Applying Andela’s EPIC Values to Product Development

Often, when reading about Andela, you’ll see “EPIC” used throughout.

The acronym — which stands for Excellence, Passion, Integrity, Collaboration — are the values that drive the way that we at Andela work globally, regardless of timezone, country or office.

And within each department and team, we use these values to guide how we operate while incorporating nuance and context from our respective roles to best determine how to apply them in every scenario.

The rest of this post is about how we apply it within my team.

What my Team does at Andela

I lead a team within Andela’s Technology Department comprised of Product & Design leaders who work cross-functionally to bring forth technology solutions that help the company scale. Like many product teams, we’re constantly and concurrently working along each stage of the product development lifecycle (PDLC):

• Discovery and Understanding — Uncovering discrete pain points and deeply understanding how those pain points affect Andela’s success.
• Planning & Prioritization — Using deep knowledge of stakeholder needs, business priorities, and strategy to identify which challenges to focus on.
• Finding Solutions — Driving cross-functional collaboration to ideate, validate and find solutions for prioritized problems to solve.
• Delivery & Execution — Working with our Engineering partners to turn the solutions to those problems into a digital reality.
• Go to Market — Engaging with stakeholders so that they understand how to get the most value out of these solutions.
• Measuring Results — Ensuring that the work being done was actually worth doing and continues to benefit Andela’s growth.

How we apply Andela’s EPIC Values

While my team is spread across Africa, each person is also a part of one of our local offices, and all are members of the global Andela community.

Having a common set of values that guide how we execute along the PDLC while also being a part of the rest of the company is critical to ensuring that we work in concert with one another, and with the company at large.

So here’s how we extend Andela’s Values into our product team to ensure that we were always being EPIC at every step of our product development lifecycle.

Excellence

• Pay attention to detail, because all the pieces matter and the best preparation for tomorrow is how well we execute today.
• Be results-oriented with a focus on outcomes over output, because at the end of the day, what matters is whether or not we’re adding value.
• Stay at least one step ahead, because the best way to earn trust and respect is to anticipate needs and answer questions before they’re asked.

Passion

Learn and know everything you can about:

• Andela, because holistically understanding our company’s mission, business and model is critical in making the right decisions.
• Your domain, because the better you understand the problems your stakeholders face, the more likely you’ll be able to find the best solutions.
• Your role, because the more you invest in yourself as a product or design leader, the more you’ll be able to help us improve as a team.

Integrity

• Speak up, because we’re all capable and have something to add. Not sharing your ideas or concerns does our team and Andela a disservice.
• Push back, because if it’s not in our collective best interest, we shouldn’t be doing it.
• Escalate, because getting blocked is inevitable and expected when you’re in a fast growing company. Not finding a way forward slows us down.

Collaboration

• Share early; share often, because things are solved faster and more effectively when everyone is in the loop.
• Build “with” others; not “for” others, because the best solutions for the right problems will come from collaborative problem-solving.
• Operate with a remote-first mindset, because we’re a distributed team in a distributed company and the future of work is distributed.

We praise and give props using these values when we want to celebrate our wins. And we also use these to give feedback when there are areas for improvement.

With this EPIC extension, we’re able to grow and contribute as product and design professionals working along the PDLC, while staying true to the values that drive Andela as a whole. TIA!

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