Merging Teams At Buzzfeed: 6 months, 4 crises, 7 lessons.

Peter Wang at UXDX Europe. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx1vj7QBFTw

Readable transcript: edited from the recording's captions for readability (fillers and false starts removed, punctuation and section headings added). Wording is the speaker's own. Timestamps are positions in the video. Names marked [?] could not be verified against the audio.

Know what role you play beyond your title

[00:00:00] Yes. I'm actually from Temecula. Our family just moved here. I'm in a temporary Airbnb right now. We just moved here from the New York area to the West Coast to be closer to family. This move has taken a lot out of us and shows just how unpredictable 2020 is and how many changes are happening. Anyway, I'm happy to be here.

[00:00:23] As John mentioned, I am the CTO at BuzzFeed. Many of you have experienced BuzzFeed perhaps through one of the three brands: the BuzzFeed brand, now BuzzFeed News, or Tasty, our food vertical. We're very fortunate to have millions of users interacting with our brands every single day, whether it's on social platforms, on our website, or with our apps.

[00:00:51] What I wanted to talk to you about today is not a grand talk. I've found that over the last couple of months, the best way during this time is just to have conversations and have talks. So I want to share with you a number of learnings from the last couple of months that I either learned the hard way or came into more consciously, proactively.

[00:01:24] I'll start with the very first one. The very first one is: know what role you play beyond your title. Let me share one quick slide, so you can have the visual here. Know what role you play beyond your title. What I mean by that is that the same title in every single company may mean different things completely, especially a CTO coming into a different company. BuzzFeed was very different from the previous CTO roles I've taken before.

[00:02:08] I've learned over time that when you embrace a new role, whether within the same company or with a different company, the more clearly you articulate it for yourself, because a lot of times the company isn't that articulate for you, the stronger and the more grounded you are in the way you enter and start the role. For me, BuzzFeed is a 13 year old company. It doesn't feel it. It still feels very young in all the ways, because of the content we produce, because of the audience we attract, and also the way we react. But it's a 13 year old company, and in that 13 year span we had two CTOs before me. I was the third CTO.

[00:02:53] The reason I think about which CTO I am is because every CTO at every gap in a company's maturity journey has a different responsibility. The very first CTO helped us get off the ground in a major way. The second CTO really shaped the architecture and the engineering process to be much more mature so that we could scale up, both from an engineering perspective and in how quickly we can build products. As the third CTO, my job was different from the former two. In this case, I am responsible for all of product, engineering, design and data, and it's really more about ensuring that we can build a successful business from the components that we have built. That business centric, product centric perspective is what grounds me here at BuzzFeed, even before the crisis started.

COVID hits three weeks into the job

[00:03:57] That was the very first piece. As John mentioned, I started at BuzzFeed in February, a month before COVID happened. I was very excited. I came in with a hundred day plan, like many people. I called it the three Ps. The very first month I wanted to focus on people, really understand who the folks are, who the 150 folks in my organization are, what they are like. The second month was going to be about product, digging into the performance of the product and the analytics, understanding where the opportunities are, where the gaps and weaknesses are. And the third one was pretty much taking everything I'd learned about people and everything I'd learned about product and coming up with a proposal, some of the planning going forward.

[00:04:43] Of course, three weeks into the new job, COVID hit the fan, so to speak, and that plan went out the window in a lot of ways. We went to much more of a crisis management mode, to stabilize the business, to understand what was happening. Fortunately for us, BuzzFeed is a very data informed company and culture in our decisions. We often ask first, what kind of numbers can help us make decisions? So at the very beginning of February we started to track the number of COVID cases in every major city that BuzzFeed has a presence in, and as cases went up, especially for example for New York, we had a threshold set. Once it goes beyond the threshold, we are going to move into plan A, plan B, plan C and so on. We were one of the first companies that announced working from home, one of the earliest ones in New York City, as an example. Of course, for me, working from home on a new job means something completely different and creates a lot more challenges.

Articulate the opportunity in the chaos

[00:05:54] That brings me to the second learning I want to share with you. As I was looking at the crisis we're facing now, the health crisis, the economic crisis, as we were trying to stabilize the company, I found myself having to really articulate what the crisis means for us, for the people at BuzzFeed, for BuzzFeed Tech particularly, my department, and beyond what it means: what kind of opportunities are represented in the crisis? I'll show you a quick visual, just in terms of what I'm saying here. In every crisis, articulate the opportunity in it, in the chaos.

