#14 - Share unfinished work

Most teams treat unfinished work like a secret. I wanted to make it public. So we started doing Show & Tells: once a week, engineering and product would gather and share what they were working on. Not to present or to sell. Just to share work in progress.

After three weeks, people started pushing back.
“It takes too long to prepare.”
“I don’t know what to share yet, it’s not done.”
“I’m not sure it’s worth showing.”

Clearly, this hit a nerve.

Sharing often feels risky. Like an evaluation. So we clean up, prep context, anticipate objections. Making sure what we show makes sense, even to someone who’s only half-listening. Because heavens forbid someone asks “why did you do it like that?” and we don’t have a confident answer.

But that’s the entire point. The value isn’t in polish. It’s in the sparks that fly when unfinished ideas meet fresh perspectives. In finding the common language to reason about value, together. That only works if you bring the work as-is. Unfinished, rough, maybe even wrong.

But we’ve learned to hide what’s rough. We were taught to polish, to de-risk. Until there’s nothing left to question. Nothing left to grow. And in doing so, we rob teams of what matters most: the ability to think together. Because unfinished thoughts might be the only real currency of creative teams. Not slides, reports or demos. Thoughts. Shared early. Exposed to friction. Broken and rebuilt in a safe-to-fail environment of a true team.

So we added one rule: no preparation allowed. No decks, screens or polish. You bring whatever’s on your screen right now, and one opening question to spark discussion. It completely changed the dynamic, turning the sessions into the most insightful, most loved ones of the week.

It shows that real value isn't presented.
It's discovered, together.