Operationalizing Product Quality

I was honored to be among 10 AI founders invited by Stripe for an exclusive event yesterday. Had incredible discussions with co-founder Patrick Collison and other Stripe leaders about their new AI/ML projects, behind-the-scenes stories, and maintaining high product quality. Regarding operationalizing product quality, here's the one they shared with us! It's really worth reading :)

How Quality Happens

Unreasonably high standards

In the 1860s, Carl Zeiss stalked his optics lab with a hammer, looking for substandard work so he could smash it before it reached customers. Leaders set the bar for the quality of work that a company expects. These standards are reinforced by the formal and informal incentive structures that shape every company's culture. It's not just about the kind of work that gets rewarded; it's also about what gets tolerated, and what doesn't.

Talent studios

Companies that obsess over quality have a self-reinforcing talent strategy. They attract people who care about quality and help those people refine their craft. Those people then stick around, setting an example of excellence that others can follow. High standards are upheld by long-tenured employees who have lived through successes, near misses, and occasional failures. Newer employees work side-by-side with tenured employees, absorbing insights and standards one project at a time.

Relentless iteration

Teams at Pixar make 5 to 10 versions of each film before it is considered good enough for release. Every few months, the entire production crew watches the latest reel and shares detailed notes on what could be better. The director collates these notes into a set of changes for the next reel. These companies keep looking for quality improvements far past the point where most companies would consider the work good enough. They are willing to sacrifice efficiency in the pursuit of excellence.

Calibrated urgency

The value of urgency is in the dose. Too little, and teams may spiral or delay hard decisions. Too much, and they reach for the most obvious answer or cut corners. Companies with high quality standards often find the right dose of urgency using calendar-driven production. Apple's annual iPhone development cycle, Lego's thrice-annual review of new set concepts, and The New Yorker's weekly publication schedule all create a natural rhythm of urgency that drives convergent action across teams.

Ownership of outcomes

These companies care deeply about providing a high-quality customer experience, and they aren't willing to accept problems caused by suppliers with lower standards. Apple is extremely prescriptive with suppliers and builds key components itself when doing so will lead to higher product quality. Many of LVMH's brands are vertically integrated both upstream (for example, owning crocodile farms for access to the leather) and downstream (owning and operating branded stores).

How Quality Is Maintained

Treating quality as immutable

Maintaining quality is an unnatural act that requires constant vigilance. Most companies provide just enough quality to satisfy the mass market and no more. The economic value of quality is not always legible, which makes it tempting to settle for less just this once. But companies that sustain quality for decades treat it as an immutable value, even when the payoff is uncertain.

Practicing candor

It's hard to deliver candid feedback when someone's work product is not good enough. This is especially challenging in companies that have grown quickly, since people may not know or trust each other enough to be fully candid. But companies with high quality standards find ways to practice candor. At Apple, when teams were considering a new production technique that would save a few million dollars but make a part on the Apple Watch feel flimsy, a member of the team objected, "That's not Apple. That's something Samsung would do."

Actively managing trade-offs

The biggest threats to quality come from the pursuit of other worthwhile goals, like speed, growth, and cost reduction. Maintaining a culture of quality requires active management of trade-offs: a willingness to delay launches, invest in long-term projects, and accept cost overruns. Even designers with extraordinary taste need time to experience a product, form intuitions, and develop creative solutions. Building for quality requires the confidence to resist easier paths.

Hope you enjoyed this!