[00:06:45] I find this is very important because first of all it unifies. It provides a unifying force amongst the chaos for folks. For BuzzFeed Tech, we particularly articulated what this COVID crisis means for us from a monetization perspective, and how we can focus on a user growth perspective. We also talked about the operational perspective. How can we leverage this opportunity to be a leader operationally? How could we tighten up the collaboration across the company, the feedback loops? And also how can we use the opportunity to give more transparency within BuzzFeed Tech itself, which is made out of 12 or 13 product groups?

[00:07:29] One of the things we did start doing is what we came to call the unified roadmap: unifying every single team's roadmap into a more standardized format, an approach and a language to discuss and share amongst teams what we are working on. In this way we can look at what's in conflict, at dependencies, and also see trends faster. And everybody helped us to articulate what kind of impact tech is making in the middle of this crisis.

[00:08:08] That took a couple of weeks, to go through the exercise of articulating the opportunities, unifying our roadmaps and figuring out which paths we are going to take. In the meantime, on the company level, we've also created a number of work streams. This is where I should really appreciate the way that BuzzFeed really takes full force to commitment and to figuring out what kind of levers we need to pull. We created work streams on international websites, looking at international offices. We created a work stream on health and safety to focus on the needs of the employees. We created work streams on revenue, to understand the impact on the revenue. We looked at the cost structure: how can we look at the cost structure to slim it down and restructure in a way that's most efficient? Those are great lessons for me, looking at the way that BuzzFeed has organized itself into those work streams to tackle these different areas head on, in parallel.

Ask what your people need, and don't assume you know

[00:09:21] In the middle of this, as we started working from home, it's a pretty big change for a lot of folks. One of the first things we started to ask ourselves as leaders in the company is, what do people need now that we are all working from home? That leads me to the third learning here that I would like to share with you, which is: ask what your people need, and don't assume you know. This is an important one, I believe, because when you have a large organization that you're managing across different disciplines, also different geographies and also different demographics, we didn't know exactly what people's situations are.

[00:10:16] So, in a very BuzzFeed fashion, we ran a survey within BuzzFeed Tech. We asked questions like, what are your top concerns on a personal level? What are your top concerns on a work level? How has the situation changed now that you're working from home? How has it changed your day to day? What is the number one thing that BuzzFeed can do to support you? Are you a parent? Are you responsible for taking care of any other individual in your household? And also, where are you located, so we can look at the information geographically?

[00:10:48] That kind of survey, we did one on the tech department level, and we also did another one much higher at the company level. It really helped us understand the whole range of needs, and there were some really fascinating findings. One, for example, I found out that there are certain individuals living with their parents. One particular designer was living with her mother in a studio, with her mom going to work every day, and she was having anxiety about how to deal with that situation and feeling anxious, worried about her mom getting sick. A bigger finding was that for a large percentage of our tech force, actually, they are parents, and parents have very particular needs, different from non-parents. That really was a good learning for us, to understand how we can support parents in that way.

Being a parent is a superpower

[00:11:48] I'm a parent myself. I have three little kids, and when I first started working from home for BuzzFeed, I wasn't a veteran to working from home. I had led a large group of teams before BuzzFeed for about three years with a home office setup, and I understand some of that cadence and rhythm. But working from home during COVID times is quite different. The kids are home a lot more than usual. You don't actually go out to see folks as you normally would. You don't have the cadence of working from home and then going into the office.

[00:12:25] I found that I had to structure my days much more stringently. I had to structure my children's days much more specifically. I also had to carve out time for walking in the morning to stay healthy, and so on and so forth. One of my learnings through this process, and I also talked to a lot of parents within BuzzFeed and within BuzzFeed Tech itself, is that some people feel that being a parent during this time is a weakness, something that hurts your performance at work. On the contrary, I personally believe that being a parent is actually a superpower, and that we should really embrace that, especially during COVID times.

[00:13:10] There are two reasons. One is empathy, and the other one is resilience, and I'll speak to both real quick. Those are my three kids there, seven, five and three year olds, two girls and a boy. My wife took this photo right before we came to California. The reason why I really want to encourage parents to look into their superpower is that I have found that because there's a lot more demand on your day, parents are much more used to dealing with chaos throughout the day and navigating it, which also happens at work. You can really lend that ability, the resilience at home, and bring that over to work.

[00:13:59] In the meantime, I think that sense of empathy is much higher for parents, because to take care of our children we have to really understand what they're feeling. We ask a lot of questions. We try to treat them as individuals. We are very in tune with the interactions and dynamics with the individual children. So I think that's also a very portable skill that you can bring from parenting to work.

[00:14:25] By the way, this live streaming format is really interesting, because I'm not getting a lot of feedback, but I'm hoping everyone can hear me okay. And hopefully this is being helpful so far.

[00:14:43] John: Loud and clear.

