Justin Coaching - Ambiguity Tolerance and Explicit Pushback
Situation
Coached Justin on the Depot/Portal bounty disconnect. Addressed two issues: (1) Justin needs to get comfortable moving through ambiguity and letting his team explore before designs are fully baked - unlearning 10 years of Amazon training. (2) When Peter pushes for something, Justin needs to either do it or explicitly debate/push back - not quietly not execute.
Reasoning
Justins Amazon background trained him to avoid moving without certainty, but CIQ needs leaders who move aggressively through ambiguity. The bounty issue was a symptom of being too conservative. Equally important: direction needs to be followed or openly challenged, not silently ignored. Peter is providing a safe place for Justin to take risks and learn this new operating mode. The goal is explicit communication - disagreement is fine if its surfaced and debated.
Additional Context
Greg was upset that Westley didnt get opportunity on the bounty. Investigation revealed Justin hadnt opened it to the full team. Max had prepped Peter that Justin would need help unlearning Amazon risk-aversion. Peter addressed both the ambiguity issue and the need for explicit pushback rather than silent non-compliance.
People Involved
Justin Haynes, Max Spevack, Westley, Greg Kurtzer
Source
reflection
AI Confidence
83%
Related Context
slack
Max and I had some conversations this past week about how I help you get to a place in general where youre comfortable giving low-confidence estimates, and having some members of your team start exploring things when theres still some ambiguity.
slack
The failing from Justin isnt about viewing Westley as junior. Its coming from a background for a decade at amazon where if he moved without being 100% sure of where he was moving he was eviscerated.
Follow-up Todos
Suggest follow-up todoOutcome
No outcome recorded yet.
Decision ID: 0518b5ad-1913-40da-a9b8-078055eb76a1