedback. "Here’s why that matters to our team / department / company…" 4. Make sure the person heard what you said, using the The Active Listening Framework. Note: You will almost be guaranteed to have to do a few active listening rounds here— keep going until you’re both clear on what the feedback is. Super important to make sure that the receiver of the feedback is accurately hearing it. 5. Check in with the receiver to see how they feel. "How is that landing for you?" Make sure you heard the receiver— "What I'm hearing you say …" 6. Define (ideally together) how things will be different moving forward. "What can you / we do differently?" Engage in collaborative problem-solving. Make an agreement together. And then check in on that agreement over time. 7. Write this agreement down, ideally in a performance management space.
Giving Feedback
Ship fast, crude MVPs with broad brush strokes to start -- just like Bob Ross starts his paintings. Get market signal feedback (aka from "outside the building") on that MVP. Ask "Is my crude MVP already better than what's otherwise available to the user? If yes, ship it now, even if you could make it better. Don't build more until you have external signal that it's worth your time & effort. By shipping, you unblock others. Then, drip your improvements to what you've shipped to iterate on it based on market signals -- just like Bob Ross fills in his painting with more and more level of detail as he goes.
100x
all our work
Receiving Feedback
Excalidraw / FigJam sketches / Whiteboard
MVP on Dev
Figma Mocks / Static Code
6x
"First, make it work. Then, make it right. Finally, make it delightful." - Aaron Greenlee
Identifying "Underlying Drivers" The positive or constructive feedback you receive is just the tip of the iceberg pointing to what's really driving your behavior. Your manager will run a structured process with you during 1:1s to explore what your underlying drivers are. By going deeper than surface level feedback, you'll be able to double down on what's working and deeply understand what's not.
We Ship Code like Bob Ross Paints
Remember: Feedback is a gift. The person giving you the feedback is doing it because they care about you and/or the business. If they didn't care, they wouldn't spend their time on this. That's the intention. If you're not experiencing it that way, share your perspective on the process. If the conversation gets heated, pause it and agree to come up with a time to revisit. Arrive with curiosity and enthusiasm Use the The Active Listening Framework to paraphrase the feedback you received and ask any clarifying questions. Questions to ask yourself How can I make the most of this feedback? What can I learn? How can I be fully present? Other tips You don't have to agree with the feedback. But you'll be well served to validate the person's perspective. Remember that you can validate what someone's saying without agreeing with them. Recognize the power of pattern recognition: If you don't agree with the feedback, but you've received similar feedback from various sources, reflect on what you're hearing and look for the truth within it. Again: Check in with yourself — are you becoming activated? It's best to "strike while the iron is cold." It might be best to pause and reconvene at a later time when you can have a more objective view. Giving feedback means caring enough about you to endure the discomfort of doing so.
Ship to learn: Shift Left to ship faster & lower our cost of learning
Production Code
50x
"Ship" to learn, then "drip" to double down on what's working. Ship ideas, not just code, and ship fast to learn as you iterate in these cycles of increasing depth and detail.
" Ship & Drip!"
This guide isn't complete, because when we wrote it, you weren't a Storyteller in our crew, and since a Company OS is built by the people here, your voice wasn't in it. You will help define the future of Storytell, so start thinking about how to improve this Field Guide so the next Storyteller who joins has an even better understanding of how we are building Storytell, together. Let's face it: people usually hate their jobs. Why? Too many meetings, unrealistic expectations, being treated like a machine. Our opportunity: Achieve best-practice levels of employee engagement globally, and build the future together by doing so.
We can't wait to work... and play!... with you
Writing the rest Together