How to foster innovation and big thinking | Eeke de Milliano (Retool, Stripe)

... process by definition is variance reducing. Like you're introducing it because you worry that the variance in your org is too high, like you want people to sort of meet a certain standard. And the cost of that is obviously while you're reducing the standard and bringing folks up to the average, you're also bringing other folks down to the average. And oftentimes the folks you're bringing down are your highest performers, your most creative thinkers, you know, the folks who like, you know, I think actually don't really need process to do their best work. And so that I think is always the tension that you have with process, and obviously like one of the reasons why companies introduce process much more and more as companies get bigger is because it's just, it's harder to sort of like get all these folks who kind of don't need processing. You- you actually want to reduce the variance.

(instrumental music) Welcome to Lenny's Podcast, where I interview world-class product leaders and growth experts to learn from their hard won experiences building and scaling today's most successful companies. Today my guest is Eka DeEmilianio. Eka is head of product at Retool. Prior to that, she was a long time PM at Stripe. She was actually one of their very first PMs, where she helped build some of their foundational products like Stripe Checkout, Stripe Connect, Stripe Radar, and Stripe Chargeback Protection. I had a total blast chatting with Eka. We covered Stripe's internal culture and what makes it so unique and innovative, how to foster and protect innovation at your own company, what is the right amount of process by stage of company, how to build a talent portfolio, and so much more. I am really excited for you to hear this episode. And with that, I bring you Eka DeEmilianio after a short word from our wonderful sponsors. Today's episode is brought to you by Miro, an online visual whiteboard that's designed specifically for teams like yours and mine. I have a quick request. Head on over to my board at miro.com/lenny and let me know which guests you'd love for me to have on in 2023. And while you're on the Miro board, feel free to play around with the tool. It's a great shared space to work closely with your colleagues to capture ideas, get feedback, and iterate quickly and easily on anything you're working on. For example, in Miro you can build out your product strategy by brainstorming with sticky notes, comments, live reactions, a voting tool, even an estimation app to scope out your team sprints. Your whole distributed team can come together around a wire frame and draw ideas with the pen tool or even put mocks right into the Miro board. And with one of Miro's ready-made templates, you can go from discovery and research to product roadmap to customer journey flows, final mocks, you get the picture. Head on over to miro.com/lenny to leave your suggestions. That's miro.com/lenny. This episode is brought to you by Notion. If you haven't heard of Notion, where have you been? I use Notion to coordinate this very podcast, including my content calendar, my sponsors, and prepping guests for launch of each episode. Notion is an all-in-one team collaboration tool that combines note taking, document sharing, wikis, project management, and much more into one space that's simple, powerful, and beautifully designed. And not only does it allow you to be more efficient in your work life, but you can easily transition to using it in your personal life, which is another feature that truly sets Notion apart. The other day, I started a home project and immediately opened up Notion to help me organize it all. Learn more and get started for free at notion.com/lennyspod. Take the first step towards an organized happy team today, again at notion.com/lennyspod. (instrumental music) Eka, welcome to the podcast.