They asked if I wanted to cancel the live announcement. I let out a deep sigh, and simply said, no.
It was Friday, February 10th and we decided to postpone the debut of the new platform…the surprise debut that was slated for February 14th. JUST FOUR DAYS LATER.
My stomach was in knots because the tech team worked triple time to make it come together, the content team jumped through hoops to bring it to life, and the support team spent days preparing…
And I called a meeting to ask for its postponement.
These types of meetings knot my stomach. I’m practically a professional sailor with the types of knots I make in my stomach.
The team agreed to postpone. Why?
In the middle of the conversation, we focused on the following Postponement Framework:
- Is postponing in the best interest of our customers? [Yes.]
- Will postponing allow us to create a better experience in the long run? [Yes.]
- Will postponing empower the team to guarantee an A+ customer experience? [Yes.]
- Will postponing have a devastating effect on the business? [No.]
As we answered these questions, it became clear that we could (and should) postpone.
Just before I got off the call, they asked if I wanted to cancel the live announcement, an event planned in the private Social Curator community. No, I said, we’ll still go live, but we’ll share the truth of running a business.
Sometimes things don’t go as planned.
On February 14th I went into the community and shared an inside look into the decision and the subsequent postponement…and then a crazy thing happened.