📵 The distraction economy is real
People are flooded with inputs, which kills recall and follow-through. Mark describes how even he forgets points mid-conversation because he is always consuming content.
“I’m pretty much consuming nearly all the time new content… I’ll say, hey. I’ve got three key points on this… I’ll speak to my first key point, and then I’ll be like, what’s the second and the third again?” Butter Video Collaboration
What you could do next
- Cut noise in your comms. One message, one action, one deadline.
- Replace long trainings with short, just-in-time nudges inside people’s flow of work.
🧭 Think in journeys, not isolated processes
Mark reframes “process” as an end-to-end, user-centric journey that reduces cognitive load and guides each participant at the right moment.
“I would describe journeys in work as a reflection of taking a user centric approach… it’s not just about putting a goal form in front of someone… a journey turns all of those scattered tasks into a seamless, guided flow… the manager journey is going to be different to an employee’s journey.” Butter Video Collaboration
What you could do next
- Pick one process, like goals or onboarding. Map every step for employee and manager.
- Add the comms, the check-ins, and the follow-ups into one guided flow.
🎯 One size does not fit all performance
Mark shares an NDIS provider with 2,500 staff where an office-friendly review flow failed frontline workers, so they stopped doing it.
“It was effective for office based workers… when it came to the actual frontline workers, it was just a complete mismatch… it was so irrelevant that they decided to actually stop doing that process.” Butter Video Collaboration
What you could do next
- Split performance flows for frontline vs office. Shorter, higher-frequency touchpoints for frontline.
- Measure usefulness with a one-question pulse after each cycle.
✅ Compliance needs guidance, not PDFs
A remuneration review policy with five contributors kept stalling until it became a guided, multi-person journey triggered at the right time.
“The fix was actually taking that policy and creating a multi person journey… only when, say, the CFO’s role becomes important does it pop up for them… all nicely collated so they’re in a position to make a decision.” Butter Video Collaboration
What you could do next
- Turn one policy into a guided workflow. Notify each role at the moment they are needed.
- Track time-to-decision and number of handoffs to spot bottlenecks.
🎉 Don’t miss the human moments
Automation can make managers better at celebrating milestones and documenting what they did.
“Recognizing an employee, say, five year anniversary… letting them know… this is the budget… these are some of the activities… we’d love it if you could capture what you did to celebrate.” Butter Video Collaboration
What you could do next
- Auto-surface anniversaries and budgets to managers monthly.
- Ask managers to log how they celebrated so you can share ideas that work.
🧩 Personalization reduces noise
Personalization replaces blanket blasts with relevant moments, which builds trust and increases follow-through.
“By personalizing, you’re removing the noise that would be a blanket message otherwise.” Butter Video Collaboration
What you could do next
- Target journeys to roles, locations, or shift types.
- Use conditions like tenure or performance signals to time communications.
🛠️ From features to journeys
Mark explains how their product shifted from menus to one space where journeys appear when needed, configured on a visual canvas.
“We had separate menus… reviews, one on ones, goals, surveys, feedback… we had built a lovely looking user interface, but a fairly ordinary user experience… we’ve literally got rid of every one of those traditional menu based features… little journeys will appear on their dashboard… it’s like a workflow canvas where you configure the user experience.” Butter Video Collaboration
What you could do next
- When evaluating tech, ask to build a small journey live on a canvas.
- Start with a pilot audience, collect feedback, iterate, then scale.
🧠 Design for real user needs
Adam pushes human-centred design and product thinking: start with real user needs, test assumptions in the work context, and measure impact beyond HR vanity metrics.
“Try to understand real user needs… test your assumptions in the real context… design for readiness, not perfection… measure your impact beyond HR metrics and actually think about real business metrics.” Butter Video Collaboration
What you could do next
- Before building, interview five users from different roles.
- Pilot in the live environment. Keep what users actually adopt in the moment of need.
🔥 Burnout, trust and the cost of performative change
Adam describes calendars packed with urgency, failed rollouts, and trust erosion when leaders announce more than they deliver.
“People’s readiness to receive, process, apply new information, is basically shot… we didn’t deliver… that’s what causes the loss of trust… anytime there was an off-site, the whole business would recoil in fear.” Butter Video Collaboration
What you could do next
- Ship fewer initiatives and finish them. Publish a public “done list.”
- Build manager talking points so strategy is translated locally the same week.
🧪 Buy tech like a product team, not a demo tourist
Mark and Adam both caution against feature shopping. Lead with your problems, context and success criteria.
“Nearly every time… the four words we hear are show me a demo… flip it so that… here’s my challenges… how do you and your platform solve these issues for me?” Butter Video Collaboration
“If you can’t answer [user needs and success], stop until you can… otherwise, you’re gonna waste a shit load of money.” Butter Video Collaboration
What you could do next
- Write a one-pager: users, problems, constraints, and success metrics.
- In vendor calls, ask them to solve your one-pager live, not show generic features.
📏 Tie journeys to business outcomes
Measure whether the journey produced the outcome you intended, not just whether people completed steps.
“You can start to think, what does a successful outcome look like for the person who’s been through this journey… a pulse question… I received helpful coaching and feedback in the last ninety days. Yes or no?” Butter Video Collaboration
What you could do next
- Pair each journey with one behavior metric and one business metric.
- Example: onboarding links to “time to value” and first-quarter performance signals.