[00:14:47] Peter: Thank you, John. If you can show your face, it would help me. So I feel like I'm talking to a human being, that would be great.

Take the time to find your voice and your message

[00:14:57] Number five. We talked about a couple of things. We talked about, before we come into a role, really understanding not just your title but what your role really means, and embracing that. The second thing we talked about is when you are faced with a crisis, make sure to take the time to articulate the opportunities in the chaos, so that your team feels grounded and it unifies them. The third thing we talked about is that, beyond unifying them, you also need to understand individually what your people need. Don't assume that you know, so that you can actually tailor your policies and your decisions in a way that accounts for the various needs in your team. The fourth one is actually leaning in as a parent, especially during the COVID crisis. I really applaud every parent out there. I just know how hard it is. We're homeschooling ourselves, so that's extra. We could have a whole different two minute talk on homeschooling, but really embracing that versus seeing it as a weakness.

[00:16:00] The fifth one I want to talk about is slightly different, but also along a similar line. The fifth one is to take the time to find your voice and your message. I want to pause on this one for a moment. This one particularly came to me during the social crisis, when the Black Lives Matter movement was happening, triggered by the murder of George Floyd, and the social unrest and the crisis that was happening in the world. BuzzFeed was feeling it as well, and the company itself, many employees in the company, were asking a lot of different questions. What are we supposed to be doing about it? What does leadership think? What is our perspective on a number of topics?

[00:17:01] I particularly needed to take probably a good week actually to really absorb, read the facts, read the reporting, and also reflect on my own identity as well. The reason I had to reflect on that is because I didn't grow up in America. I came here as an immigrant when I was 13. I grew up in Taiwan, in the country of Taiwan, and I came here with my brother and my mom, and went through a fairly challenging time in high school and in college, but also found different ways to assimilate into American society.

[00:17:47] For example, I found that if I used my legal name, Yu Chun, on my resume, they don't get reviewed as frequently. So over time what I've done is changed Yu Chun Wang, which is my legal name, to Yu Chun Peter Wang, to Peter Wang. I realized that there's definitely some inherent bias when people review resumes. That was just one example of how I've adapted to the system throughout my career. And when the social crisis was happening, it really raised a red flag for me about my own experiences, how I adapted, what role I've taken, and so on and so forth.

[00:18:42] The reason I want to particularly talk about taking the time to find your message and your voice is because people today can sense inauthentic voices very quickly. As a leader, if you want to be able to build trust in your organization, you must speak from your own heart and integrate part of your experience. Very similar to how actors would probably say it as well: you have to put yourself into the role and not just play the role itself. That has been a little bit of a rumbling for me, but I felt I came out of it, and I was able to speak from my heart in terms of my own perspective and how I feel about the subject matter more broadly. I wanted to share that, and hopefully you find it helpful.

[00:19:39] Number six. I think I have about 10 minutes left. How many minutes do we have left, 20 minutes?

[00:19:46] John: Five minutes or so.

[00:19:49] Peter: Five minutes or so. Okay, great.

[00:19:51] John: Just to clarify, 19 minutes.

[00:19:56] Peter: Okay. That helps. Thank you.

Live your whole life and don't put it off

[00:19:57] The next one I want to talk about is also a little personal, and I want to share why in a second. During this COVID crisis, a lot of my time has been spent in crisis mode in terms of stabilizing, crafting the right messages that are really authentic but also provide people confidence, looking at product roadmaps, understanding what things do we need to do to accelerate. For example, social community experiences like Quinn's Party[?], we felt that that was very important to accelerate. Or creating new ideas that we can bring to the revenue team so they can bring them to the market, to ensure that we stay ahead of any revenue issues that we're experiencing with clients we're talking to. Or talking to individuals on the team to make sure that their home setup is okay, that I can understand their home situation and provide anything we can do.

[00:21:05] There's a whole myriad of things that as a leader you're constantly doing to ensure the boat keeps afloat and the train keeps running. Many of us, and I've experienced this myself, we put our whole life to the side and we sacrifice our own personal time, whether it's with family, whether it's breakfast. Let me get my coffee real quick in the back. Things like this, because we prioritize the team.

[00:21:40] This one here, I want to remind everyone to really live your whole life and don't put it off. I chose Chadwick Boseman here because after his death, it was a surprise for all of us, and he's only a few years older than me. I actually went to the hospital to get a checkup myself, because I've had some issues and I had been putting it off. Maybe you can wait, wait till after COVID. I went in and I did find some things and they took care of it, fortunately. But it would have been worse if I hadn't gone in. That kind of personal experience, having done it, really resonated with me, and I want to share it with you: just because you have a lot of things going on at work, please do not put off living your whole life, including your own and your family's, and take care of yourself, so that you can be a whole person versus a partial one.

The job of a leader is to be the light

[00:23:06] And lastly, well, maybe not the last one, I want to talk about the job of a leader, and what management really means during this crisis moment and period, but also just in general. One of the things that I think we're still going through the period on right now, but that I'm still having to remind myself almost every single day, is that we can focus so much on the challenges during this period of time. Whether it is the revenue piece. Whether it's how fast we're executing. Whether I prioritized correctly. Whether we are aiming for the right metric. Whether we have the right visibility into certain things, and so on and so forth. Or what if someone leaves?

[00:23:57] So much of what I remind myself is that I just need to be the light for the team. Be the light. It's not a great image, I would say, but my job is actually just to be the light, if I can summarize it. That means a couple of things, and I should articulate that a little bit more. One, make sure you're putting a spotlight on the most important things for your team. Whether it's the specific narrative that you want to make sure your team remembers, think about putting the spotlight on that. Take every opportunity. Whether it's all hands. Whether we have the AMA channel on Slack. Whether we have an internal tech talk. Take those opportunities to talk with your team, while encouraging others on the team, to make sure you put a spotlight on the right narrative.

[00:24:56] Because when we are all remote in our own homes, we don't get as much. We don't hear all the conversations. We don't get the feeling of the culture. We tend to have a lot less information, and we as humans will piece together a narrative based on the information that we have. A lot of times it is incomplete, and a lot of times it is actually not the right thing to focus on. So the first thing about being a light is putting a spotlight on the story.

[00:25:25] The second thing, which I am still learning, is levity. Bring levity to the workplace. It's very easy to be serious about the roadmap. It's very easy to be serious about the target dates. It's very easy to be serious about the metric. It's very easy to talk about the operational aspect of things. I had to constantly remind myself that I need to combine a sense of humanity, because our job is to let our teams know that whatever problems they're facing, we're facing them together, and that whatever problems we have, it is easier than it may appear on the surface, and to help them get through it. I kind of tell myself that when waking up in the morning: okay, cool, whatever's going to happen is going to be okay, and my job is to help make that levity. It's actually something that I still have to remind myself every single day.

Serenity, control, and being the light as a company

[00:26:18] And the third part of being the light. I know, how far can you stretch being the light, but I'm actually pretty serious about this one. The third part of being a light is, I'm not sure I have the exact right language for it, but there is a prayer that maybe many of you have heard of. It goes something like, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things that I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Again: the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

[00:27:13] The reason this one really resonates with me, and let me share the visual for a second here, is because during a crisis moment it is very easy to be confounded by external factors and internal factors. What can I do? What do I not have control over? And therefore feeling like you're out of control, and different stress levels go up, and you're feeling anxiety. I've gone through that myself many times, for many weeks through this period of time.

[00:27:50] But I have to come back to this and ask myself, of all the things that are happening, what is outside of my control? This applies to you individually, but also to a team. So with every team you have to ask them, hey, what factors are outside of your control? Those you cannot worry about. Recognize them, identify them, but do not worry. You can't worry about them. Then write down a list: what things do you have control over? What's on your roadmap that you actually have control over? Maybe you don't have control over the type of content specifically we produce, but can you control, do you have control over how the content is being distributed? Just an example.

[00:28:26] We have no control over whether people will leave the company, it's their decision. But what we do have control over is creating that environment, having conversations with folks to ensure that we let them know that we value them, and staying in connection during this time where everyone's remote. So there's a lot of things we actually can do. Just having that, just putting the light on differentiating what you have control over and what you don't have control over, that's also a very important part of what it means to be the light.

[00:29:03] And lastly, being the light: I will zoom up to the mountain a bit, on the company level, for a moment. BuzzFeed is in the media industry, one of the leading ones, and I do feel the responsibility that what we do at BuzzFeed, how we perform at BuzzFeed business wise, will represent and send a message, send a signal to the rest of the industry. I actually feel that. How we perform is not just about our own paychecks, our own business itself. Especially during this time, we need to let the rest of the world know that there's still hope. That is actually a very motivating thing that elevates what we do beyond the day to day.

[00:29:58] Fortunately, after many months of decline, stabilizing, and really focusing on revenue, focusing on user growth and many initiatives, we've definitely seen a recovery in Q3 and Q4 as well. So we're all hoping that this year will end in a way that we can be very proud of, to not only share it internally but also share it with other folks in the industry, saying, hey, when you have a diverse revenue stream, when you have a team that is organized well, when you take care of people, here's a possibility about coming out in a way that's much more positive than you can ever imagine. So that's also what it means to be the light at a company level.